Learner-centred mathematics and statistics education using netbook tablet PCs

Tablet technology has been shown to support learner-centred mathematicseducation when this technology is available to both the lecturer and thestudents. However, cost is often the barrier to students' use of tablet PCsfor their university studies. This article argues that more affordablenetbook PCs with tablet capabilities can be viable alternatives to full-sizedtablet PCs to enhance active and collaborative learning in mathematics andstatistics. For a whole teaching semester, netbook tablet PCs were given tovolunteer students from two different cohorts. Students were enrolled innursing mathematics or introductory statistics in non-mathematics majorsat an Australian university. The aims were to gauge the suitability of thistechnology and to identify what active and collaborative learning emergedin these first-year classes. While the netbook tablet PCs were activelypromoted in their tutorials, of additional interest was students' use of thetechnology for any aspect of their studies both inside and outside theclassroom. The outcome of this study was to inform a university decision toprovide inexpensive tablet technology to larger cohorts of students. Theresults highlight different approaches required in the mathematics andstatistics classes to achieve collaborative and active learning facilitatedthrough the technology. Environmental variables such as the tutor, student,learning space, availability of other technologies and subject content had animpact on the nature of learning. While learner-centred education can befacilitated by inexpensive netbook tablet PCs, we caution that the savingsmay come at the expense of computing power.