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Asian Social Science; Vol. 9, No. 17; 2013
ISSN 1911-2017 E-ISSN 1911-2025
Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education
105
Future Scenarios Regarding Tablet Computer Usage in Education and
Writing
Ruhan Karadag1 & Bekir Kayabasi1
1 Turkish Education, Adiyaman University, Turkey
Correspondence: Ruhan Karadag, Turkish Education, Adiyaman University, Turkey. E-mail:
rkaradag@adiyaman.edu.tr
Received: July 1, 2013 Accepted: September 23, 2013 Online Published: November 29, 2013
doi:10.5539/ass.v9n17p105 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ass.v9n17p105
Abstract
Today, one of the most important sources forcing the educational institutions to alteration is the developments in
informatics and communication technologies. Among these alterations, the internet and the tablet computers,
which may cause a vital transformation in the history of education, are of importance. Making assumptions,
based on today, concerning possible situations in the future and evaluating the reflections of the tablet computers,
which have recently left a mark on the education process, on the elementary education process have gained
importance. In this study, putting forth the future reflections of the tablet computers on the elementary education
process is aimed by means of scenarios and predictions. In the study, how using the tablet computers in
educational environment will affect the elementary education and to which extends it will, are focused on and
predictions regarding the future was made. Suggestions were given to educators in the light of the findings
presented as a result of the study.
Keywords: future scenarios, elementary education, tablet PC
1. Introduction
The alterations occurring in the world go through a two-way course. On the one hand, these alterations make the
lives of the people easy but on the other hand, they threaten the lives of the people. These alterations may be new
discoveries and developments or may be alterations threatening our planet and lives; whatever they may be, we
have to analyze all the happenings and facts around us well.
Understanding the past and today to understand the future well and analyze it, is not enough. We must be able to
estimate the direction and velocity of the change. For this reason, we must learn how to make long-term
estimations towards the future and we must form our future instead of accepting what is given to us (Masini,
2002). Thus, we can contribute to awakening of the sensitivity in people towards the tomorrow.
The purpose of the “Future” studies is to alert, arrange, evaluate, support, depict and understand the
consciousness and to explain the alternative future models (Bell, 2001). One way to change our understanding
towards the future concept is to make a prediction and benefit from the probability studies (Toffler, 1981). When
literature is examined, it can be seen that future studies are usually defined with different methods like the
Delphi technique, scenario technique and predicting (Cornish, 2004; Gordon, 1992; Wells, 2006). Writing or
creating a scenario is a commonly used “future” technique (Stevenson, 2001). Emergence of the scenario
technique regarding future studies dates back before the 1950’s (Fahey, 1998; Pohl, 1996). The main purpose of
the scenarios is to define the existing tendencies and open up the unknown, combine the existentials bound to
occur in the future and the unknown (Schoemaker, 1992). Also, scenarios are used in creation process of the
alternative futures (Tzu-Ying, 2011) and they help the decision makers in giving a thought to the institutional
alterations (Miller, 2006).
With the increase in the awareness towards the future, scenarios regarding the future are written by using the
accumulation of the past. Institutions that keep the future in mind write scenarios towards the future in the
purpose of taking the societies beyond the industrial era, trying to understand the universe, remain standing and
become more powerful, putting forth the threats that may be encountered, preparing for the elusiveness of the
future and determining the steps to be taken under the changing circumstances. Future scenarios gain importance
in areas like global energy (TUSIAD, 2011), geography (IABA, 2011) and global scenarios (Ogutcu, 2004) in
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our country. As a result of the conducted literature examination, it drew attention that the number of scenarios in
the field of education regarding the future is very limited. In the field of the higher education, it is seen that
notable scenarios are made withing the scope of the Future of the Higher Education Project (OECD, 2006), the
Higher Education Strategy Project (YOK, 2007) and the population and the education (TUSIAD & UNFPA,
2010) and that the future scenarios are taken into matter (Gultekin, 2006) in education. When investigations
regarding the future scenarios carried out in the world are examined, it can be seen that studies including
scientific theories, research methods and different training programs regarding the future in the academic and
professional fields are realized and that studies concerning the future are given in various lessons and programs.
Aside from this, worldwide institutions like World Future Society (WFS) realized various studies regarding the
future such as “Communications and the Future: Prospects, Promises, and Problems, The Global Economy:
Today, Tomorrow and the Transition, Careers Tomorrow: The Outlook for Work in a Changing World, Frontiers
of the 21st Century: Prelude to the New Millennium” (Wells, 2006). Yet, there being no studies regarding the
scenarios specifically in elementary education and reading/writing education field in elementary education draws
attention.
