Using tablets to support active learning

Using a tablet can enable you to facilitate more interactive, inclusive, and engaging learning in active learning spaces and in the round.

This short guide provides an overview of why you might choose to use a tablet and the potential benefits for you and your students.

It then sets out four approaches to using a tablet to orchestrate learning in three disciplines: Business, Engineering and Innovation.

The last section outlines the options for purchasing a tablet at University of Bristol.

Why use a tablet?

  • Mobility and presence: Tablets allow you to move around and engage with students, managing learning activities from anywhere in the room.
  • Enhanced interaction: Effective teaching in active learning spaces and in the round relies on proximity and engagement. Tablets can support this by enabling you to control presentations, annotate materials, andmanage digital tools while remaining among students rather than in a fixed position.
  • Seamless facilitation: Tablets make it easier to create, annotate, display, and share learning materials in real time.

What are the potential benefits for you?

  • Improved learner engagement: Being able to move around the room helps maintain attention and promotes interaction.
  • Flexible teaching workflows: You can switch between slides, digital whiteboards, polls, apps and other resources without returning to a fixed location.
  • Responsive instruction: Being able to capture, annotate and share student contributions encourages active participation and supports adaptive teaching.

What are the potential benefits for students? 

  • Closer, more inclusive teaching: Students may feel more connected if you are mobile, making eye contact with them, rather than stationary at the front. 
  • Increased opportunities for participation: Tablets make it easier for you to invite student input, display student work or integrate tools that promote interaction.
  • More dynamic learning materials: Live annotation and shared digital content support multimodal learning experiences and can improve understanding. 

How might you want to use tablets?

Below are practical examples of how you can use a tablet to facilitate learning in large active learning spaces or in the round. Each approach can be adapted to suit a Business, Engineering or Innovation teaching context. 

  1. Group work: Movement and engagement 

In this approach, using a tablet allows you to move around the learning space to interact with students as they engage in group work. 

 Setup 

  • Ensure your tablet gives you access to key teaching materials, e.g. slides, task instructions, models or marking criteria. 
  • Connect the tablet wirelessly to the main display so you can switch views if needed while remaining mobile. 

How it works 

  • Set a group task, e.g. 

- Business: analysing a case, developing a recommendation or working through a calculation 

- Engineering: solving a problem, debugging code or developing a design 

- Innovation: ideation, concept development or prototyping. 

  • While students work in groups, move around the space, using your tablet to answer questions, probe thinking, or clarify misconceptions as they arise. 
  • Use brief, targeted interactions rather than extended explanations, helping each group make progress before moving on to the next. 

Why it works 

  • Physical proximity supports engagement and reduces barriers to asking questions. 
  • Students receive timely, contextual feedback while they are actively working. 
  • The tablet allows you to stay with the group learning activity rather than stepping away to manage technology in the front or centre of the room. 

Variation and extension 

  • Pause group work briefly to address any common issues you have noticed, using the tablet to display a short clarification. 
  • Use your tablet to note down ideas or issues during group work to inform feedback or follow-up teaching. 

 

2. Annotation tool: Live co-construction 

In this approach, you and your students annotate slides to solve problems, map concepts and construct models in real time, using the tablet as a digital whiteboard. 

Setup 

  • Load slides on the tablet using a PDF viewer or presentation app, e.g. Microsoft PowerPoint. 

How it works 

  • Pose a challenge to students, e.g. 

- Business: a pricing model or accounting problem 

- Engineering: a circuit, equation or program 

- Innovation: a problem statement or early-stage concept. 

  • Use the pen tool to highlight assumptions, circle key variables, or sketch possible ideas on the slide. Invite ideas from the cohort. 
  • In groups, students work together to solve the problem, brainstorm ideas to add to the concept map, or develop the model, using paper and pen or their own digital devices. Move around the learning space to monitor students, annotating the slide to support students as needed. 
  • Invite two or three groups to add their ideas to the slides using your tablet and the pen tool. Students can add to a shared slide or to different versions of the slide. 

Why it works 

  • Students see different peers’ approaches to thinking about a problem or concept. 
  • Tablet mobility allows you to move between different groups to support them. 

