Free Poetry Resources for You to See

K12 Handhelds has made available several poetry curriculum resources for Palm handhelds, Pocket PCs, and desktop/laptop computers.

You can download Types of Poetry and Poetry Anthology eBooks. The eBooks are in Mobipocket format and have lots of examples with linked vocabulary words. Mobipocket is a cross-platform eBook reader and you can download it for free. Windows users can even download the free Mobilpocket Creator for making your own cross-platform eBooks. [There are not versions of Mobipocket for Mac and Linux computers--but you can use a Mac to install Mobipocket to a Palm handheld.]

Also available from K12 Handhelds is a Poetry Scavenger Hunt in Microsoft Word format. You can use Palm's Documents To Go or a Pocket PC's Word Mobile to view and complete the scavenger hunt.

Another freebie is a 10-question Poetry Types Quiz in Quizzler format. Quizzler is available for Palm handhelds, Pocket PCs, Macintosh, and Windows.

K12 Handhelds also points to additional resources teachers might use, including two great poetry podcasts. The podcasts are from Houghton Mifflin and School Library Journal.

Finally, K12 Handhelds offers a one-page PDF called Poetry Classroom Activities that gives simple and advanced ideas for using these resources. Activities include comparing poems, creating a poetry blog, and highlighting metaphors, similes, and other literary devices in Mobilpocket.

Thanks K12 Handhelds for making these resources freely available!

Note: Recall my tip in Soft Reset #19... If you are trying to download a file and only weird text shows up in your browser's screen, click your browser's Back button. Then right-click (Mac users can Control-click) and choose "Download Linked File" or "Save Link As..." from the context menu. The file is saved to the desktop. If the file is saved with a .txt extension, click the file name and remove the .txt. Then the downloaded file should have the correct icon and function properly.

2007 Sketchy Animation Contest

GoKnow, the company that makes the Sketchy animation software for Palm handhelds and Pocket PCs (45-day free trial), has announced its fourth annual Sketchy Contest:

Do you use Sketchy in the classroom? Do you know a budding artist that uses Sketchy to convey educational concepts? We're announcing our 4th Annual Sketchy contest, and we hope you will participate. In past years we have received hundreds of Sketchys from all over the world. This year's contest will be even bigger and better!

Last year, as well as subject area categories, we introduced the new "Teacher" category for all you teachers to get in on the fun and we're glad to have it back! Prizes you ask? 1st place finishers will receive a special 1 GB iPod Shuffle. Digital Cameras are on hand for all 2nd place finishers, and 3rd place secures a new addition to our prizes: the Pocket Mind Reader! Numerous honorable mention certificates will be provided for those who have their Sketchys posted on the Web.

Please visit http://www.goknow.com/sketchycontest to view the official flyer and rules. You can also view previous winning Sketchy animations.

Please direct any questions to sketchycontest@goknow.com.
The deadline to submit entries is May 25th, 2007.

Thanks for your interest in Sketchy, and happy animating!
The GoKnow Sketchy Contest Team

Canadian Handhelds Video

Dean Shareski has posted a great video on his Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech blog. It's called The PA Palm Project: Students and Teachers Learning Together. The video begins with the narration:

Step through the doors of grade eight classrooms of Mrs. Dalgarno and Mr. McIntosh and you'll witness a learning environment that looks and feels different from many others.

Twenty-five eighth graders at a school in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada are equipped with Tungsten E2 handhelds and keyboards. Their original focus was writing, but students are using the computers in other subject areas as well. The video is divided into five segments: First Reactions, Making Learning Easier, Efficiency, Student Engagement, Unexpected Outcomes, and The Future.

In First Reactions, one student explains, "Like getting presents at Christmas, I felt really excited." In Making Learning Easier, the teacher explains that learning to write is much easier because of the word processor. Editing in particular is much quicker. Dalgarno explains in Efficiency that with handhelds, she is able to get through three lessons in the time it used to take her for one. Students can enter their writing much more quickly on a keyboard than by handwriting, saving lots of time. In Student Engagement an eighth-grade boy gives an example of how motivating the handhelds are:

Most kids in our class, they, like some of the people who didn't really come to school because they didn't want to, they are coming because of the technology.

An Unexpected Outcome was that communication among students increased. They are more like to share their notes from their handheld because they are digital and can be beamed or sent to others instantly. Students didn't tend to share their paper-based notes.

In The Future Mr. McIntosh says that the handhelds are a stepping stone to giving a computer with internet access to every child. [Though I say the handhelds are already computers--we live in a world where we use different kinds of computers at different times and locations for different tasks. And many handhelds already access the web wirelessly.] Mrs. Dalgarno tells the viewers that they are just at the beginning of the project. They are currently doing old things in new ways. In the future, she hopes to have students doing new things in new ways. She says they can do this once they learn more about more Palm software.

