Tablets - the modern teaching aid

Tablets are devices hugely popular amongst children, with even babies taking to them naturally, finding the touch screen easy and instinctive to use. For many parents the tablet is the modern pacifier, soothing and entertaining their baby with music and videos, but for older children it can be used for a range of things: playing games, surfing the internet, or communicating with friends.

But the tablet is able to do far more than simply entertain - it can be a very effective teaching aid. Increasingly ubiquitous in classrooms, tablets are often the key component of immersive lessons plans, with teachers able to create interactive learning programs. Given the relative affordability of tablets as opposed to desktop computers, many schools are able to equip each student with their own device. This will permit the pupils the time to fully master the use of their tablet, along with granting them the responsibility of looking after such a device. With each child having the same tablet at school there will be no distinction made between families of different incomes, with some children feeling embarrassed because they only have a refurbished, outdated device.

With students logged into their devices, and completing their work on the tablet, their teacher will be able to track in real time their progress. Once a student has completed the assignment on their tablet it can often automatically marked, saving the teacher time, with the results automatically displayed in a spreadsheet. This will permit the teacher time to track the progress of each student over, easily spotting any drops in their grades, and delivering the necessary help to anyone falling behind.

Tablets also allow teachers to send direct messages to parents and students, appraising them as to what is happening in the classroom. They will be able to send web links pertinent to the lesson at hand, directing students as to where they can go to revise and learn more about the current parts of the syllabus.

With their online capacity tablets are perhaps the ultimate learning tool. The entire internet is just a few screen taps away, and students will have access to a wealth of knowledge, with everything from textbooks and lectures available to them. The generous battery life and slim size of tablets means they can be taken anywhere. Wherever the family may be travelling, as long as their child has their tablet, they will be able to keep up with their school work. Long gone are the days where an extra suitcase full of textbooks and revision notes would need to be packed!

Such is the versatility of tablets that they can be helpful in whatever field the student has chosen specialise in. Perhaps computer science is their favourite subject - there are a wealth of apps that will help them learn how to code. If they are learning the guitar or piano (or just about any instrument) there are a host of applications that can help them play, with many that will analyse their musical performance in real time, marking them on their sight reading ability, the inbuilt microphone on the tablet being able to hear what they are playing. Chemistry, photography, mathematics, English - for just about any subject the tablet will be able to offer the kind of assistance that would have been unimaginable only a few years ago.

We are living through an era of great change, and perhaps the greatest change will be the way in which children learn. The traditional format of a teacher at one end of a room, instructing a group of children sitting facing them attentively may well be coming to an end. Tablets are certainly part of that change, offering the ability to make learning fun for each child.