Introducing Handheld Computing

Last week I had the absolute pleasure of introducing handheld computing to seventh and eight graders at Bethune School in Phoenix. Bethune recently purchased Tungsten E2s for each of their seventh and eighth graders. They also have two classroom sets of handhelds for grades K-6. The challenge was that I had only 45 minutes per class to introduce handheld computing and have them use the Tungsten Es for the first time.

Before students touched the handhelds, I used my slide show comparing the E2 with the computer I had in school, the Apple IIe. It continues to amaze me that the E2 has 200 times the processing power, 256 times the RAM, a much higher resolution screen, and a much lower price tag. I also gave a quick lecture on how to treat handhelds. Like a $200 egg, the E2 should not be thrown into desks and backpacks. Always place the stylus in the silo when not in use so you don't lose it. Also, only the stylus should touch the screen; other objects can scratch the screen and your fingers will leave smudges. An important safety tip is to not leave the handheld on the corner of your desk. Someone could walk by and brush up against it. The handheld will go flying off the desk and can become damaged. The one cracked screen we've ever had at Willowdale was because a handheld was bumped off a desk by someone walking to get a Kleenex.

After convincing students that they had real computers in front of them that needed special care, it was time to turn them on. With 45 minutes, I didn't have time to teach all of the basics of the Palm OS. But I haven't been to keen to having lessons that are just how to use the handhelds. I like to teach how to use a handheld while we're using it for a real purpose. So I introduced some of the buttons and the Home/Applications Launcher. Then the students launched Angles. I demonstrated how to play and how to call up the onscreen keyboard to enter the numbers. The students really got into the game. It was a great program to start with because the math connection is immediately apparent. With time running short, I also demonstrated Divisible. There's no text entry in this application, so it's great for beginning handheld users. I found out many of the students did not know their divisibility rules. However, some really did know their stuff. We had a short contest to see who could get 20 out of 20 questions right first. That means that if a student answered a question incorrectly, he or she would have to reset their score and try again. Within two minutes, two students had completed the task! The students were really bummed when our time was up (and I was too). The students were so engaged and ready to learn anything I showed them on their new computers.

The afternoon involved a three hour workshop for Bethune's teachers. Most of them were also new to handheld computing, so it was my job again to convince them that handhelds are real computers. Then I focused a lot of our time on Quizzler, including how to make a Quizzler quiz. I also showed MathAce, SillySentences, and GoneMad!. With those example programs, I think Bethune's teachers realized the power and potential of handheld computing and are excited to use handhelds in their lessons. I also made it clear to teachers their main reason for using handhelds is not because students need to be exposed to technology. The core reason for using handheld computers is because they are an effective learning tool.

José Vega, media specialist at Bethune School in Phoenix, maintains a blog documenting Bethune's journey into educational technologies and literacies. José wrote A Day with Tony Vincent and Handhelds on August 31, 2006. He tells a little bit about my visit to Bethune and about his school's journey into handheld computing. Also keep an eye on his blog, as his school will also be podcasting!

Additions to the Blogosphere

I want to tell you about some new (or somewhat new) blogs about handheld computing that are out there in the blogosphere:

Mobile Musings
Karen Fasimpaur, president of K12 Handhelds, writes about mobile technologies.

Handheldman - Journal
Steve Byrd, a passionate and geeky educator, writes about educational technology. Steve's writing has a unique voice that is really entertaining to read. Also check out his Handheldman Podcast.

Pocket-Ed Futures Blog - Pocket PCs in the Classroom
Ian Marsden from Australia writes about his use of Pocket PCs with students. Ian includes lots of great lesson ideas.

Handhelds in the Classroom
Debbie Donohue recently started a blog. She is really hooked on handhelds. I mean, really hooked. I submit this quote as evidence, "If I lost my handheld computer I may as well stay in bed in the morning because I wouldn't know where to go or how to get there!" Be sure to check out the cool video Debbie recently posted.

