Handhelds in the Classroom…Action Research Project

8 comments Classrooms, handhelds

Nov 05

I'm going to leading a project on using HandHelds in the classroom. It's a project grant I helped a grade 8 teacher apply for almost a year ago. It was just approved last week. The project is going to be highly experimental and certainly based on the action research model. We'll be relying on the work of various educators and case studies that will guide the project. It's likely that we will not have internet access with the handhelds. I'm wondering about the power of these tools without having access to the internet, especially in the light of this article via Mark Wagner. I watched this video and see other classrooms using it without access. 

How valuable a tool will these handhelds be without internet access? What advice would you have regarding this project?

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  • http://blog.core-ed.net/greg Greg Carroll

    Depends what you are wanting to do with them. I have seen some very cool stuff being done with a set of OLD pda/smartphones with just the Office and recording functions. This was with primary aged (k-12) children but they were preparing recordings for podcasts, drafting stories etc all on the mobile devices. This freed up the classroom computers to focus on the tasks they are best at and the ones that require some real computing power.
    Just a thought … net access is not everything, for every device. If they do a job and do it well, use it!

  • http://stephanierieger.com Stephanie Rieger

    Hi there, the video above is great. Where is it from? Is there a web site or blog with more information about this school?

    Also wondering, have you chosen a PDA yet for your initiative? What model and/or operating system are you planning to use.

  • http://blog.core-ed.net/greg greg carroll
  • http://alanstange.blogspot.com/ Alan Stange

    Few people could be as attached to a Palm as I am… I think you could describe me as a heavy user. I can spend hours writing on my Palm using Documents to Go; which brings me to my point. They are an expensive tool for me to enjoy because I have been averaging one Palm Pilot a year for the last five years. The cause of failure is varied but twice I have more or less burned the touch pad out. I received the Palm I am working on now in February or March of 2006. There is noticeable degradation in the sensitivity of the screen. I have managed to extend the life of the machine by using a keyboard. I would be interested in following the progress of this project. Two of my children took interest in my Palm. My son was about 15 when he tried one and he used it mostly for games he acquired before deciding it was too slow. Both of them were frustrated by the short-hand and switched to the pop-up keyboard. I’m not sure what technology the project will use.

  • http://bestmousepadcontent.com/ mouseman

    very interresting . i enjoyed reading this

  • Deb

    I have used handhelds in the classroom for the last 3 years. They are great. We use them in all subject areas. I teach 4th and 5th grade and I have noticed a big difference in students on task behavior with these handhelds. I would be glad to talk with you about my experience if you have any questions.

  • Roger

    The future of mobile broadband has arrived — in Korea

    On the theme of internet access, Korea’s WiMax-like system provides faster, cheaper wireless broadband

    Article reads as follows, “The next time you’re on the road and either can’t find a Wi-Fi hot spot or it seems to take forever to download an important file via 3G, imagine you’re in Seoul, South Korea. That’s because Seoul’s wireless WiBro network is nirvana for traveling professionals.

    WiBro is a branded version of the same 802.16e-2005 WiMax standard that is coming to the U.S. In Korea, it delivers data three times faster than 3G networks, with typical download speeds as high as 6Mbit/sec.” – article continues at this link – http://broadbandmobile.blogspot.com/2008/04/future-of-mobile-broadband-has-arrived.html

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  • http://www.planningforce.com/ Ashley

    Whats the project actually do. Also we cant see the link for the video you mentioned.

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