While owners of the big companies and minds at the top of the government use the scenario planning technique
before making important decisions towards the future and develop scenarios that design the model of the
different worlds that they’ll have to live in, number of scenarios regarding the education process being very low
makes us think that we didn’t look after our children’s future that well.
2. Education and Future
Transition process from industrial society to knowledge society obligates realization of important changes in,
initially, management and teaching-learning process then teacher-student roles, training programs, learning
environment and equipments in the field of education. The information era contributed to the development of the
new education technology which renders learning eligible for everyone (Reddi, 1991). This rapid advancement
in information technologies pushed the education system into a very fast-paced development and transition
process. The world has started to shape the education and education started to shape the world of the future
(Davenport & Davenport, 2001). The information technologies becoming cheap and common sped up the
information flow and changed the perceptions regarding time, place and location (Yurdabakan, 2002). Most of
the countries that developed or has still been developing in recent years made some innovations to improve their
education systems, realized numerous reforms to their education systems and allowed policy and applications to
provide modern education equipments (Karip, 1996).
In recent years, all ranks of educational institutions from elementary education to higher education in the world
try to improve the knowledge and skill levels of the people by benefiting from the technologies possibilities.
Beginning with pens and papers made from different objects, continuing its adventure with blackboard and chalk,
giving opportunity to extended education with radio and television and lastly computer, this transition process
keeping a light on new discoveries by creating new learning conditions with internet and smartboards acted as a
resource for new reforms in the education world.
While the world changes rapidly, to not to fall behind this change, to accord with the speed of the developing
technology, Turkey also tried to realize some important projects. Computer classes and education portals were
opened within the context of spreading the usage of technology in education and schools, computer education
was given to teachers and support campaigns were organized for education with computers. Conducted studies
regarding all ranks of education system were carried out to provide the usage and extensification of new
technologies in education and to make teachers and students use information technologies tools as a means at
every lesson (Microsoft Life, 2005-2006). A project was realized in recent years to establish an internet network
topology involving all the classes in Turkey and to make all the elements partaking in the education ecosystem
share interactive information by easily connecting to each other through this network (students, teachers, training
course managers, parents and etc.), and approximately 12 thousand tablet computers were aimed to be
distributed in 2011-2012 school year withing the scope of this project.
Transition from blackboard that has a very long history in terms of use, to computer-supported education carries
a notion of change and maybe a nation of transformation. Yet, like there are positive effects of every change and
transformation; there are also negative effects. For this reason, these changes that were gone through in
education process require entering an era in which new beginnings are questioned. This questioning will make
the possible results this process will create be comprehended better, also it will contribute to probable
inclinations that may occur later be understood better. In this regard, projections towards the future regarding the
tablet pc usage in education need to be put forth explicitly. For scenarios give opportunities to the modelling of
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the uncertainties concerning the future, benefiting from this technique perceptibly in creating estimations
towards the future regarding the tablet pc usage in education process is possible.
This research aims to discuss, based on scenarios, the probable reflections and tendencies of tablet computers,
one of the educational technologies which are a product of the important changes occurred in the education
process, regarding their usage in the elementary education. To this end, this study was structured on the basis of
emphases and references for scenarios regarding the future in the event of using the tablet computers in
elementary education.
2.1 The Dramatic End of the Pen
Almost five thousand years passed from the time that first symbols were written on clay tablets, which were
dried in the sun, with objects that look-alike pen till today. Experts named this complex symbols system, which
was developed by Sumerians, as cuneiform. Name symbols given to the writing were used as a dedication to the
name of the object that’s sculpted on the clay tablet. Pen, in this regard, created the indicator of the object that
we remember as one when we say writing, in a sense pen and writing were invented together.
People developed countless languages and as much as alphabets in numerous thousand years. No matter how
different these languages and alphabets were, the continuance of all those created languages and alphabets was
ensured with pen. During this process, pen became the symbol of both knowledge and virtue. Pen, a part of our
written culture, became a silent confidant with which we eternized the thoughts of our brains and mediated the
writing to be scraped into the pages of memorableness.
Tablet usage in education will affect the act of writing in elementary education to various extends. During this
process, the following statement to occur to mind is inevitable: “We did not create writing, but we can kill the
pen.” Tablets, which are toys that kids in their read and write age will touch with their fingertips, will kill the pen
for the generation that uses tablets.
2.2 Goodbye to Handwriting
Handwriting consolidates the reign of pen, leaves personal marks to writing and lastly, it visually favors the
contents. For handwriting carries personal marks throughout the world, it’s one of the proofs to the identification
of a person. In the law literature, the definition of the signature is writing the person’s forename and surname
with longhand.
