Tablets and Trees: Equipping Forestry Students with Mobile Tools for Learning In and Out of Classroom - Volume 44 - Winter/Hiver 2018

Oct 15, 2026

This paper documents how an applied science department implemented a tablet initiative in a two-year diploma program. Tablets were required at entry to lower students’ textbook purchase costs while reflecting industry mobile-device practices and enabling collaborative, active learning. Evidence from surveys, interviews, and classroom observations shows that tablet integration—explicitly framed as a teaching and learning tool—supports peer-to-peer collaboration, promotes open educational resources, and reshapes classroom dynamics by redefining work division across faculty and students. Activity theory guides analysis of impacts on labour, community, and rules beyond the classroom.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

BYOD and mobile device use in higher education

Prior research on tablets and classroom interaction

Learning design and collaboration potential

Volume 44(1) Winter/Hiver 2018 Tablets and Trees: Equipping Forestry Students with Mobile Tools for Learning In and Out of Classroom Des tablettes et des arbres: équiper les étudiants en foresterie d'outils mobiles pour apprendre en et hors de la salle de classe Michael Paskevicius, Vancouver Island University Liesel Knaack, Vancouver Island University Abstract This paper presents the case of how a department of applied science went about implementing a tablet initiative in a two-year diploma program. Tablets were a required tool for entry into the program with a goal of reducing textbook purchase costs for students, mirroring industry standard practices in mobile device usage, and enabling collaborative and active learning in the classroom. Based on surveys, interviews, and classroom observations we found that the integration of tablets, when explicitly positioned as a teaching and learning tool supported new forms of peer-to-peer collaboration, encouraged the use of open educational resources, and shifted traditional classroom dynamics reformulating the division of labour between faculty and students. Using activity theory as a lens for the analysis, we examine how the introduction of this tool changes the system of activity and impacts the division of labour, community, and rules both within and beyond the classroom. Résumé Cet article présente la façon dont un département de sciences appliquées a mis en œuvre un projet d’intégration de tablettes dans un programme de deux ans menant à un diplôme. Les tablettes étaient requises pour entrer dans le programme, et ce, afin de réduire les coûts d'achat de manuels scolaires, de refléter les pratiques courantes de l'industrie en ce qui concerne l'utilisation des appareils mobiles, et de faciliter un apprentissage collaboratif et actif en classe. En nous basant sur des sondages, des entrevues et des observations en classe, nous avons constaté que l'intégration des tablettes, explicitement positionnées comme outils d'enseignement etd'apprentissage, favorisait de nouvelles formes de collaboration entre pairs, encourageait l'utilisation de ressources éducatives libres et modifiait la dynamique traditionnelle des salles declasse en redéfinissant la division du travail entre professeurs et étudiants. En nous appuyant sur la théorie de l’activité, nous examinons comment l'introduction de cet outil modifie le système d'activités et affecte la division du travail, la communauté et les règles en et hors de la salle declasse. Introduction It is now quite common for higher education institutions to support mobile devices by providing network access to faculty and students for connecting their personal devices.“Bring your own device”(BYOD) policies encourage faculty and students to bring their personal mobile devices to campus, allowing users to connect to campus services and infrastructure. This supports productivity and connectivity anywhere on campus offering flexibility to work outside of traditional computer labs or classrooms (Afreen, 2014). Using mobile devices in a deliberate way within the classroom for teaching and learning activities remains less established as a practice in higher education. The implementation of new technologies as part of the curriculum should follow careful consideration of how students and instructors will use the devices for teaching and learning (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2015) . There has been mixed reception to students actively accessing mobile technology while in class, largely due to the potential for distraction (McCoy, 2016; Ravizza, Uitvlugt, & Fenn, 2017) . Rather than teaching to the technology or relying on students to use technology impactfully to support their own learning, faculty must find ways to demonstrate how technologies may be used as tools for accessing information, data collection, and collaboration. In this way, faculty can guide students towards learning with, rather than from, mob

FAQs

Why were tablets required when students entered the diploma program?

Tablets were required to reduce textbook purchase costs and to align with common industry practices for using mobile devices, while enabling collaborative and active learning in class.

What did the study find about tablet integration as a teaching and learning tool?

The integration, when explicitly positioned as an educational tool, supported new peer-to-peer collaboration, encouraged use of open educational resources, and altered traditional classroom dynamics by changing the division of labor between faculty and students.

How does the paper analyze the effects of introducing tablets?

It uses activity theory as a lens to examine how the tool changes the system of activity and affects labour, community, and rules both within and beyond the classroom.

Oct 15, 2026

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