The 6 minute 32 second video is hosted on YouTube. The Prince Arthur Palm Project has its own blog if you're interested in learning more.

Save & Convert YouTube Videos

Perhaps you checked out the video I posted yesterday. It's hosted on YouTube, the free video sharing service owned by Google. YouTube offers no way to download video as they'd prefer you to visit their website each and every time you want to view a movie. If you do manage to download the video to your desktop, YouTube videos are in Adobe Flash format (.flv), which requires special software for playback.

There is software that will download and covert YouTube videos for you. YouTube to iPod Converter is free for Windows users and PodTube is $5 for Mac users. Or, for $15 Windows or Mac users can use TubeSock. Whatever software program you use, you simply paste the web address of the YouTube video you wish to download. The software will pull the video from YouTube's site and then convert it into a friendlier format of your choosing. I prefer videos to be in MPEG-4 format because then I can play them in QuickTime, on an iPod or PSP, or in The Core Pocket Media Player (free) for Palm or Pocket PC.

If you don't want to mess with software, you can use the online service Vixy.net. Like the software options above, you paste the YouTube URL into Vixy's web page. Vixy will convert the video for you and then save it to your desktop--no software required. Don't be fooled by the option that says MPEG-4 for iPod/PSP. Even if you're viewing on a Palm, Pocket PC, or desktop computer, that's your best option. It does take a while for Vixy's servers to convert your video, but you can't beat the price and convenience.

Daylight Savings Time Updates

Clocks will be "springing forward" a few weeks earlier this year thanks to the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Starting in 2007, most of the United States and Canada will observe Daylight Savings Time from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November. This poses a problem for computers, as they are expecting to adjust their clocks in April and October. Companies are putting out updates so that their operating systems will move their clocks forward and backward on the correct dates.

Palm has issued a Daylight Saving Time Updater for it's Palm OS and Windows Mobile handhelds and smartphones. In a classroom full of handhelds, I suggest syncing the DSTUpdater.prc file to one handheld. and beaming it around to all of the other handhelds. Once launched, it's a very quick install. Note: If an updated handheld is hard reset, then the DSTUpdater will need to be installed and run again. This will probably need to be done each fall after handhelds are reset for the new school year.

Microsoft has information about updating Pocket PCs with Windows Mobile here. Desktop computers may need to be updated as well. Here is information for Windows users and Macintosh users.

If you don't update your system for the new Daylight Savings Time rules, it's not the end of the world. You can always manually adjust your computer's clock. Unfortunately, that will involve adjusting your clock up to four times a year. You can manually change the time in March and November and your computer may make annoying changes in April and October (following the old rules).

Despite the confusion it causes, Daylight Saving Time is a great topic for students to explore various science and social studies concepts. Investigating Daylight is a great lesson plan from Microsoft and Daylight Savings Time from WebExhibits is a great resource for students.

Bits & Pieces

It's time again to list many of items that are piling up in my inbox and in my Bloglines feeds. There's a little something for everyone: Palm, Pocket PC, iPod, Mobile Phone, PSP, and podcasting users...

There's a new Google Maps application for Windows Mobile. It's also available for Palm OS. It requires an Internet connection.

Some Australian schools are using the Nova5000 with students. Read about their experiences in the NOVA5000 Australian Trials blog.

Some U.K. schools are using PSP (PlayStation Portables) in classrooms. Read about their experiences in the PSPTeachers blog. They are using the PSP's WiFi connection to deliver RSS feeds to the students. Be sure to check out their cool charging and storage cart. Click on over to this article from Popular Science to learn how to read eBooks and watch videos on a PSP.

Doug Hyde is a library-media specialist at a Wisconsin middle school. His blog, Classroom in Your Pocket, has a useful post about showing video from an iPod on a television or projector.

Karen Fasimpaur wrote about PocketPicture, a great paint program for Windows Mobile. It's free!

The Podcasts for Educators Weblog has a post titled evaluating podcasts. It links to a PDF file for evaluating podcasts for teaching and learning. In the future, the blog will be publishing an evaluation for students and young people to use. Also at the weblog, learn about podcasting through their Online Learning Studio.

Leonard Low posted his Top 10 Freeware Apps for M-Learning on his Mobile Learning blog. His suggestions focus on mobile phones and Windows Mobile devices.

Rolly Maiquez has a couple of blog posts you might want to check out: Useful Palm Handhelds and Language Arts Curriculum Integration Links and Funding Links.

Lynn Lary points to curriculum resources for a interesting lessons using MIT's free participatory simulations for Palm handhelds. Included are materials and handouts for a unit called "Future CSI" and a unit about the Big Fish-Little Fish simulation.

