Integrating handhelds

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.

Integrating Handhelds into the Classroom

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: handhelds palm)

Quizzler tip

If you have a problem with a Quizzler quiz that won't beam or read properly, check the length of the file (quiz) name. Like many programs, Quizzler doesn't like very long file names.

Proliferation of new mobile devices

There have been several new mobile devices coming out, and now HP has one as well. The HP 2133 Mini-Notebook is $499 with Linux. (As with all of these new category devices, the price is quite a bit higher with xp.)

As the prices come down a bit (I think $300 is the sweet spot for education), these devices might be a good solution for a one-to-one computing device, falling somewhere between a handheld and a laptop. I am particularly interested in how Web 2.0 applications runs on these and what other educational programs are available.

Stay tuned for more on these new devices and their use in the classroom.

New "$50 handheld"

There has been a lot of press about the new "$50 handheld," otherwise known as the Teachermate handheld computer from Chicago-based non-profit Innovations for Learning, and some people have asked me what I think.

First of all, I haven't actually seen or used the device, but I have read the company's information and reviews by several ed tech experts I respect.

Given this, here are my thoughts:

• This tool has a very specific use in mind (supplemental K-1 reading and math) and doesn't appear have capabilities for use beyond that.
  
• This really isn't a handheld computer as the term is commonly used. For educational purposes, I would say a handheld needs to have basic productivity functions (e.g. writing) and some kind of input mechanism (e.g. keyboard, handwriting). It also needs to be suitable for multiple purposes. The Teachermate doesn't fit these criteria. It's more inline with devices like Leapfrog's educational toys than handhelds. Of course, you can call something whatever you want, I guess, but that doesn't make it so.
  
• The hardware is $50, but that doesn't include software, which you can only purchase from Innovations for Learning at additional cost.
  
• Most importantly, the Teachermate system appears to be a closed, proprietary system. In today's world of open source, user-generated everything, read/write web, etc., I don't think closed systems have much of a chance. (Even Apple may be waking up to this with the recent long-awaited release of their SDK.) Educators need to be able to choose from a large range of solutions and to be able to customize content to meet their students' needs. The success of handheld computing to date has been the availability of a large selection of options (software, content, etc.) across all curriculum areas, skills focuses, and learning styles. One size does not fit all.
  

Now, if Innovations for Learning were to come out with an SDK and release their hardware spec for developers to come up with peripherals like keyboards, wireless cards, etc., that would be much more interesting.

In the meantime, it may be an effective early learning tool, but it's not a handheld.

Cheap + Mobile = Access

I did a hands-on session this week on my new favorite topic, Open Educational Resources, that was really well received. (I'll be presenting this at NCCE in Seattle on Feb. 28 and at CUE in Palm Springs on March 7 for those of you who will be there.)

This seems to be a topic that generates a lot of enthusiasm and passion; I know it has for me. While I was presenting, one woman raised her hand and said that this all sounded great, but her kids didn't all have access to computers. That's why I got into mobile technology, I answered. It provides cheap access to technology.

In OER, we think a lot about access in terms of the developing world, but it's important here too. This was a big a-ha moment for me, connecting OER with my "real job," mobile tech.

I'm becoming more convinced that a part of the answer is cell phones.

Differentiating Professional Development

In my on-going quest to differentiate instruction for teachers as a part of workshops I do, I've been experimenting with using blogs and wikis as PD tools.

The latest installment in this is a hands on workshop on using mobile technology to differentiate instruction (coincidentally) that I am outlining in a wiki. I'm hoping that this wiki will also be able to be used as a self-study tool for those who aren't at the workshop (or for those who attend and want a refresher or more in-depth learning later on).

Here's a preview of a section on using ebooks.

We'll be using this at my "HANDS ON: Using Mobile Technology to Differentiate Instruction" at NCETC on Mon., Nov. 26. If you'll be there, I'm really looking forward to this. (This is a bring-your-own-laptop-and-mobile-device workshop. Contact me for more info.)

