Positive attitudes towards learning with digital media can play a vital role for the development of student competencies. Several large-scale studies support this view, finding positive correlations with both information and ICT competencies (e.g. Fraillon et al, 2014, Lee & Wu, 2012) and subject-related achievement (Petko, Cantieni, & Prasse, 2016).

Possibly, personal attitudes and beliefs - regarding how digital media might further the personal learning process - can determine motivation and the manner in which they will be productively applied to one’s learning both in and outside of school. This interpretation would be consistent with approaches such as the Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010) or derived models such as the Technology Acceptance Modell (Venkatesh & Bala, 2008), in which attitudes play a central role in determining behavior.

Newer research on the genesis of attitudes towards learning with digital media in the school context is fairly scarce. The assumption that the new generation of digital natives inherently possesses positive attitudes has frequently not been borne out, which has given rise to calls for a more differentiated approach towards understanding these attitudes (Jones, Ramanau, Cross, & Healing, 2010). ICT-related attitudes and beliefs have therefore increasingly been brought under the spotlight (Hatzigianni, Gregoriadis, & Fleer, 2016). Previous studies have primarily suggested the importance of individual-level factors such as gender-related aspects, degree of ICT use at home and in school, or preferences regarding learning style (Aesert & Braak, 2014; Aesert et al., 2015; Meelissen, 2008) and the influence of significant role models such as parents or peers (Vekiri, 2010). But the extent to which the school has an impact, has thus far remained largely unclear. What is the influence of the teachers’ ICT-related attitudes and competencies, actual ICT-use in the classroom and specific learning forms on the attitudes of students towards learning with digital media?

Studies regarding the use of personal digital devices (e.g. tablets) can demonstrate that 1:1 equipment of students can have a positive effect on whether potential learning opportunities are taken advantage of, as well as on their attitude towards learning with digital media (Curtois et al., 2014), but these studies have so far mostly relied on very small sample sizes and tend to have an exploratory character. Therefore, this study has assembled a large sample of primary school students with and without personal tablets in order to shed a light on the significance of classroom-related effects on students’ attitudes when controlling for individual-level effects.

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