LEarning with Tablets: Acceptance and COgnitive Processes – LETACOP

The proposal focuses on multitouch tablets for learning because these mobile devices are installed in our daily lives but also in education. Like computers 30 years ago, these devices are emerging in classroom contexts. However, unlike computers that are generally confined to a computer room, tablets are used in traditional classrooms. They can contribute to the educational tasks. For these reasons, this proposal aims at exploring learning with these new devices in particular reading-comprehension and information seeking in web sites and digital textbooks. To understand the acceptance of tablets and its factors as well as the relationships between acceptance and tablets use, the proposal is organized around two main research tasks. A first task will examine the psychological factors contributing to the acceptance of tablets for learning. The studies will examine the perceived usability and usefulness of tablets, but more originally they will investigate the effects of the tablets perceptions on the real use and not just on self-reported use or intention to use. The proposal will investigate the tablets acceptance based on the Technology Acceptance Models and extensions (TAM). However, it will enrich these models and exceed certain of their limits by implying psychological variables (e.g., self-efficacy), use behaviors and their underpinning cognitive processes, and by investigating the effects of user experiences with tablets on the representations of these devices. A 2nd task of the project will consist in a more controlled examination of cognitive processes involved in the tasks frequently performed with tablets: information seeking and reading-comprehension/navigation with hypertext documents such as websites or interactive textbooks (i.e. nonlinear documents offer freedom to explore content through hyperlinks). The main interest of this 2nd research task is to study the relationship with acceptance factors and cognitive processes and meta-cognitive engaged in these tasks. In addition, will be studied the relationship between user experiences (e.g. experience with certain tasks) and representations of these tools that contribute to their acceptance (e.g. perceived usefulness). Indeed, if the works on the acceptance of technologies for learning show relationships between certain determinants and intention to use, they show very low relationship between intention to use and real use behaviors. This project will be conducted with secondary schools as well as with university students of France and Belgium. The studied situations will be ecological (class situations) for some studies while other will be more experimental in lab situations. A partnership is established between the CLLE lab (University of Toulouse) providing expertise on learning processes with technologies and the Research Center for Work and Consumer Psychology - CR PsyTC (Université Libre de Bruxelles) offering expertise in the study of the acceptance of technologies. The main issues of the proposal are firstly the improvement of knowledge and models of acceptance of technologies for learning by studying new factors and use behaviors, and secondly, to propose recommendations to improve the integration of technologies in learning environments.