If not, stay tuned for the final version of this. I'll post a note when it's done (or as near to done as wikis get :).

Mini-movies for learning sight words

I've written before about the power of mini-movies to engage kids and teach core content with mobile technology.

One use of this is for teaching sight words to beginning readers. Here's an example:



These videos are relatively easy to create (or inexpensive to have someone else create). Once they're done, they can be viewed online, on handhelds (Palm or PPC), on iPods or other mobile video players, on game machines, and on DVD players.

One interesting thing we've seen in using mini-movies with kids (especially older middle school kids) is that they are more likely to watch an instructional video repeatedly if they can do it in private. This is one of the advantages of mobile technology.

Free Kids Dictionary Project

For a long while, many of us have seen the need for a free kids dictionary that could be used on mobile devices. Since none seem to exist that are at a kids' level and are "kid appropriate," I've always had an idea to make my own, but haven't done much about it.

Now that's about to change! With my recent growing interest in the Open Education movement and mass collaboration, I'm going to start a collaborative project to create such a dictionary. Most likely, this will be on a wiki platform, like Wikibooks.

The focus will be on having simple kid-appropriate definitions targeted at a grade 5-8 level. Everyone will be able to contribute, and we'll be looking for lots of help!

Then after we have a critical mass of words, we'll download the content and convert it to a variety of platforms, including Mobipocket for handheld use and probably some kind of offline desktop format. We might even do a skinny version for mobile phones.

If you are interested in working on this project, stay tuned for more details. We'll be getting a prototype and perhaps a mailing list together for this soon. And whatever we come up with will freely usable by anyone.

Constitution curriculum resources

Constitution Day is Sept. 17. You can get free curriculum resources for studying the Constitution and its making here.

This unit includes an interactive ebook, an annotated copy of the Constitution and its amendments, a collection of web resources on the Constitution, a quiz, and recorded narrations of the Constitution and its amendments! These resources can be used on Palm or Windows Mobile handhelds or on desktop or laptop computers.

Other handheld curriculum units available from K12 Handhelds include a kindergarten animal alphabet ebook and video, a poetry unit, and a unit on African-American history.

We hope you enjoy these resources.

Curriculum discount for blog readers

K12 Handhelds is offering Mobile Musings blog readers a back-to-school special on handheld curriculum books.

Integrating Handhelds into the Writing Curriculum and Integrating Handhelds Across the Curriculum* are available for $29.95 each. Or you can buy both for $49.95. This offer is good through Nov. 15. Reference code K12FALL07 when you order.

* No SD card included at this special price

Differentiating Instruction with Mobile Technology

At NECC last week, I presented a session called "Using Mobile Technology to Differentiate and Enrich Instruction." The ISTE folks had wanted to podcast the session, but I wasn't crazy about the legal agreement they were using. (It wasn't Creative Commons and gave pretty extensive rights to Apple.)

So....I created my own digital version of this session for folks to download:

Audio only (MP3)
Video version (streaming, for viewing in a browser; loads faster, but lower quality)
Video version (WMV, 320x240, for Win download)
Video version (MOV, 320x240, for Mac download)
Video version (M4V, 320x240, for ipod download)

If anyone is interested in a higher resolution version to share with folks who weren't able to attend, email me, and I'll try to send you a CD.

For those who are interested, I audio recorded this with a very inexpensive Olympus WS-100 pocket recorder. I edited the audio in Audacity and brought it all into Windows Movie Maker for editing. The visuals included exported jpgs from my presentation slides and screen-capture videos made with Camstudio. I used HandShare to create the Palm movies (which is the same software I used to present). Creating the whole thing took about 4 hours.

It was a lot of fun making this and was a good way to reflect on my own style of presenting (and hopefully refine it for upcoming events).

I hope this is a useful resource for you all.

New Edition of Handheld Book

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!

Video proliferation

I love the recent explosion of user-created video content that's going on in the world. It's creative, thought-provoking, and empowering. I've also written previously about the great potential of video to help differentiate instruction and enrich student learning.

