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

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End of Palm education purchase program

Palm has announced that their Education Purchase program will end Oct. 31.

If you have recently purchased a volume of Palm handhelds, make sure to get your claim form in asap.

Ebook library

For months now, I've been writing about the curriculum for mobile devices we've been developing with school districts across the country.

We have put the best of this together into a cross-curricular ebook library. This is available on a classroom or school site license basis.

Free interactive math ebook

Here is another free resource from K12 Handhelds. This is a good example of the interactivity that Mobipocket provides that we like so much.

This ebook can be used on Palm or Pocket PC and includes problem sets for:

- integers (adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing positive and negative integers),

- algebra (simple one- and two-step problems), and

- fractions (simplifying, adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions).

Enjoy.

Free online workshop

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.

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

The Foleo is dead

Palm today announced the cancellation of the not-yet-released Foleo.

We had hoped that this was going to be a contender for the low-end laptop market (ala the OLPC), but apparently not. Others are entering this market, though, so stay tuned.

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!

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.

TCPMP video player

TCPMP is a great free mobile audio and video player for Palms that we've recommended in the past. You may have noticed that the old web page for the TCPMP hasn't been up lately.

Apparently, like other projects, TCPMP's CoreCodec group has branched off to create a commercial product. We haven't evaluated the commerical product yet, but we suspect it has some useful features. (Money coming in tends to help product development.)

If you'd still like to use and download the old free Open Source version though, we now have a link to it on our site that you can use.

If anyone knows more "scoop" on what's going on with the Open Source version TCPMP (is anyone still maintaining it?), please post your comments.

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.

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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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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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Palm registration message

If you are annoyed by Palm's invitation-to-register-your-handheld message often popping up on your desktop, here's how to get rid of it.

Go to C:\Documents and Settings\user\Start Menu\Programs\Startup (the exact path may be slightly different depending on your system). In that folder, there will be a shortcut to Palm Registration. Delete it.