Students’ everyday personal laptop usage in secondary schools in Trinidad and Tobago

Briggs, Georgette and Blair, Erik ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8660-7660 (2014) Students’ everyday personal laptop usage in secondary schools in Trinidad and Tobago. Education and Information Technologies, 21 (3). pp. 545-558. ISSN 1360-2357

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Abstract

The e-Connect And Learn (eCAL) programme is a Trinidad and Tobago government-led initiative, launched in 2010, that grants personal laptop computers to students entering secondary school. The purpose of this paper is to provide a snapshot of how students are using these government-issued personal laptops three years after the programme’s launch. This paper explores the fissure between what the policy recommends and what is actually enacted in the context of laptop usage in the classroom. Data were drawn from 1451 students, from 32 secondary schools across Trinidad and Tobago. Responses indicate that students are falling short of the expectations for in-class laptop usage and in schools where usage is less often but on a regular basis, laptops are mainly used for technology-related subjects. These findings not only suggest that students’ everyday personal laptop usage in the classroom is not in alignment with the eCAL programme goals, but also highlights some of the issues to be considered by other countries when implementing large-scale laptop programmes.

Item Type: Article
Identifier: 10.1007/s10639-014-9338-4
Subjects: Education
Education > Teaching and learning
Education > Teaching and learning > Technology-enhanced learning
Depositing User: Erik Blair
Date Deposited: 08 May 2018 12:06
Last Modified: 06 Feb 2024 15:57
URI: https://repository.uwl.ac.uk/id/eprint/4939

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