However [rant coming]...the wide variety of video formats, codecs, etc. is driving me crazy! The more time I spend with video, the more time I spend with conversion tools and help pages about what device and software use what format and what codec, and the more time I spend mumbling about why this *%#%&*(# video won't play right.

One tool I've found really useful for this though is Zamzar. This is a free online converter that works not only with video, but also with images, docs, and audio. One really useful thing this tool does very well is to convert videos from YouTube and TeacherTube, so that you can view them on a variety of devices such as iPods and handhelds. You just upload the video (or a link) and select the format you want. Then they email you a link for the converted file. (They do seem to have some DNS problems with their email system, but I've found it works well with gmail accounts, so if you have problems getting an email, try that.)

As with all web-based content, make sure to watch for copyright and attribution issues. And with all Web 2.0 services, you should read the Terms of Service.

And for those who are curious, the name is a take-off on Gregor Samsa, intended to connote transformation. :)

More thoughts on the Foleo....

After a few hours of reading more about the new Foleo and watching Palm's video conference on it, here are a few more of my thoughts.

- The Foleo can be used as a standalone device (i.e. without a smartphone). It has built-in WiFi, a USB port, a VGA port, an audio-out jack, and slots for SD and compact flash cards. (There is no hard drive.) I think Palm is purposely under-selling the Foleo's potential as a low-end laptop, but in fact, that seems to be what it is.

- The price is right. I was expecting more of a UMPC-type device, and at $1,500-2,000, these devices are way too expensive for what they are. However, at $500, the Foleo seems affordable. And you can bet the price will drop over time.

- A drawback of the Foleo is that it is one more device to carry around. How this works for you will probably depend on your personal preferences and how you use different devices now. Personally, for "real work," a big screen is important to me, as is access to desktop applications. Currently, I use my phone as a wireless modem for my laptop. I have a very small notebook that I love. (For entertainment like music, reading, etc., I prefer mobile devices.) My laptop is 2.8 pounds and has a DVD player, a 40 GB hard drive, and a 1.6 GHz processor. It's a "real computer" that can boot Windows or Linux, and it's not a lot bigger than the Foleo. I do like the form factor of the Foleo, though I wish it had a tablet-style flip screen. I think for people who have been able to wean themselves from a laptop and are able to use their smartphone as their mobile computer, the Foleo is a great product. For people like me who still find a laptop indispensable, it's probably not as relevant. (Maybe I'll evolve though....:)

- I really like that Palm says they'll support a variety of devices, including the iPhone. The whole idea of using Linux (although Palm has their own version, which could be a concern) should be to open the device up to developers. As they've done in the past, Palm is opening their device and encouraging lots of development. Apple has chosen not to make their devices accessible, and I think that's a mistake.

- There is apparently no support for old Palm OS apps. (In fact, Palm is reaching out to developers to develop PIM apps.) While this is a little unfortunate, it probably makes sense.

- Is this device relevant to education? It's hard to say. I'd guess not too much in its first release, but very possibly down the road. If the price comes down to under $300, the processor gets more robust, and some solid educational applications are developed -- all of which seems likely -- this could be a decent educational laptop. With all the new Web 2.0 apps (and the addition of offline syncing), this could be very powerful. In fact, it could be a step closer to the super-user-friendly, book-type form factor computing device we've dreamed of for schools. Of course, we'll watch what happens with OLPC and the Classmate as well.

All in all, I think this is a good move for Palm.

Handhelds and administrators

The University of Southern Mississippi has been a pioneer in the field of using handhelds for administrative leadership. Each year they host a School Leadership Institute for building-level administrators. One part of that institute focuses on using handhelds as a tool for time management, classroom observation, student records management, and other tasks.

Drs. Ronald Styron and Kyna Shelley are now conducting a research study on handheld use by school administrators.