Though we have bothers in the matter of reading, writing has always been more bothersome for us. Italic
handwriting wasn’t in much demand between educated mass for reasons such as published books being used
commonly and reading learners consolidating the act of writing by copying the letters in books.
Turkey made a small-scale revolution in our lives by transiting to italic longhand in the school year of 2005. But
the italic longhand we are just starting to learn not being used by our teachers yet is such a pity. This
technological revolution that’s about to start without raising a generation that can’t write italic longhand is a sign
of proceeding, which will kill handwriting without it even emerging.
Few points of the brain work coordinated during writing. This is a very tiresome process for a kid that’s just
started to read and write. This process being a habit by not being interrupted and by processing through the
circles of knowledge and experience is an obligation. Yet, usage of tablet will destroy the grasping capability of a
hand. A kid gaining the ability of doing something with everything he/she touches with his/her fingertips will not
be motivated for a struggle that requires ability and experience such as longhand. While writing in tablets, texts
without a mistake can be made thanks to the automatic writing controls of the writing programs. Though it’d
seem like a good result when looked in terms of the product, it’s inevitable that tablet computers will batter the
mother-tongue learning to a point from which there’ll be no recovery.
2.3 Disappearance of the Symbolic Value of Writing
Writing is one of the biggest discoveries of humankind. Writing is just not a discovery that records the sound.
Writing is symbolically an extension of our culture. Every letter in the alphabet has a creation adventure.
Alphabets carry symbols from the dark ages of the human history. Yet, we can’t grasp the importance of writing
for we learn it at a very young age. But an ordinary person that knows how to write could be included in a clerk
party following the philosophers in human societies dating back before a thousand year.
Our culture evolution showed us that occasionally some positive news may bear some negative results. To wit,
the construction of Kagir building killed the woodworking. Though we create building with remarkable
magnitudes, it is obvious that we drifted away from the old esthetic tastes. In a sense, we put forth work of arts
without art. This situation is the same as the situation of alphabet and writing. The thread of alphabet turning into
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a sequence of computers’ infinite sequences from a cultural value created by humans is one of the biggest
problems our written culture has faced. The act of writing will able to be executed solely by artificial brain in
parallel with the development of tablets. This situation will make people an observer, an onlooker rather than a
participant in written culture. Every person will use the same writing type in the same way in tablets. A person
will not be able to recognize his/her personal talent; we will end up conducting a creation of erased capabilities
formed by only one type of human.
2.4 Vanishing of the Classic Educational Instruments
Even though the context of human race’s thousands of years’ education adventure changed, its form didn’t.
Tough its context differed; the education system that people shaped includes similar elements from the first
formal institution that is, the Eflatun’s Academy till today: A place where education is carried out, other people
who’ll manage and give the education… Pen and similar writing tools, an area where writing will be written…
Books, pens, notebooks… A lot of writing materials were used from the clay tablets to papyrus, from gazelle
skin to paper throughout the history process. Although there were additions to these fundamentals tools through
time, no addition rendered the main education tools useless.
Today’s science was gained through the usage of vintage education materials. But, though the usage of tablet
computers may seem as a new style that combines book, notebook and pen in itself, the extension of this new
education style in our culture isn’t evident. Hence, this new style, in which visuality is very intense, can be
linked with fun rather than education.
2.5 Victory of the Visuality
The language of response and visuality that visual images create in the brain hasn’t been solved yet. The
possibilities presented by virtual reality builds an imagination world upon the real world. Virtual reality, in a way,
puts the dreams of people right beneath their hands. We still couldn’t find how to put education into this magical
device completely whilst seeing daydreams with computers. Also, how will the effect of virtual reality that
drives the people away from the real life and the education that we want to render more understandable by
driving people towards the real life get along in the same parallel bares tons of doubts in it.
Though it’s without a doubt that it’ll be a new opportunity for education, let alone the issue of today’s children
not being able to concentrate which is one of the most important issues, how to concentrate on education matters
with all these numerous attention drawing elements in tablets is a subject we’ve yet to start thinking on.
Though good directing, studying guidance, struggling provide certain results; it should’ve been more
cold-blooded and more trustworthy about the comeback of this very expensive investing. Just as using an
automobile doesn’t make us have info about how automobiles are manufactured, everybody using a tablet
doesn’t necessarily mean that we’ll rule the future in terms of computers. The brain creating the virtual reality in
computers is possible through penetration to mathematics-logic language. Beginning to use tablet early makes
persons only good customers about computers.