Ubiquitous Thoughts
Mark van 't Hooft works for the Research Center for Educational Technology at Kent State University. He writes his thoughts and ideas about teaching, learning, and computing.

The Pre-Service Teacher Blog
Dale Ehrhart is going to make one heck of a teacher. He has lots of interest in handheld computing. Recently he's been blogging about educational applications he has programmed himself. You go Dale!

How do I come across these brilliant blogs? I subscribe to Google Blog Searches. As you know, I'm an avid Bloglines user. I absolutely love that all of my updated blogs and RSS feeds are waiting for me in one place. I use Bloglines to subscribe to the RSS feeds for searches like these: handhelds + education, handhelds + classroom, handhelds + learning, podcasting + education, and pda + classroom.

If you have a blog or know of one that you'd like to share, please tell us about it by adding a comment to this post!

Books: Future & Current

I've been very busy working on the second edition of Handhelds for Teachers & Administrators. The first edition was written in 2003 and a lot has changed in three short years! We have much more educational software, handhelds can play audio and video, and there are many more resources out there for handheld computing! Even the operating systems have changed. In 2003 Palm OS 5 was brand new and most educators were using Palm OS 4. Pocket PC 2002 was out. Just last year Pocket PC 2003 was replaced by Windows Mobile 5.

If you need a book that focuses on the older Palm OS 4 or Pocket PC 2002/2003, then you better hurry and order the first edition of Handhelds for Teachers & Administrators. You can save $12 by purchasing the book through Amazon.com. The second edition will be quite different from the first, so you might want to own both.

My co-author, Janet Caughlin, and I are collecting stories and quotes from educators and students about handheld computing. If you have something valuable to say about using handhelds, producing podcasts, managing a classroom, purchasing hardware, or troubleshooting problems, please email me at learninginhand@mac.com and you might be quoted in the new book!

And speaking of a new book, Handheld Applications for the Classroom by Chris Cuppett is available for order from Visions Technology in Education. Chris has written about 43 freeware and shareware Palm applications and how to use them in the classroom.

Don't forget that there are many other books about educational handheld computing. I've listed them here.

Soft Reset #15: National Computing Conference

Soft Reset Episode #15 is here! Tony and Mike attended the 2006 National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in San Diego. They discuss a variety of things they noticed and learned from the conference. Running time is 52 minutes.

Show Notes:

• Mike's Tip: TCPMP is The Core Pocket Media Player for Palm and Pocket PC. It can play just about every video and audio format. TCPMP is free. Mike has a handout for TCPMP in this file.
• Tony's Tip: Watch videos on a Palm instead of a video iPod. Here is a PowerPoint about converting DVDs into a format for TCPMP.
• Tony blogged about sessions he attended at NECC.
• eBook Studio and Plucker were used in Mike's workshop.
• GXB Interactive makes games for GameBoys.
• GoKnow released research on the effectiveness of handhelds in math and science. Episode #10 of Soft Reset address research.
• Beret Applications will be releasing "Grammar Time" this fall.
• Outrageously huge Best Buy bags were everywhere.
• Fourier System's Nova 5000 is a "learning appliance."
• ISTE's Special Interest Group for Handheld Computing.
• Everyone is invited to contribute to Our City Podcast. Here's a wiki page about the podcasting workshop Tony participated in.
• iPods were hot at NECC. Tony doctored up a photo of a poster to express his feelings of iPods vs. Palm/Windows Mobile handhelds.
• 2007's NECC will be in Atlanta.
• Poster Session: Teacher Candidates Get HANDy with Handhelds.
• Poster Session: Problem-Based Learning in Online Learning Environments.
• 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. Tags: necc06 necc

Handhelds in the News

A search of Google News shows that handheld computers are making their way into more and more hands of students:

High-Tech Help: Students Have Access to New Gadgets This Year
by Gwenda Anthony, The Jackson Sun, August 1, 2006
Third and fourth graders at Isaac Lane Technology Magnet School will be using Palm handhelds for learning. The article does a great job of informing the public that these computers go way beyond simple PDA functions.The handhelds were funded by a grant. Students will begin taking the handhelds home after winter break.