The purpose of the study is to evaluate school leaders' opinions about and their use of personal digital assistants or handheld computers. There is some research to suggest that PDA's are viewed as making the job of school leader a more efficient undertaking. Likewise, efficient and effective leadership has been associated with stronger school performance.

If you are a K-12 school administrator and use a handheld, they need your input for this research. The survey is online and should only take about 10 minutes to complete.

Thanks in advance for your valuable assistance.

The "paperless" classroom

Remember when one of the arguments for technology in the classroom was that someday we'd have "paperless" classrooms? (When I was in business school, everyone was excited about the paperless office of the future.) That seems pretty silly now. First of all, technology seems to generate more paper, not less. More importantly though, there are so many great benefits to using technology -- using less paper wouldn't make the top 50.

That aside, this week I worked on a project that used technology to greatly reduce paper use in classrooms. The school already has Palm handhelds for their kids. They use them for brainstorming, research, writing, and assessment, among other things.

They also have a skills-oriented paper-based grammar and mechanics program that they really like, but using it requires making photocopies of hundreds of pages of materials for kids to do short practice exercises and assessments. So the teacher had an idea to put the paper handouts on the handhelds.

Being the tech integrator type that I am, I wanted to get fancier and so explored putting the activities into an assessment program so that they could be automatically scored, etc. In pursuing this, though, it turned out to be more work than it was worth. The activities would have had to been significantly reformatted and in some cases rewritten. In addition, most of the activities were only a few questions, so the benefits of "machine scoring" were trivial. So much for my great idea.

So we went back to just using the handhelds as a way to deliver the handouts. (Believe it or not, we made up paper bubble sheets for them to record their answers on. By consolidating this, we ended up with just 4 pages of paper for each kid vs. a few hundred and save the teacher a ton of time.) Not very technically elegant or innovative, but it worked.

Sometimes, the simple solutions are the best.

FREE poetry resources

As promised, we're making available several poetry curriculum resources for mobile devices (or desktops or laptops) available. You can download them here.

Enjoy!

Been wondering what Palm's up to?

The rumor mill about Palm has been whirling wildly the last couple months. I haven't posted on this, because most of it hasn't seemed either relevant or likely to materialize.

Yesterday, CEO Ed Colligan announced a new Linux-based OS with product due out by the end of the year. It's been widely known that this was in the works for the last couple years, so I'm not exactly sure this is "news." However, Palm's licensing of Windows Mobile (primarily to pacify enterprise users and cell phone carriers) and then licensing back the Palm OS from Access have muddied the picture.

I listened to Palm's Analyst and Investor broadcast from April 10. Mostly it was a lot of (long, boring) smartphone market info targeted at investment analysts. I expected it to raise more questions than it answered, but there really wasn't enough (any?) new info to even raise questions. You'd think from reading the press reports that there was more there. The entire discussion of the Linux-based OS was about 2 minutes (most of which was quoted in the press articles) of the entire 3+ hour presentation.

Not commented on in the above presentation were rumors about the forth-coming clamshell-type handheld/UMPC-type device (which Jeff Hawkins has already leaked). Stay tuned for more info on that.

For the education community, the best things Palm could do is keep producing great handhelds like the Tungsten E2 (schools don't need an "innovation" every 6 months...we've appreciated the stability of the product line over the last year), continue supporting current apps on any new devices (there are hundreds of great educational programs for the Palm OS), and don't forget the loyal base of educators who have bought and embraced their product over the years.

NCCE Palm workshop follow-up

I enjoyed the enthusiasm of everyone who attended my Palm workshop yesterday.

As promised, here is the Daylight Savings Time patch for Palms.

We covered a lot, but there were so many things we didn't get to also. Here are some links for you to explore more:

Ebooks
Free ebooks - ManyBooks.net
Free ebooks - Memoware
Also, check your local library. Spokane Public Library and Seattle Public Library both offer ebooks for checkout and many others do as well.

AvantGo (This is the web clipping program I showed to download a variety of web-based resources and htings like the New York Times.)