Those of you who are Windows, Palm, and iPod users may be interested in Palm2iPod that sends your contacts and calendar from Palm Desktop to your iPod.

Here are several new freeware applications for the Palm OS:

• SequenceM: Sequencing application for elementary classrooms.
• ClipExtend: Bypass the 1000 character clipboard limit so you can copy and paste larger amounts of text.
• HealthCalc: Calculate BMI, body fat, heart rate zones, and more.
• Pepe Palm Chat: Send text back and forth through infrared.
• Checklist by Paper Trail Software: Create and manipulate checklists.
• Dekses: Puzzle game where you follow the right number order and move the digits to their correct places.
• Target: Game where you make words out of a 3x3 grid of nine letters.
• tejpWriter: Word processor with a surprising number of features. I like that it can export to HTML. The applications is a little buggy, though.
• SimpleChart: Plot up to three columns of data.
• Subscribe to Palm Freeware's RSS feed.
• Dale Ehrhart has produced many free educational applications. Read about them on his Pre-Service Teacher blog.

And here are some freeware applications for Windows Mobile:

• Hubdog: Read news feeds and subscribe to podcasts on your Pocket PC.
• Free PDA Keyboard: Full screen keyboard for easier text entry.
• Pocket Notes: Notebook program with different pen sizes and colors.
• Subscribe to Pocket PC Freeware's RSS feed.

ArithmeTick

Here's a new freeware math game for Palm and Windows Mobile users: ArithmeTick. The game helps student become faster at addition, subtract, multiplication, and division. Players can choose which operations will be used and the skill level. Once the game begins, it's a race to get as many problems correct as possible. Players are awarded up to 10 points for each problem depending on how quickly the problem was answered. Also, players are awarded extra time for each problem solved correctly. Challenge problems worth 50 points are offered at the end of each level. Since there is no erase button, you should know that if you enter a wrong number by mistake you can clear your current guess by tapping on the problem.

Let's see how high those scores can go! Offer this game to students and post their high scores in a comment to this post.

Download the Palm version.
Download the Windows Mobile version.

Soft Reset #18: Quizzler

Soft Reset #18 is online! The episode is about Quizzler, software that works with Palm handhelds, Pocket PCs, Windows, Macintosh, iPods, and the web—so just about everyone can put Quizzler to good use. John Covele, the developer of Quizzler, joins Tony and Mike to tell about Quizzler's new features.

Show Notes:

• Tony's Tip: When making eBooks and quizzes for handhelds, keep all of the files you used to create your content. You never know when you need to make changes to the original.
• Mike's Tip: Rename Palm .prc files to indicate different versions of applications. Also, backup your files online for free at at AOL's Xdrive.
• Palm users can make quizzes on their handhelds using Quizzler 4. Here's a handout to help.
• Learn about Quizzler 5's new features.
• Quizzler Maker for Mac & Windows. Create quizzes with 10 questions or less for free. Export quizzes to Palm handhelds, Pocket PCs, iPods, and the web pages. Here's a screenshot.
• Quizzler Pro Website from Pocket Mobility, Inc.
• Quizzler Server: Collect scores wirelessly & turn your handhelds into a set of clickers.
• Free Quizzler Quiz Library.
• Download Quizzler software.
• Visit Soft Reset's Discussion Forum to discuss the show!
• Leave a voicemail for us to play on the show! 206-333-1942
• Email Tony and Mike at softresetpodcast@gmail.com.

Enjoy the show! Click an icon below to listen or subscribe.

SolarWars High Scores

On a recent road trip, I enjoyed one of my favorite Palm games: SolarWars. The object of SolarWars is to make money by buying and selling cargo while warping around the solar system. (You might have heard of SolarWars in Soft Reset #6.) You have 60 days (that's 60 different visits to planets) to make as much money as you can.

I was very proud of myself when I achieved my highest SolarWars score yet: $442 million. I retired a millionaire! Although $442 million is a decent score, the highest recorded score on the internet I found was $4,355,154,944 near the bottom of this PalmGear page. SolarWar's documentation points to http://cronus.cnicinc.com/solarwars for a high score list. However, that site is no longer available. I searched for that address on Archive.org's Wayback Machine and found this page from April 2003 with 75 scores (all of which are higher than mine).

Players can achieve a higher score by examining the SolarWars Cargo Chart. I made an overhead transparency of this chart so that my fifth graders could refer to it when buying and selling cargo. Also, be sure to read the documentation in the Readme.htm file that is included when you download SolarWars. It gives valuable game play information and offers this strategy:

Diversify your investments. Start by visiting Earth and borrowing the maximum amount you can. Buy water, food, meds, and weapons on Mars and Earth, and sell them on Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto. Buy ore and dilithum on Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto and sell on Earth, Mars, and Jupiter.

