Assessing the Capabilities of Touch-Based Devices in the Classroom Commissioned by Intel® Education TABLET BROWSING in EDUCATION

June 2014 | Prepared by Clarity Innovations

TABLET BROWSING IN EDUCATION

Assessing the Capabilities of Touch-based Devices in the Classroom Commissioned by Intel® Education TABLET BROWSING IN EDUCATION

Putting Today’s Tablets to the Test

WHICH ONES ARE BEST FOR EDUCATION-BASED BROWSING?

Do the tablets that you’re considering for your students support the full range of web content and technologies that they’ll need to succeed in school?

You might expect that the latest batch of tablets on the market would effortlessly support the needs of education. However, according to a study conducted by Clarity Innovations, tablet devices vary considerably in their capabilities and compatibility. For students to be successful, it’s critical to choose a device that has fewer problems, is less dependent on workaround apps, and is more likely to just work.

To assess the browsing capabilities of tablets for education, Clarity Innovations visited a list of top educational websites using each of the major tablet platforms available today. We tested each device using touch only; no external mouse was used on any device during our testing. We asked three teachers who are currently implementing one-to- one and many-to-one technology initiatives in their schools to assemble this list based on what they most frequently use themselves and ask their students to use. These education-based websites were tested in the categories of science, social studies, English, math, arts, productivity, classroom tools and reference.

Overall, Clarity found a significant difference in the support of these sites by each of the tablet platforms. The Intel®-powered Surface Pro was a leader with only 13% of web pages demonstrating issues. The Acer Chromebook and Surface RT devices followed with 17% of websites with issues, and the iPad and Nexus 10 devices brought up the rear with 59% of websites showing errors. The devices were tested for many issues ranging from Adobe Flash and plug-in issues, touch and other interface issues, to any other problems made the website difficult to use. See Appendix 2 for a full description of all error types tested.

Figure 1: Percentage of Websites with Errors

Surface Pro

Chromebook

Surface RT

Nexus

iPad 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

See Appendix 3 for detailed testing results and Appendix 2 for a full description of the error types.

For students to be successful, it is critical to choose a device that has fewer problems, is less dependent on workaround apps, and is more likely to just work

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1 TABLET BROWSING IN EDUCATION

Dependable access to Internet resources is critical for 21st century learning. If students try to visit a particular site and their tablet runs into trouble, they cannot easily reach for an alternative. To better understand the experience that students will have when browsing on their tablets, Clarity Innovations tested 175 popular education websites using the following browser and device combinations:

• Acer C720P Chromebook on Google Chrome • Apple iPad 4 iOS 7 on Safari • Google Nexus 10 Android 4.2.2 on Google Chrome • Microsoft Surface RT Windows® 8.1 on IE 11 • Microsoft Surface Pro Windows® 8.1 on IE 11

See Appendix 1 for full configuration details for each device.

Trial and Errors Below are descriptions of the most prevalent issues experienced during testing, which included Adobe Flash, issues with touch, and sites requiring an app to be used. A full testing matrix is located in Appendix 3, which shows error types by website for each device.

ADOBE FLASH IS STILL PROMINENT IN EDUCATION…

It’s well known that Adobe Flash content is not supported on iOS and Android devices, and for that reason, many web pages no longer use Adobe Flash. In education, however, there are still numerous websites that do require Adobe Flash. In fact, 35% of websites tested ran Adobe Flash content, meaning your students would not be able to access one third of websites on their iOS or Android devices. Windows® and Google Chrome devices, however, run Adobe Flash, eliminating the problem completely.

The Intel®-powered Surface Pro was a leader with only 13% of web pages demonstrating issues.

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…BUT ADOBE FLASH IS FAR FROM THE ONLY PROBLEM

Although Adobe Flash incompatibility was among the most common errors encountered in testing, iOS and Android devices still encountered more issues than the Intel®-based devices in the remaining categories of display error, non-Flash media error, plug-in issue, requires app, and other issues. The Windows® Surface Pro device only encountered 5 problems, in comparison to 45 errors on the iOS device and 40 errors on the Android device. The Chromebook and Windows® RT devices both had 12 errors in those categories. The figure below shows the number of errors other than Adobe Flash reported for each device.

Figure 2: Number of Errors by Issue Type

Surface Pro

Chromebook

Surface RT

Nexus

iPad

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

Display Non-Flash Media Plug-in Requires App Other

See Appendix 3 for detailed testing results and Appendix 2 for a full description of the error types.