Plucker (more web clipping - this is the one I use for recipes and Yahoo driving directions.)

Educational uses - K12 Handhelds
Educational uses - Learning in Hand

More software



....Oh yeah, and how could I forget -- the very cool folding SD plus USB card!

I hope you enjoy your Palms! Keep in touch, and let me know if I can answer any questions.
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Technorati Tags: ncce007 ncce2007 ncce07

Technology empowers kids

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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WM paint program

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.

African American History Month Resources

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.

You can download this now here.

MLK Day Resources

Martin Luther King Day is Jan. 15 this year. Here are some resources related to this great American hero.

Ebooks:

"I Have a Dream" speech

"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:

"I Have a Dream" speech

"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)

From Wikimedia

Other resources relating to African-American history are also available here.

Ebook - Annotated Anthology of Poetry

K12 Handhelds is putting together an ebook that is an annotated anthology of poetry. We are looking for ideas of your favorite poems that you teach (preferably public domain, e.g. Robert Frost, Edgar Allen Poe, Emily Dickinson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).

A list of what we have so far is below. Let us know what else you'd like to see in this. You can post your ideas here as a comment or email them to us. We hope to share this resource with the schools we work with when it's done.

Thanks!

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"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost
"Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost
"The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes
"Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe
"I'm Nobody! Who are you?" by Emily Dickinson
"The Village Blacksmith" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The Cremation of Sam McGee" by Robert Service

Differentiating instruction through mini-movies

I am more and more convinced of the potential of mini-movies to differentiate instruction by providing a variety of small mobile resources for learners to use when they need them.

As posted previously, I'm experimenting with screencasting as a way to support professional development. I've created a series of mini-movies on various aspects of podcasting, including recording and editing audio, creating videos, and screencasting. Here is an example of one (WMV) or here for QuickTime. (One of the problems with video is that there is not a real "standard" format.)

I did my first podcasting workshop yesterday with a CD full of these movies. It was with a small group, which was a nice way to do a test run of this. Here's how it went. There was one person who was very tech savvy and already had some experience with audio and video editing. She wanted to jump right in to making podcasting without much instruction from me, and so she did.

There were a couple other people who were very motivated to begin creating podcasts but didn't have much previous experience. They wanted more explanation. These were the people I worked closest with in the face-to-face workshop.

There was another person who was a more methodical learner who was not as comfortable with technology and learned best with lots of step-by-step instructions. For him, the movies on the CD were great. He sat and watched them all start to finish, and that made him feel comfortable with starting to produce audio and video.

There was another participant who wasn't able to attend most of the workshop, because of a last minute situation that demanded her time elsewhere. For her, the movies would serve as a replacement for the workshop.

I see so many uses for using these kinds of movies with kids. In the workshop yesterday, one participant created a movie about using context clues in a book to predict. Another made a movie from a PowerPoint she already had about the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Another teacher made a movie about the metric system and math. These movies will be resources that students can use in the way that meets their learning styles. Some may watch them over several times to gain an understanding of difficult concepts. Others may watch them as a quick review before a test. Still other may choose to create their own movies about the content to extend their learning even deeper.

Whether audio and movie clips like these are used with teachers to provide professional development or with students to supplement or deliver core instruction, they are a powerful tool.

No time to sync!

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.

Audio ebooks

There are getting to be a good number of sites offering free audio books now. Here are a few:

• LibriVox
• ManyBooks
  (This is also a good site for regular text ebooks.)
• Spoken Alexandria Project
• Telltale Weekly
• Gutenberg: Audio Books Project
• Audio Books for Free

Spoken Wikipedia is also a good source for spoken audio files.

Also make sure to check out your local public library for additional audio ebooks.

Michigan Handheld Conference

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.

Ebooks

A just-released study by The Survey of Academic Libraries, a benchmarking report published by Primary Research Group Inc. says that "Spending on electronic books by academic libraries has reached a cumulative total of 11% of their spending on print books, and will reach 20% by 2011."

