This is a short presentation on integrating handhelds into the classroom intended for teachers who have some familiarity with handhelds and want to use them more effectively with their students. It also features a list of some of the best freeware available.
Well, the workshop on “Using Mobile Technology to Differentiate Instruction” that I wrote about earlier is pretty well finished. I’m really happy with the content in it and think this is a great resource for schools using mobile tech and looking for resources.
I’ve structured this in a wiki, and it is intended to be used for either a face-to-face workshop or as an online self-guided learning experience.
This is licensed under a CC BY SA license, so you are free to use it for your own purposes as well.
This is my first attempt at using a wiki to facilitate both a F2F workshop and a self-guided experience. If you go through it, let me know what you think.
There is a brand new 2nd Edition now available of the popular book Handhelds for Teachers and Administrators by Tony Vincent and Janet Caughlin.
This new edition has a lot of new information, including a section on podcasting, which includes tips for using Audacity and information on publishing your podcast. Even if you already have the old edition of this book, it’s worth getting this update. It also includes a new CD with more lessons, software, podcasts, and movies!
I have been working on a large project using handhelds and desktop computers to enhance student writing, and I am more and more convinced that one of the best uses of technology is in the area of writing. For many kids who have struggled with writing in the past, a keyboard can free them up to be successful writers.
Good software is a key as well. This picture is of a wall of Inspiration-generated concept maps. (Teachers will always have bulletin boards.:) Students used Inspiration to generate ideas for a persuasive essay. These concept maps were then converted to outlines that students used to organize their ideas and add details. I’ve seen kids really latch on to the idea of paragraph development using this method. The outlines were then transferred to Word, where kids wrote their persuasive essays.
This process emphasizes the steps of prewriting in a way that is more approachable for kids and makes the actual writing a lot easier. When tasked with writing a 500-700 word essay, kids groaned at the task. After using Inspiration to plan their writing, one little girl said to me “I’m gonna have WAY more than 500 words! Is that ok?” Now that’s the power of technology.:)
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I’ve been working on a geography unit for handhelds and have been looking for a good Windows Mobile paint program with flood fill, etc. for activities with maps. I’d found one: PocketPicture. This is free Open Source software. Depending on the version of Pocket PC you’re running, you may also need to install the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework.
In celebration of February as African American History Month, K12 Handhelds presents a FREE handheld curriculum unit on African American history. This unit includes an ebook with historic photos, profiles, a timeline, a linked glossary, and more; a virtual field trip to significant sites in African American history; web clippings of profiles, first person accounts, and more; a quiz, and even a handheld calendar of historical events for every day in February!
If you have these materials already, make sure to download the new interactive ebook in Mobipocket. It includes quizzes embedded right in the ebook.
Martin Luther King Day is Jan. 15 this year. Here are some resources related to this great American hero.
Ebooks:
“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech
Letters from the Birmingham Jail
Martin Luther King Jr. Day Anthology
(This includes a variety of essays from various figures in African American history.)
Collection of MLK speeches
(These are HTML and PDFs, so you’ll need to convert them with Plucker or Adobe Reader mobile.)
Audio recordings:
“Remembering Martin Luther King”
(an editorial from VOA)
Self-Suffice & Furyus
(contemporary rap poetry remix tribute to MLK; lots of food for thought in this one)
Images:
(Creative Commons-licensed; suitable for use in student projects)
Other resources relating to African-American history are also available here.
If you are looking for grants for mobile technology use in the classroom, the 2007 HP Technology for Teaching Grants have been announced. The RFP is avialable now. Applications can be started on Jan. 8, 2007 and are due on Feb. 15, 2007.
Do you ever have one of those days when you just don’t have time to sync, and all you need to do is get one or two documents over to your desktop? I certainly have. Here are two tools that I’ve found useful in alleviating this problem (especially in working with a classroom of kids):
- The USB plus SD card - This SD card folds in half and goes into your USB port, doubling as a USB drive. Just pop it in your handheld, copy over a file, and pop it in your desktop or laptop. I don’t know how I lived without this. 
- IrDa (infrared) adapter- This a little inexpensive USB device that adds infrared capabilities to your desktop or laptop. Then you can just beam a document from your handheld to your desktop or laptop (or vice versa). Very convenient.
The 6th Annual Michigan Handheld Computers in Education Conference is coming up soon. It will be held Nov. 9-11 at Washtenaw Intermediate School District in Ann Arbor.