Variation and extension 

  • Students could add their ideas to a digital whiteboard app, e.g. Miro or Microsoft Whiteboard, rather than on paper. You could then display these using your tablet to annotate them or invite students to annotate them. 
  • Following the activity, you could export the annotated slides and share them with students for reference. 

 

3. Document camera: From physical to digital 

In this activity, students use physical materials to demonstrate processes in real time, with the tablet used as a document camera. 

Setup 

  • Prepare a tripod or stand to keep the tablet still when filming. 
  • Ensure students have materials to work with, e.g. 

- Business: a calculator, customer journey map, or Lego to represent parts of a supply chain 

- Engineering: parts of a model or a circuit board 

- Innovation: objects to create a prototype. 

How it works 

  • Demonstrate the process, using the tablet as a document camera to display it to students on the projector screen. Explain your reasoning. 
  • Pause to invite questions or suggestions from the cohort. 
  • In groups, students replicate or adapt the process using physical materials. Move around the learning space to monitor students, supporting them as needed. 
  • Invite two or three groups to demonstrate their processes to the cohort, again using the tablet camera to display it on the projector screen. 

Why it works 

  • Using physical materials can slow down students’ thinking. 
  • The tablet can bridge analogue and digital learning. 
  • Students see different peers’ approaches to thinking about a problem or concept without students having to ‘present’ at the front of the room. 

Variation and extension 

  • Rather than asking groups to demonstrate live, you could use the camera to create short video recordings to share with the cohort. 
  • Instead of (or in addition to) showing the process in real time, you could take photos and annotate them (or invite students to annotate them). 
  • Students could record themselves demonstrating the process and share the recordings via Blackboard. 

 

4. Record and share: Micro-explainers for just-in-time learning 

In this activity, you and your students use the tablet to record short explanations or sketches of threshold concepts for future reference. 

Setup 

  • Open Microsoft Clipchamp (Windows 2-in-1 laptop) or the built in Screen Recording tool (iPad). 

How it works 

  • During class, when a key explanation emerges from a student question, use your tablet to record a short explanation, annotation or sketch. 
  • Following your session, upload the recordings to Blackboard. Encourage students to rewatch them before assessments or in group revision. 

Why it works 

  • Screen recording on a tablet enables you to capture authentic explanation in context, particularly when moving between groups and supporting them. 
  • Having access to recordings reduces repetition in later sessions and can support inclusive learning by allowing students to control the pace of the video. 

Variation and extension 

Students create their own micro-explainers in groups and upload their recordings to Blackboard. 

 

How can you purchase a tablet at University of Bristol? 

The 11" iPad is the University’s recommended tablet device and can be ordered through IT Services. Be sure to order an Apple Pencil with the iPad so you can write and annotate using the device. The 11" iPad is highly portable, weighing just 477g (February 2026).  

Potential downsides include the challenges of using an alternative operating system and the fact the device cannot be shared between colleagues, as it does not enable different users to log in.   

Larger models, such as the 13" iPad Air, can be purchased through IT Services, although this must be done as a non-standard request and costs significantly more. The 13" model offers a larger screen and is still relatively light (616g, February 2026). 

The most cost-effective Windows solution is a 2-in-1 laptop, which provides touchscreen and pen input. This can be purchased through IT Services as a non-standard request and costs only slightly more than a standard non-touch lightweight laptop. The main advantage is that you can use this as your primary work device and don’t need to carry a separate tablet for teaching. However, its greater weight (1.3kg, February 2026) makes it less portable than an iPad when moving around the learning space. 

Currently, Android and Windows tablets are not supported at University of Bristol. 

Option 

How? 

Pros? 

Cons? 

iPad 11" and Apple Pencil Pro 

Purchase through IT Services (standard request) 

Lightest option (477g) 

Cheaper than 13" model 

Different operating system 

Not shareable 

iPad Air 13" and Apple Pencil Pro 

Purchase through IT Services (non-standard request) 

Light (616g) 

Larger screen for annotating and creating content 

More expensive than 11" model 

Different operating system 

Not shareable 

Windows 2-in-1 laptop and stylus 

Purchase through IT Services (non-standard request) to use as main laptop, with touch screen and pen input 

Cheapest option (costs slightly more than non-touch version) 

Seamless transition from office to classroom 

Not light (1.32kg)