Freshmen, Sophomores to Get PDAs at CHS
by Normaida Bright, Central Kentucky News-Journal, July 30, 2006
Campbellsville High School is phasing in 200 Dell Axims, which the writer describes as a "handheld mini computer." The handhelds will actually be leased to students and they will keep them after graduation. Students will be charged a $40 technology fee each year to help cover the cost. If the handheld is lost or stolen, students will have to pay $450 to replace it. The 200 handhelds will be phased in over two years. In fact, the whole first semester will be devoted to teachers and their professional development. CHA teachers will be prepared to use them when some students receive their handhelds second semester.

Gadgets Excite Educators
by Janese Heavin, Columbia Daily Tribune, July 30, 2006
Remember that school board member from Columbia, Missouri who was quoted in the paper? ""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." Well, I now give her kudos for sitting down with Matt Villasana, a fourth grade teacher at Shepard Elementary, to learn about handheld computing in education! For over an hour, Matt was able to show her that handhelds are not just electronic organizers for business folks. Matt hit home that handhelds engage students, which leads to achievement. The school board member would like to see more research, which SuccessLink says will be available this time next year. However, after talking with Matt, she said, "If it’s essential for Shepard, why is it not essential for another school?" Sounds like progress was made!

One Laptop Per Child Announces 4 Million Pre-Orders
by Jason Denwood, Pocket-lint, August 1, 2006
You may have heard about the $100 laptop project from MIT to bring inexpensive computing to developing nations. Sometimes this program is called One Laptop Per Child (a.k.a. OLPC). The project announced that Nigeria, Brazil, Argentina, and Thailand have each ordered 1 million laptops. What does this have to do with handhelds, you ask? The OLPC is actually more like a handheld than a laptop. It has a smaller screen, 500 Mhz processor, and limited memory. However, limitations not only make the hardware cheaper, but can actually make devices better learning tools. Many educators appreciate the simplicity of handheld computing and its lack of "excessive functionality."

Mid Atlantic Handheld Conference

The Mid-Atlantic Handheld Conference (MAHC for short) was a big success! I presented the morning keynote presentation to nearly 200 educators. There were 24 breakout sessions. You might have already read about my Tiny Spreadsheets session. I wasn't able to blog much of the conference since I was presenting myself, but Brian C. Smith from New York has blogged about the conference and the preconference. Check out his posts:

• Mid Atlantic Handheld Conference
• Emerging from the Hand
• Supporting K-12 Learning Using Handhelds
• Creative, Cool, & Crazy
• From Zero to Handhelds

Brian C. Smith presented his own session about AudioBay. It's software for Windows Mobile that lets you find, subscribe, listen, and create podcasts on one device: a Pocket PC! Brian has a wiki page that explains the AudioBay software. The beauty is that you don't need iTunes or knowledge of RSS to consume and produce podcasts.

The final session I participated was a panel discussion with Mike Curtis, Karen Fasimpaur (from K12Handhelds), Steve Garner (from Seaford Schools), and me. Here are a few notes from that discussion:

• Is the Palm Operating System going to go away since the Palm company is making handhelds that also run Windows Mobile? With over 30,000 different Palm applications out there, there will be a way to run those programs for a long time. The Palm company says it will sell handhelds with the Palm Operating System for the foreseeable future. It is stabilizing its product line so that new models do not come out as often, which is great for education. K12 Handhelds is focuses on making content that is mostly HTML based so it can be used on any platform.
• Unfortunately, many educators in the audience gave poor reviews of the TriBeam charging station. They claim the handhelds do not keep their charge and that the unit doesn't fit devices correctly or function properly.
• Mike suggested taking an AV cart and rigging it for charging. He suggests putting a shower curtain around it to hide the cord mess from picky administrators (and fire marshals).
• A teacher expressed disappointment with Documents To Go because her gifted students could not graph directly on the handheld.
• Documents To Go settings can be configured to have files go to a different location for each user. This can even work with students' network folders for access on any of the school's networked computers.
• The huge benefit of wireless handhelds is not really surfing the net, but accessing networks for students to access and to hand in assignments. Grant Street Software's HiHo-Network Edition is an example of how this would work.
• Mike explained Bluetooth like getting married, but, unlike American marriages, you can marry up to seven devices at once. Before any communication can happen, they must be paired by sharing a password. Participants learned that their phones and handhelds can communicate through Bluetooth. If you have a data plan for your wireless phone, you may be able to access the internet. You can also send address book contacts from your handheld to your phone.
• Steve and Karen suggested that if your are writing a grant, write to include a third party data collector because it's such a hard job. It's important to note that showing growth takes of the schools in Steve's school did not see sizable increases in achievement until the fourth year.

Several MAHC participants spoke into my handheld's microphone and shared what they learned at the conference. Mike and I will have lots of audio from this conference to share on a future episode of Soft Reset!

Tiny Spreadsheets

Spreadsheets are powerful tools! In fact, spreadsheets became a "killer application" in the 1980s because they were so useful that people were finally willing to buy the computers to run them on. With computerization, spreadsheets are no longer just ledgers to track money; they can be used for all kinds of exciting things! Microsoft Excel is number one spreadsheet application for desktop computers. On Palm OS computers, there's Sheets To Go (part of Dataviz's Documents To Go). On Pocket PC computers there's Excel Mobile (or, on older handhelds, Pocket Excel). Note that you must upgrade to the premium version of Documents To Go to make graphs on the handheld. Excel Mobile has free graphing abilities while Pocket Excel does not. However, even without graphing, there are great uses for spreadsheets.

And why use spreadsheets with students?

• Organize and visualize data.
• Spreadsheets are completely programmable.
• More realistic problem-solving.
• Focus on results and implications rather than calculations.
• Engage & motivate students.

I presented at SuccessLink's Handheld Conference and at the Mid-Atlantic Handheld Conference the session "Tiny Spreadsheets = Great Learning Tools." In these sessions, I shared all kinds of examples of spreadsheets that work well on handheld computers. In fact, I presented three basic kinds of spreadsheets: charts, calculations, and self-checking.

Chart spreadsheets organize information into chart form. Some examples include charting answers to survey questions, tracking the altitude and direction of the sun, organizing colors of candies, and displaying the relationship between circumference and diameter. Of course, some charts will include simple calculations.

Spreadsheets that perform calculations, simple or complex, can be useful tools for students. What works out great is when students make their own spreadsheets and then use them to try different calculations. For example, after making a spreadsheet to calculate the area of a rectangle, see what happens when you double the length and the width of a rectangle. A fun spreadsheet to create and use is finding the cost of pizza per square inch. Spreadsheets that calculate surface area can really save students time crunching numbers because of the amount of multiplication and adding that's involved. And, although there are plenty of computer programs out there to do this for you, try having students create a spreadsheet to calculate age and weight on other planets.

Kinds of spreadsheet many folks don't know about are self-checking sheets. This is a spreadsheet where a clue is given and then a word is entered in the cell next to the clue. The spreadsheet indicates if the clue is correct or not. This is done by using "if" statements in the cells that display if the answer is right or wrong. The answers are actually hidden in a column so that students can't see them while they practice. In these kinds of spreadsheets, spelling is important. In fact, I shared an example of a self-checking sheet for homophones. I also have a self-checking sheet for answering math problems that follow the order of operations (remember, Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally). I also made a blank self-checking sheet so that it's easy to fill in weekly spelling words, different math problems, or vocabulary words into a new self-checking sheet.

You can download the spreadsheets from my presentations in Excel form or in a form ready to be installed into Documents To Go. You can learn more about great ways to use Excel at The ABC's to Excel site. Most of the creative uses for Excel can be transferred to Sheets To Go and Excel Mobile. I bet you never thought that tiny spreadsheets could be used in so many ways!