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3 TABLET BROWSING IN EDUCATION

Touch and Go? With touch devices becoming more prominent in education, how websites perform without a mouse is a huge concern. During the testing, there were a total of 23 websites where either one or more devices had a touch issue, which is only 13% of all websites tested.

When digging deeper into the websites with touch issues, the iPad and Nexus had other issues that disabled the site due to Adobe Flash or other media problems as well as a supported browser or device. In these cases, the main content of the site could not be accessed, meaning a touch error was not a possibility. The chart below shows the touch issues, or correlating error on each device.

Figure 3: Comparison of Websites with Touch Issues

Chromebook

Surface Pro

Surface RT

Nexus

iPad 0 6 12 18

Touch Issue Touch disabled Other Interface Touch Not Supported Non-Adobe Flash Due to Adobe Flash Issue Due to Display Problem Media Problem

See Appendix 3 for detailed testing results and Appendix 2 for a full description of the error types.

During the testing, there were a total of 23 websites where either one or more devices had a touch issue, which is only 13% of all websites tested.

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CONTENT ON APPS

Although many of the sites tested have available app alternatives, that does not always mean that that app is equivalent to the full website content. Many apps include just parts of the content and must be purchased. Additionally, apps need to be updated consistently and take up storage space on the device. In an environment with multiple platforms—such as a BYOD program—having some students on the app while some students use the website can cause problems. Many of the tested sites required the app version on the iPad and would not allow students to access the web version. On the Windows® 8 Surface Pro, all of the websites were accessible from the web browser without needing to download additional apps.

PERFORMANCE BY SUBJECT AREA

In testing by major subject areas, the iPad ranged from having problems with 41% of websites to 74%, with the highest number of issues in the productivity and presentations tools category. That category consisted of websites that could be used in classes throughout different subject areas to create graphics and presentations as well as to organize schoolwork. The two Intel®-based devices each had only 17% of websites with errors in the same category of productivity and presentation tools.

The graphic below shows the percentage of websites with errors for each of the tested subject areas. The iPad and Nexus devices clearly show larger percentages of problems in every area.

Figure 4: Percent of Websites with Errors by Subject Matter

Surface Pro

Chromebook

Surface RT

Nexus

iPad

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Science Social Studies English Math Fine Arts Productivity & Presentation Tools Classroom Tools & Management Reference See Appendix 3 for detailed testing results and Appendix 2 for a full description of the error types.

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The Verdict When choosing the best tablet device for your classroom, it is important to consider how much Internet content your students will be able to access without encountering problems. In our testing, the Intel®-powered Surface Pro tablet with Windows® 8.1 had the fewest issues, meaning students can spend their time actually learning rather than grappling with frustrating technical difficulties and inconsistent learning experiences.

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6 TABLET BROWSING IN EDUCATION APPENDIX 1: DEVICE CONFIGURATION

Appendix 1: Device Configuration

SYSTEM MICROSOFT SURFACE MICROSOFT SURFACE ACER CHROMEBOOK GOOGLE NEXUS 10 APPLE IPAD 4 PRO RT C720P

Operating System Windows® 8.1 Pro Windows® 8.1 RT Google Chrome OS Android 4.4.2 Kit Kat Apple iOS 7

CPU Intel® Core i5, Dual NVIDA Tegra 3, Quad Intel® Celeron, Dual ARM Mali-T604, Dual Apple A6X Core Core Core Core

System Dimensions 10.8" x 6.8" x 0.5" 10.8" x 6.8" x 0.4" 11.3" x 8.0" x .8" 10.4 x 7.0" x 0.4" 9.5" x 7.3" x 0.4"

System Weight 32 oz 24 oz 48 oz 21 oz 24 oz

Memory 4GB 2GB 4GB 2GB 1 GB

Storage 64GB 32GB 16GB 16GB 16GB

Screen Size 10.6" 10.6" 11.6" 10" 9.7"

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A1: Device Configuration 1 TABLET BROWSING IN EDUCATION APPENDIX 2: DESCRIPTION OF ERROR TYPES

Appendix 2: Description of Error Types

DISPLAY PROBLEM

Any error where the website did not display properly, including layout and formatting issues. For example, web page does not display on a mobile device, or does not fit properly on the screen.

ADOBE FLASH REQUIRED

Errors where the content could not be accessed because Adobe Flash was required and was not supported on the device.

NON-FLASH MEDIA PROBLEM

Media problems that were not Adobe Flash related—for example, other videos or audio not playing.

TOUCH PROBLEM

Any error where the interface did not work properly using touch. For example, many click and drag or hover functionalities do not work with touch.