Introducing tablet computers to a rural primary school: An Activity Theory case study

This paper reports on a case study investigating the introduction of tablet computers into a rural primary school in Oman. The school is unusual in that it is in an economically-disadvantaged, mountainous region which is prone to flooding. There is little infrastructure, with no internet and there is a high turnover of staff. The project to introduce tablets was a personal initiative of the head teacher who needed to convince the Ministry of Education, her staff and parents of the pupils. The study used Activity Theory to explore the introduction of the tablet computers, seeing the school and the classrooms as Activity Systems. The Activity Theory analysis made it possible to see how changing one aspect of an Activity System, by introducing new mediational tools, affected the agents, the community, the rules and the division of labour. The study found that the tablets changed the working culture of staff in the project and the behaviour and responsibilities of the pupils.

The significance of the study lies in the fact that the school was such an unlikely setting for such an innovation and the consequent effects such as staff collaboration and partnership between teachers and pupils – which might have been standard practice in an affluent urban setting – constituted radical changes in the culture of the school and classrooms. The study also innovates in the use of Activity Theory to examine all components of the System in order to understand the unexpected impacts of an innovation such as tablet computers in education.