SuccessLink

It's the fourth annual SuccessLink Handheld Conference in Osage Beach, Missouri. We're at the Tan Tar A resort and everyone is excited for two days worth of learning, sharing, and networking. Stacey Franks opened the conference with a video by Stan Smith from Warrensburg, Missouri. The video was about a middle school student and her day using her handheld in each class. Stacey also explained to participants that there is a blog for the conference, where the presenters can post thoughts, reflections, notes, and documents. Conference-goers are encourages to leave comments on the posts.

Mark Yehle answered the question, "What is SuccessLink?" SuccessLink is funded by a grants from the Missouri Department of Education. Their job is to find best practices and disseminate them to teachers and schools. Their website has 2,500 lesson plans and has had over 10,000,000 hits on the site. SuccessLink knows that handhelds are great for students and wants to help Missouri students tap the power of handheld computing. I wish more states had an agency like SuccessLink

Elliot Soloway and Cathie Norris took the stage and they have over 90 minutes to present their keynote presentation. That gives them time to talk and answer questions. Oftentimes keynote speeches are under 60 minutes, so it's nice to be able to have the time give their message justice.

I've blogged about Elliot and Cathie's message before on June 28, 2006, February 5, 2006, July 21, 2005 , and June 29, 2005. So instead of recapping what I've already written, I'm including some tidbits of Elliot-and-Cathie-goodness that were new or interesting to me:

• "It's inevitable that all computing will be mobile." That's a quote from 1991 by Jeff Hawkins, inventor of the Palm Pilot.
• A former student of Elliot's works for Apple and invented the iPod. The former student actually worked on handheld software for the University of Michigan. He was always interested in mobile computing. Of course, because of politics at Apple, the former student (who Elliot says is still a "kid") doesn't get formal credit for his work on iPod and iTunes.
• Although it's called a laptop, the technical specs for MIT's $100 laptop is much more like a handheld than a modern notebook computer.
• Turning Technologies offers software (called vPad) to turn desktop, latptop, and Pocket PCs into student response clicking devices. This way you don't need to buy clicker hardware; educators can use the handhelds they already have.
• It's much more powerful for students to make their own multimedia instead of simply viewing the media.
• Cathie calls it "Animate and Annotate" when students explain what they are doing in an animation, like in this long division Sketchy animation. Not only is the math problem being solved, but the student is actually giving insight into her thinking. Jemey Roschelle from SRI calls the creative uses like this "So Simple, So Powerful." The software isn't overly complicated, but the learning is very evident.
• According to research from Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow, it takes 3 to 5 years for teachers to integrate desktops and laptops into daily instnruction. Cathie and company are finding it takes half that time to integrate handhelds. Cathie explains that schools are buying handhelds with less functionality than laptops, but they are using 90% of the handheld's functionarity (instead of 10% of a laptop's functionality).

The conference features all hands-on breakout sessions that are 90 minutes each. I'm looking forward to presenting about quizzing software, spelling test preparation, podcasting, and spreadsheets. There are over 200 educators attending over 25 breakout sessions. I'll be interviewing participants for Soft Reset about what they have taken away from this year's SuccessLink Handheld Computer Conference over these two days.

Stylus Poster

Through Bloglines, I've subscribed to photos tagged NECC in the photo-sharing service Flickr. Flickr user prof_derekeb is at NECC and posted a photo of the poster below...

Update: After noting how iPods were the stars of the show at NECC, I edited the poster to express my feelings...

Tags: necc06 necc

Research Study Results on Handheld Computing!

Just in time for NECC, GoKnow Learning released scientifically-based research that demonstrates handheld computer use in K-12 classrooms leads to student achievement gains. The research will help schools nationwide secure funding for handheld computing!