Wow, that's interesting. It would be great to see schools and especially textbook publishers follow this lead and make more core curriculum ebooks available for our students.

SD cards and Tungsten E2s

Now that larger SD cards are now available (and relatively expensive), it may be worth noting that the Tungsten E2s do not support SD cards larger than 1 GB. Hope this helps some of you.

Mobipocket Creator now free

I've been raving about Mobipocket as an ebook platform for a while now, and now the tool to create Mobipocket ebooks is free!

If you want to see an example of some of things you can do with Mobipocket, check out our ebooks on the Constitution.

AvantGo and RSS

From when I first started using handhelds years ago, one of my favorite applications has always been AvantGo. It lets me download the newspaper every morning and subscribe to numerous other publications and web sites, all free of change. Now AvantGo also supports RSS feeds, making it a great tool for keeping up on all the blogs I like to read.

Planning makes all the difference

I just got back from facilitating a professional development day with a small group of middle school teachers in Miami who recently began using handhelds with their students. It was the second day I'd spent with these teachers over the last few months.

Whenever I come back to work with teachers for a second or third day after they've been using handhelds with their students for a while, we start with a discussion of how things have been going. What have been the successes? What have been the challenges? Often, especially in middle schools, the conversation centers on classroom management challenges. At the school I just visited though, there were no classroom management issues that were troubling the teachers. Instead, they were having success and wanted to focus on new integration ideas.

Why was this school different? The answer is in planning. Here are some things this school did in the planning phases of their project that made a big difference there:

• They got the administrative staff involved early. The first basic training included administrators, who were also given handhelds to use. When I'm at a school and the administrators take time out of their busy schedules to stop and say hi or even sit in the workshop, I know that school has good support that will help make them successful.


• They planned for professional development. This included several days spread out through the year, giving teachers a chance to try things and then come back and ask questions and learn more.
  
• They started small, choosing just four teachers and about 25 students with whom to begin. This is a manageable size group. I find that using handhelds with a smaller group the first year often leads to success. And when a small group is successful, it's a lot easier to find funding to expand. (This school is conducting this as a pilot in hopes of expanding to a larger number of students.)


• They chose a group of enthusiastic teachers and students who had a high chance of success. Giving teachers a choice to participate in a project like this is a key to success. I am often surprised how many programs are set up at the district level with little or no consultation with the teachers who are going to be involved. This can be a recipe for disaster.


• They arranged for a self-contained classroom with a dedicated use implementation model for this pilot. Some of the biggest challenges with using any technology in the classroom are time and classroom management. This school made their handheld pilot a self-contained group with their teachers for each subject rotating into the handheld-using classroom. This means the kids have the handhelds all day; they can take them home; and all the infrastructure is set up and ready to go in their classroom. These all save time and make management easier. In many middle schools, handhelds are shared among several classes of kids. This on top of short class periods creates many challenges for teachers. If you can't afford one-to-one initially, limiting the program to a smaller number of kids is often a more effective way to go.


• They have a wonderful technology coordinator at the school site who is acting as the "champion" for this project. This not only give the teachers extra support, but it also gives the project a higher profile.

A little bit of smart planning goes a long way to building a successful technology program!

Clicker!

Wow, this is great. I just downloaded a piece of software called Clicker. It lets you control certain applications on your desktop (like PowerPoint) with your handheld. It works with WiFi and Bluetooth and has a Mac version as well.

On the device side, there are clients for Palm, Windows Mobile, and even many types of cell phones. This is a very handy tool if you do a lot of presentations (and don't want one more gadget, like a remote). You can also use it to control iTunes or Windows Media Player, which makes it great for home entertainment uses.

Best of all, this was super-easy to set up. It just took me a few minutes to install it and get it running. It's pretty cheap too at $23.95.