Learning with Handheld Technologies Handbook

Futurelab is a nonprofit U.K. organization committed to sharing the lessons learned from research and development in order to inform positive change to educational policy and practice. Last month Futurelab published the handbook Learning with Handheld Technologies. The 35 page PDF has implementation ideas and detailed case reports. This handheld book is useful for schools just starting to explore handheld computing and for schools who want to improve their current program. It's based on two years of research from the University of Bristol, which observed and interviewed some of the leading practitioners of handheld learning in the UK.

The second page of the handbook lists the key recommendations from the research.

• There should be an authentic purpose with clear learning goals.
• It is harder and takes more time to manage a small set of devices than it is to manage models of use where each learner "owns" their own.
• Professional development is very important. A collaborative community of practice that involves the whole school will help embed handheld technologies in the curriculum.
• Wireless internet connectivity is preferred because it makes the devices much more useful.
• Schools need to figure out long term storage of students' data as they will produce so much work it won't all fit on the devices.
• Spare handhelds should be on-hand for quick replacement of broken units.
• Teaching styles must accommodate personal ownership of learning.
• Successful projects used handhelds for accessing content and for producing projects.
• Adoption of handhelds goes smoothly when integrated with with existing technologies like interactive whiteboards, software, and data projectors.

All of the recommendations in Learning with Handheld Technologies seem to apply to all school technologies, not just handheld devices. The handbook also contains a listing of many handheld learning projects from around the globe. The projects include all kinds of devices like Palm handhelds, Pocket PCs, and iPods. You can download the PDF or request a free hard copy of Futurelab's handbook.

Grammar Game

Leading Step's Grammar Games: Constructor is a new Palm application and you can download a free 15-day trial.

In game mode, students answer questions to earn puzzle pieces. The questions are completely customizable. Constructor is programmed with hundreds of sentences and students tap specified parts of speech in those sentences. Constructor allows you to specify a "Game Plan" that includes the types of questions and what kinds of sentences that will be used. Game Plans can be as simple as finding nouns in simple sentences to as complicated as identifying the kind of infinitive in sentences with predicate nominatives. The teacher can set a Game Plan on her handheld and beam it to student handhelds. Because it's so flexible, Constructor can be used in elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. In addition, Constructor is set up to support up to eight users on one handheld. The users' answers are tracked and can be reviewed. Games can take some time to finish, as students may answer up to 80 questions to win up to 50 puzzle pieces. It's nice that there's always a help icon for students to tap for helpful grammar information.

Constructor retails for $14.95, but if you plan to purchase more than 10 licenses, you can contact the company to receive a bulk discount.

Soft Reset #17: Mobile Internet

Soft Reset #17: Mobile Internet is now online. There are a growing number of tools to make the Mobile Internet a friendlier place. In Soft Reset #17 Tony and Mike discuss using the Web on handheld computers and mobile phones. Searching, blogs, news feeds, bookmarks, and homepages are the topics. Although the focus is WiFi connections, accessing the Internet through Bluetooth is also addressed. Be sure to listen for the intro and outro voice--it's someone that knows Mike very well.

Show Notes:

• Tony's Tip: WiFi connections eat up battery life. Turn it off when not in use.
• Mike's Tip: Don't have a WiFi enabled handheld? There are WiFi expansion options for most handhelds.
• The Mobile Internet is a collective term for websites and services that are formatted for the smaller screens of mobile devices, like cell phones and handhelds.
• eSchool News ETS Poll.
• Thunderhawk and NetFront browsers ($).
• Wapedia.org, the mobile version of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia anyone can edit.
• Mobile Answers.com - Dictionary, Encyclopedia, and much more.
• Enter a web address and let Google format the page for a mobile device: www.google.com/xhtml.
• Search blog posts with mobile.technorati.com.
• Skweezer.net also formats any site to a handheld-friendly format.
• Bloglines RSS aggregator has a mobile version.
• Use TinyUrl.com to make long web addresses much shorter.
• Mob5.com let you set up a free handheld-friendly homepage, complete with text, images, and links. Go to mob5.com/softreset on your handheld for mobile web links.
• Winksite.com also lets you set up a mobile homepage. Winksite has more features, including RSS feeds, forums, chat, and surveys. However, it doesn't let you include images or text formatting like Mob5.com does. Go to winksite.com/vincent/hand on your handheld for the mobile version of Learning in Hand.
• Bluetooth Access Point Review.
• Visit Soft Reset's Discussion Forum to discuss the show!
• Leave a voicemail for us to play on the show! 206-333-1942
• Email Tony and Mike at softresetpodcast@gmail.com.

Enjoy the show! Click an icon below to listen or subscribe.