Category:

These are very small touch screen devices — smaller than a tablet but not a cell phone!
(These devices have the capability to install a variety of apps. There are many other devices that support audio and video playback, but not other interactive uses.)

Manufacturers and models:
These devices used to be more plentiful with Palm and Windows mobile handhelds, but now there are just a few.

• Apple (iPod touch)
• Samsung (Galaxy Player)

Pricing:

$200+

Strengths:

• Ultra mobile
• Low cost

Weaknesses:

• Limited uses
• No built-in keyboard
• Consumption-oriented

Killer applications:

• Multimedia viewing
• Ebooks

Things to consider and some opinions:

• Think about your curriculum goals before deciding on any devices.
• While these devices are no substitute for a laptop, there is still a lot you can do with them. (Remember all the great things teachers and students did with Palm handhelds?) Having a few of these low cost, highly mobile devices can be a boon for differentiation.
• These devices come with different operating systems (Android, iOS) and have different applications available. If you start by thinking about what you want to accomplish with the devices and then look for a device that has applications that support that purpose, you’ll be ahead of the game.

The post Mobile devices: Handheld multimedia players appeared first on K12 Handhelds.

To make your flashcards:

(Before doing this, you need a Google Docs account and you need gWhiz on your mobile device.)

• Use the glossary builder in the Open Dictionary to create your set of words and definitions.
• Select the option to save your glossary as CSV. Right-click the “Click here to download your glossary” link and save the file. (If you missed it, we recently added an option for logged in users to save your glossary so that you can return to edit it later.)
• Go to the gWhiz Flashcard Template form. NOTE: You need a Google Docs account to proceed.
• Fill out the form, and then proceed to Google Docs as instructed.
• Save the document as a copy with the name you’d like to appear on your mobile device. Open the CSV file you created above. Copy the cells from the CSV file and paste them into the Google Doc template. Save and close the Google Doc.
• Go to gWhiz on your mobile device.
• From the menu, select Get My Google Data…  Select the file for your flashcards and download.

Here are more instructions on this and some advanced features like adding pictures.

We hope you enjoy this new feature.

Special thanks to Matt Renfroe for requesting this feature. If there’s something else you’d like to see in the Open Dictionary, let us know, and we’ll see what we can do!

The post Mobile flashcards from the Open Dictionary appeared first on K12 Handhelds.

Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a great answer. I really like mini-laptops (aka netbooks), but they are not the same as handhelds. A more comparable device in terms of form factor and functionality is the smartphone, but those have their own challenges for schools. Many people asked me about iPods, to which I replied that they didn’t have the features or functionality of a handheld computer. They were basically pretty static multimedia players without much ability to interact.

Now with the iPod Touch 4th Generation (iOS 4), the iPod now qualifies as a handheld computer in my book. (Yes, I realize that I may be the last person to concede this point.:) This device does everything that the high end Palms did and more. And at under $300, the price is right.

One of the key components of a “handheld computer” for me is the ability to produce word processed documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. With Google Docs recent release of a mobile version for both iOS and Android, the package is complete.

I am anxious to see some Android handheld devices come out that have similar functionality. (The early entries in Android have been smartphones.) Stay tuned as more true handhelds come on the market.

The post Yes, the iPod is now a handheld computer appeared first on K12 Handhelds.

After reading this collection, I have so many thoughts that I hardly know where to begin. Any personal interpretation aside, though, I think that anyone involved in K-12 educational administration should read this. It includes a very thorough compilation of legal cases related to student use of both school-owned and student-owned electronic devices (primarily cell phones, but the information is broadly applicable to other devices, as well as to social media and the web in general) both on and off campus.

So now for the personal interpretations, in no particular order:

• There are a lot of complex legal issues to consider, and many cases with contradictory findings.
• I worry that upon reading this leadership will run shrieking from the room and not even want to use electronic devices for instructionally valid purposes. (My experience, as well as that of others, is that when students are given instructionally relevant activities to do, improper use drops dramatically.)
• It’s a shame that this amount of exhaustive work on mobile devices and social media went into examining improper uses of electronic media.
• Little mention was made of constructive uses of technology, beyond to point out that now that schools have used electronic devices for productive uses, they will find it harder to restrict their use. Unfortunate comment.
• This is very indicative of the focus of most administrations on legal issues. If folks spent as much time on addressing real learning needs as they do on legal compliance and covering their collective asses, students would benefit.
• This report applies as much to broader student uses of the web and social media. There are some fascinating cases related to cyber-bullying and personal student web sites devoted to often juvenile (they are kids after all) student critiques of schools and school personnel. Personally, I worry a lot about restricting student speech (which is addressed in this report). For each of these cases, we should look a non-digital parallel example and think about how we would react to that. There is then the issue of publicness to consider — drawing an inflammatory picture is not the same as then photocopying that picture and publicly distributing it (or putting it on the Internet).
• Simply saying in a policy document that free speech and the Constitution will be respected is not enough if the actual polices are not consistent.
• There is a huge need for educating students about the publicness of the Internet (and mobile communications that can be forwarded, publicly posted, etc. in a single click), related legalities, and responsible and civil behavior. This is a 21st century skill!!
• I would love to use this document with a class of middle school students to have them engage in a discussion of the issues and then draft their own rules and acceptable use policies. Anyone game for that?

Please weigh in with your own comments on these issues and this report.

The post Policy issues for student use of electronic devices…and a whole lot more appeared first on K12 Handhelds.

This had gotten me thinking a lot about a couple topics:

1. How electronic resources can be more effective than textbooks to engage kids and especially to differentiate instruction

2. How the future of 1-to-1 computing for schools is shaping up

I think that both of these are critical if we’re going to be successful in engaging kids. I’ll write more about the first topic in another post. Regarding the second topic, there are a lot of new devices shipping, including things like the XO computer, the Eee, the Kindle, the iPod Touch, etc.

I think the keys to a solid device for education are:

– Low cost (under $300 seems to be a key price point for schools)
– Long battery life (at least 6 hours)
– Multimedia capability (audio and video)
– Capacity for “real” computing (word processing, spreadsheets, presentation — could be via Web 2.0)

There are other features that I’d rate as nice-to-have but not essential like wireless, color, durability, etc.

None of the devices above quite hits all of my “must-have” features, but they are all pretty close. The second-generation releases are likely to be there. Right now, the Eee is probably the closest, though the Kindle is the one that has my attention (in part because I think it may have the longest staying power, which is really critical to schools.) Interestingly, handhelds from Palm and HP — which have been around for years — already have all these features. Alas, though, they are no longer the latest and greatest. (Don’t get me started venting my frustration on how trend-driven technology is, even in schools.)

Some people have said that these devices are too limited for schools because there isn’t textbook content available for them. The more I think about the idea of textbook publishers putting their content on mobile devices though (something I used to look forward to, though it’s probably still a long ways off), the more I don’t think it’s the road to a better future. It’s easy to list reasons textbooks don’t work for most kids — they are huge; they are boring; there is no differentiation; there is little interactivity; the content isn’t comprehensible; etc. etc.

So why would we want that same content in an electronic format?

The post New ways to look at content and 1:1 appeared first on K12 Handhelds.

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!

The post New Edition of Handheld Book appeared first on K12 Handhelds.

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.

The post Video proliferation appeared first on K12 Handhelds.

I started with Quizzler, a program that I really love for handhelds. A big benefit of this is that if you already have a bunch of Quizzler quizzes created, it’s an easy port. However, the features of this are pretty basic and include no multimedia support.

Next I got the quiz program PodQuiz Maker. It’s basically a front end to the Notes program. Good idea, but not the greatest implementation. It does have a way to link to sound and video files, but it’s very awkward.

Then Apple announced the new iQuiz program as an iPod game. (Tony Vincent has written a review of it here.) It has a beautiful interface, but no way to link to sound or video files. For my envisioned application in education, this misses the whole point. (We want to be able to provide information and then have a way to interact with it.)

Next, I found Mogopop. This is getting closer. They have a nice web-based interface for content creation. You can link to sound, video, and images. There’s no built-in way to do quizzes, but you can do this through hyperlinks. The program is very new and seems a bit buggy in places, but it has definite potential.

Here’s a sample project I made:

(You’ll need to download the Mogopop Manager program to download this to your iPod.) Once you get it to your iPod, it will be in Extras.

The next thing to build into this is recordkeeping. That’s a big project though.

Does anyone know anything else out there for creating interactive content for the iPod? I’m not sure whether to wait until Apple realizes that closing their device to developers is unwise (probably a very long wait), hope some developers come out with better tools, or start working on something myself.

The post Trying to make iPod content interactive appeared first on K12 Handhelds.