PPC gradebook

I'm often asked about gradebook sofware for Pocket PC. Unfortunately, most of the well-known gradebook programs support Palm, but not Pocket PC. I just saw, though, that Excelsior (Pinnacle) now has its Pinnacle PDA software available for Pocket PC as well as Palm. (Note: This isn't new; I just hadn't seen the PPC version before now.)

If you use some other gradebook software on the desktop and want a Pocket PC/Windows Mobile version, make sure to let the publisher know. Believe it or not, they really do list to customers, and the bigger the potential market is, the more likely they are to do it.

Easing the backpack load is only one of the benefits!

Now here's an idea that makes a lot of sense...students in the Cote d'Azur region of France are being issued memory sticks to carry textbooks and homework back and forth to school. Now all they need is pocket-sized computers. :)

Free Constitution Resources

K12 Handhelds is pleased to make available these FREE electronic resources for Constitution Day*.

These resources include an interactive ebook with embedded review questions, a timeline, a linked glossary, and more; an annotated copy of the Constitution and its amendments; a collection of web resources on the Constitution, including the Constitution in Spanish and French; a quiz; and recorded narrations of the Constitution and its amendments! These resources can be used on Palm or Windows Mobile handhelds or on desktop or laptop computers.

This ebook is a good example of the kinds of things you can do with MobiPocket. This is a great ebook reader that supports high res graphics and works on Palm and Pocket PC. It also has the ability to include interactivity, such as self-checking questions, as you'll see in the Constitution ebook.

We just completed developing a whole series of middle school math ebooks in MobiPocket. They include explanations of how to do various of problems, followed by sample problem sets for students to work right in the book. This is a good way to deliver instruction in small chunks and then to assess mastery as students go through the material.

I see a lot of potential for these kinds of electronic resources -- once you have materials that are better than print and are correlated directly to the standards, then this kind of technology really makes sense!

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* September 17 is Constitution Day. Federal regulations mandate that all schools receiving federal funds hold an educational program related to the Constitution on September 17 each year.

Projecting your handheld screen

My last post about LCD projectors reminds me that I am often asked what is the best way to project your handheld screen (especially since the demise of the much-loved Margi Presenter-to-Go).

My current favorite solution to this involves special software that "mirrors" your handheld to a desktop or laptop computer, which you can then project. Here is the software I use:

Palm - HandShare

Pocket PC - Pocket Controller

This software is great for teaching students (or teachers) handheld applications, as well as for presentations. It's also great for screen shots or screen casting. (More to come on screen casting in a future post.)

Here is my desktop with two devices hooked up:

Constitution Day

September 17 is Constitution Day. (Federal regulations mandate that all schools receiving federal funds hold an educational program related to the Constitution on September 17 each year. Since the 17th falls on a Sunday this year, this can take place the week before or after.)

If you are looking for good resources to teach your students about the Constitution, stay tuned for K12 Handhelds free handheld curriculum unit on the Constitution. This unit will include interactive ebooks, quizzes, activities, and more.

We will have this posted to our web site in early Sept. Email us if you want to be notified when it is available, or just check back here.

RSS aggregators for handhelds

One way I keep up with news and all the web sites I read regulary is to subscribe to their RSS feeds and have them automatically downloaded to my handheld. That way I can read them whenever I have a few minutes.

One tool I use for this is MobiPocket, which is also one of my favorite FREE ebook readers. MobiPocket has a desktop tool that lets you subscribe to RSS feeds and sync them to your mobile device. (MobiPocket also has great support for multiple handheld devices.)

I also use QuickNews, which has a few additional features, like the ability to download podcasts and sync them right to your SD card. (Unlike MobiPocket, this tool is not free, but it's pretty affordable at $14.95). QuickNews supports downloading through syncing or via wireless.

If you have other RSS aggregators that you like, post a comment and let us know about them.

Folding SD card

The coolest new gadgets I've used in a long time is the new folding SD card from Sandisk.






This storage card literally folds, allowing you to insert it right into the USB port of your desktop or laptop computer. No more card reader/writer needed! This also means it doubles as a USB drive. Very, very useful.