Handhelds Worth the Money
Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 2:10PM 
Shepard School in Missouri has used 94 Palm handheld computers and keyboards for three years and Columbia Public Schools is spending $20,000 to replace them. Parents, teachers, and students support the purchase, but school board member Michelle Gadbois isn't so supportive. Michelle claims the money could be spent in better ways. This purchase is one of the reasons she voted against the district's $207 million dollar budget. Michelle claims to have seen "all of the information on this program" and she remains "unconvinced that this money would not be better spent improving teacher/student ratios in our classrooms."
My guess is that Michelle has not stepped foot in a handheld-using classroom. I bet she has not sat down with any of those students to see what they actually do on a handheld. And, although $20,000 sounds like a lot of money, divide it by 94 students and 3 years, and it's about $70 per student per year. Columbia Public Schools spends about $7,600 per pupil per year. $70 is less than one percent of the per pupil spending. That one percent can make a large different in students' attitudes, motivation, and learning.
Janese Heavin wrote an article about Michelle's opposition to handheld computing for the Columbia Daily Tribune titled Handheld Computers Worth the Money, Teachers Say. In contrast to the school board member, Columbia educators certainly have lots positives to say about handhelds. Though the article makes it sound like handhelds are only used for word processing, we know there are dozens of educational applications (most of them free) that really make handhelds a valuable learning tool.
palm 
Reader Comments (5)
Short-sighted school board members that don't get it! I am confident you are correct that this woman has never set foot in any of these classrooms. I find it interesting when she states "that the money would not be better spent improving teacher/student ratios in our classrooms"...how many teachers will that $20,000 buy?
Hi Tony,
Have you seen this quote?
"Who needs a palm pilot?" she asked. "We are not talking about world travelers who have business meetings all day. This technology is not applicable for teachers, staff or students."
I was a bit upset because this sounds like something from 2001, when it was more acceptable to perceive handhelds as appointment-keepers instead of the powerful small computers they are today.
Mike Curtis
Mike, thanks for finding that quote.
The school board member is quoted in the June 13th edition of the Columbia Daily Tribune:
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2006/Jun/20060613News006.asp" REL="nofollow">http://www.columbiatribune.com/2006/Jun/20060613News006.asp
To say that handheld computing is not applicable to teachers or students makes it clear that she has not seen the handheld computers in action.
Improving teacher-to-student ratio? I agree with anonymous above that that wouldn't improve teacher-to-student ratio, but would significantly improve the student-to-computer ratio. On second thought... couldn't the existing teachers save valuable time and know their students better with the handhelds? I'd say that's an improvement in the quality of the teacher-to-student ratio.
From my perspective though any press is good press for handhelds, especially when teachers and students are reacting in positive ways towards handhelds.
Things have been a bit hectic here in Columbia recently. We've been using handhelds for three years, but the public is mostly in the dark. Ms. Gadbois knows very little about our program. I've been working to get a meeting with her, and I think we'll be able to talk next week. I think that with a personal tutorial, she'll be able to see what we have known for a while: that handhelds are an effective, inexpensive tool for learning. What is really interesting is the source for next year's $20,000 purchase. Our district superintendent visited our school and realized that our old m130's weren't hacking it anymore. She didn't want our program to die, so she allocated funds from a district source intended to fund such projects. I think with a little instruction, we'll be able to help the public learn that handhelds are not toys, but useful technology that helps students become more engaged and therefore, better learners.
-Matt Villasana, Shepard Elem, Columbia, MO