Two research studies were conducted by the University of Michigan. One looked at simple recall of math facts in two third grade classrooms. The University of Michigan developed a game called Skills Arena for GameBoy where students practice basic math facts. One class used the handheld games while the other used flashcards. And the results?

• In the five-week instruction with the handheld, the handheld game group (HG) outperformed the flash card group (CG). The HG students performed 7 percent better than those of the CG group on the gain scores from pre-test to post-test.
• In the five-week instruction, the low-achieving students using the handheld performed 11 percent better than the flash card group. Thus, Skills Arena helped the low-achieving students; Skills Arena was a way for low-achieving students to succeed just like the high-achieving students.

The other study looked at science concepts and procedures in a two year study in three seventh grade classrooms in Detroit. The study looked at three different science units. The study had some students using handhelds with GoKnow's Handheld Learning Environment while others did not. However, the tasks were the same. For instance, handheld users would make a concept map in PiCoMap while the non-using class would make the map on paper. [Dr. Elliot Soloway talked about this research last week at the Lexington Handheld Computer Conference.] The results:

• In the first year of using handheld devices, the handheld groups performed 2 percent better than the paper and pencil groups did in combing all gains (%) of three units.
• In the second year of using handheld devices, the handheld groups performed 13 percent better than the paper and pencil groups did in the combined gain score (%) of three units.

If you are trying to convince someone to fund getting handhelds in the hands of your students, be sure to cite this research. In fact, GoKnow has one-page snapshots about each of these studies. While you're at it, read GoKnow's research results announcement.

Tags: necc06 necc

Soft Reset #14: Science

Soft Reset Episode #14 is now available! Tony and Mike share probeware, spreadsheets, participatory simulations, and reference programs for Palm and Windows Mobile that help with science instruction. Your hosts also share applications that teachers use for other subjects, but can also be used for learning science. The episode ends with audio from the U.S. Virgin Islands. Be sure to listen for the harsh consequence if a student in Miss Prince's school loses a stylus!

Show Notes:

• Mike's Tip: Select more than one file to beam at once in Windows Mobile by tapping the Control key on the onscreen keyboard or by holding down the center button the five-way navigator while you tap the items you want to select. Use the shareware application BeamPro to beam more than one application on a Palm handheld.
• Tony's Tip: There are visual cues in the Palm Operating System to help you know where to tap. For instance, tapping the triangle icon usually activates a pop-up menu. Tapping inside of a box surrounded by a dotted line allows you to change whatever in the middle of that box. Tapping the "i" with a circle around it bring up a help or information screen. Windows Mobile doesn't have these kind of visual cues. To see if there is a context menu on a Pocket PC, tap and hold your stylus on the screen to see if anything pops up.
• Probeware: For Pocket PC & For Palm.
• Spreadsheets are great places to record data. The new Excel Mobile allows graphing on the handheld itself. For Palm, the bundled version of Documents To Go does not include graphing capabilities. Upgrading to the premium version opens up this possibility (at a price).
• Soft Reset Show #4: Participatory Simulations.
• Live Long & Prosper Participatory Simulation from MIT and a lesson plan for it.
• Geney is great, but doesn't work well with Palm OS 5. Palm's current handhelds run Palm OS 5.
• References on your handheld: Moon Phase (Palm) and ChemTable (Palm) or Packed Periodic Table (Windows Mobile).
• StyleTap lets you run Palm programs on a Pocket PC.
• Ecological Footprint Calculator (EFC for short) for Palm.
• Space Weight for Palm. Considering making a spreadsheet that can calculate weight on other planets. Use this page to help you.
• GoKnow's Sketchy contest science winners.
• Makes quizzes with the free Quizzler program for Palm or Windows Mobile.
• Use Contacts or the Address Book application to record vocabulary words.
• Beam students a Science-Question-of-the-Day. Beam the answers the following day with a new question.
• More applications for Palm and Windows Mobile.
• Mike brings us audio from the U.S. Virgin Islands. Click for some photos. Here's the contract Miss Prince uses along with other usage agreements.
• 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.