Socialization of kids is one the primary objectives of education. The biggest criticism concerning the computers
is them confining people into their own worlds and abstractioning them from social life. Social media by no
means necessary is the life itself. When anonymous unidentified structure of the virtual world starts to control
the students as of the first stages of education age, the fact that they may face isolation from which they may
never recover is something not to be ignored.
2.6 Death of the Memory
Fundamental components of language and knowledge are indispensable elements we need to comprehend the
world. All knowledge we accumulate into our memory is concealed with colors from our cultural life. The
knowledge coded in our brains with marks from our society and the environment we live in forms a significant
concept for every single person.
Though the level of accumulated knowledge renders the human memory insufficient, fundamental social
necessities render human memory necessary to some degree. Yet, the biggest effect of technology is that it rasps
our abilities. Transportation possibilities that enable us to reach anywhere easily made excessive weight problem
a part of our lives. It’s advised for humankind to go back to the life style before technology arrived to get rid of
this problem. In this context, easiness to be able to preserve our info that started with a big ease in the memories
we carry around will accompany belatedness which will shame the history of humanity in the coming periods.
Now, the proponents, whom advised us to benefit from the possibilities of this easy technology, may tell us in the
near future, contrary to their customs, to carry a lot of things in our brains. To not do the same mistake all the
time, we must not benefit randomly from the easiness which will disable our brains. Emptying our brains doesn’t
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necessarily mean that we’ll use it better.
Without memory, people we’ll raise will not be a member of our own culture. Those people will easily be able to
get integrated to other networks with the non-selective attitude of computers that get connected to each other
with IP code. This memoryless education may have a supranational goal. This goal will never serve us though.
2.7 Will a New Tablet Language Be Born?
Usage of tablets becoming more common and it transiting from a free-will choice to an obligation mean that
children, whom didn’t complete their language acquisition yet, will face a new language. It’ll be more of an
acquisition of a language rather than learning. For this reason, new tablet language must be investigated
thoroughly and situations that will hinder the development of the language must be eliminated quickly before
tablet use. Otherwise, a very negative ground will be set in terms of mother-tongue education. Thousands of
terms alongside with tablets will be used intensively during the education process. If we calculate the meanings
these terms connotate, we may come face-to-face with results we never could think of.
3. Conclusions and Discussion
Modern education researches tell us that brain is not a blank white page, in which we can write everything easily.
Tablet computers almost undertaking the entire act of learning may point to losing a few generations with an
unplanned initiative. In this new teaching approach, teachers also will not be expected to have enough info about
what to do, of course.
With tablet computers started to being used in education life, redoing the definition of education and
reconstructing our expectations from education seem inevitable. Tablet computer is just a product but experts,
who can’t just stop talking about the disadvantages of using a phone during class, keeping a silent mouth about
use of tablets, which brings freedom to an extend that phones can’t be compared to, is peculiar. For tablet will
destroy the notion of class.
Because future’s world will be very different from today’s world, it’ll require people with different qualities from
today’s and time will fall short in preparing the generations of the future. For this reason, big efforts are needed
to develop proper goals to meet the necessities. “Good” purpose of education must support the future; “bad”
must show resistance against the future. Therefore, educators must determine the elements which will prepare
the students to the world of future in the program (Mc Neil, 1985).
When Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon, he said that “That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for
mankind.” When education cost of tablet is taken into account, though it seems like a big step, it’s a small step in
terms of positive results it’ll provide. Using tablet computers in education environment will take our written
culture that’s been formed for thousands of years to a different stage. We don’t know how this new change will
have effect on our social lives yet. We leave the new generations into the mysterious hands of virtual world
during the age of learning reading/writing. Dazzling developments will render estimating what kind of a person
they’ll be impossible for us. Hence, to not to lose the future generations, to create a more promising future and to
elude the negative aspects of tablet computers, keeping some subjects in mind seems obligated:
• We must make children notice that tablets are education tools. Computer is not the life itself, it is a human
invention created to ease the life. And students must be brought up with this awareness.
• Knowledge is what is in the mind, not what is in the tablet. No device can replace the human brain. So,
educators are required to execute their roles as guides effectively in order to make the students configure
information.
• Teachers must be more informed about the tablet usage than the students. They must be teachers between the
students and tablet as well.
• Parents being good computer users, they must be the guides of new generations out of school.
• To use the time right and to not get separated from the real life, virtual addictiveness in young generations must
be avoided.
• Events of plays and dramas must be increased; fields aside from learning with computers must become
appealing.
• To keep the computer addictiveness of young generations under control, events like scouting, which will leave
students head to head with the nature, must be used more commonly and productively.
• Usage of internet and social media must get separated, we must be careful against the unidentified world of
social media.
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