Text Entry Advice

Here are some tips to for using Graffiti® (Palm) or Letter Recognizer® (Windows Mobile) text entry:

• Make your letter strokes as large as possible.
• Don't go too quickly or too slowly.
• Hold your stylus like you would a pen or pencil.
• Avoid pushing too hard – you don't need to carve your letters into the handheld.
• Use the Giraffe game to practice and improve your Graffiti.
• Don't make your characters slanted.
• On a Palm handheld, set shortcuts for words or expressions you use often. Set the shortcuts in the Prefs application.
• Go through the Graffiti 2 tutorial located in the Quick Tour application on your Palm handheld.
• If you don't know a stroke or have trouble with a character, simply switch to the onscreen keyboard, tap the character you want, and then switch back to using Graffiti or Letter Recognizer.
• Keep your eyes on the text entry area and focus on your stroke, not what is appearing on the screen.
• Don't wait for the handheld to display the character you just made. Move on to making your next character. If there are mistakes, go back and fix them after you've entered your line of text.

The last two tips come from Ed Hardy, Editor-in-Chief at Brighthand.com. Read his editorial How to Speed Up Your Text Entry in One Easy Lesson. For more tips, watch videos #4 and #5 from Palm and Atomic Learning. Palm has some Graffiti 2 tips. Finally, apcmag.com's Screenwriting Secrets reveals many ways to increase your speed and accuracy.

Windows Mobile Tips and Tricks

Dave's iPAQ, a site that calls itself your one stop source for iPAQ and mobility news, has a weekly podcast. The most recent podcast dated August 12, 2005 and titled "Dave's iPAQ Podcast Tips and Tricks" is a compilation of dozens of tips for Windows Mobile users. Educators may not be interested in all of the tips, but if you're an iPAQ, Axim, or any other Pocket PC user, you're bound to absorb several tips for using your Windows Mobile handheld. Here's just a few of the tips and tricks I learned:

• When using the onscreen keyboard, instead of tapping the shift button, simply tap a key and drag the stylus toward the top of the screen. For example, if you tap a lower case b, when you tap the b key and drag toward the top of the screen, it will input a capital B. In the same way, you can tap and drag the 1 key and it will input an exclamation point. This is a pretty cool shortcut!
• Remote Display Control from Microsoft is a free solution for showing your handheld's screen to an audience. Simply install the software on your desktop or laptop and connect your handheld. Launch the software to show the unit's screen on the desktop's or laptop's screen. If the desktop or laptop is connected to a projector, you've got a pretty spiffy way of having a large group of students see the Windows Mobile screen.
• HP Mobile Printing for Windows Mobile is a free printing solution. It supports printing from many Windows Mobile applications by infrared, Bluetooth, and WiFi.
• Personalize your handheld with free themes from PocketPC Themes.
• Tapping the close button on Windows Mobile applications doesn't actually close the program, it only minimizes it. The "closed" applications are still running in the background and using the handheld's resources. Magic Button is a Pocket PC Task Manager that actually quits applications when you tap the button in the title bar.
• You can add any TrueType fonts from desktop version of Windows by copying them to the Windows > Fonts folder on your handheld. Unfortunately, fonts can take up a lot of precious RAM. Fortunately, you can copy these fonts to an expansion card using the free application called FontOnStorage. Read more about doing this at Brighthand's Discussion Forum.
• Password protect Pocket Excel files by selecting Tools > Password in Pocket Excel if you're using Windows Mobile 2003 2nd Edition. Other versions use the Edit > Password in Pocket Excel. Note that when you sync to desktop, the password will be lost. Password protecting is important when you have student information or grades on your handheld.
• You can choose to have larger onscreen keyboard keys by tapping the up arrow icon (next to the Text Input icon) and selecting Options. Tap the button next to "Large keys". Note that since the keys are larger, you'll need to tap the "123" button to access numbers and symbols.

There's certainly a lot more you can learn from listening to the 50 minute podcast! Click here to listen in your browser.

Click here to subscribe to Dave's iPAQ podcast in iTunes.

MathAce

Just about every handheld-using teacher knows about MathCard. It allows students to practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It's such a simple application and so easy to use. One problem with MathCard is that it is disappearing from the internet. The only place I can now find MathCard to download is from a page that is not written in English. Also, as I work with teachers, they have given me feedback on what they wish MathCard could do. Now there is an alterative to MathCard. Brian Schau has released yet another piece of educational freeware from my wishlist: MathAce. MathAce is similar to the popular MathCard. However, MathAce adds useful features:

• MathAce has the option for negative numbers to be used in problems.
• Besides selecting the Maximum Operand (the highest of the two numbers that are added, subtracted, multiplied, or divided), the Maximum Answer can be selected for addition and subtraction problems.
• The quiz can be timed by setting how many minutes in the preferences.
• Besides a Calculate quiz type, there's also Solve where students solve for the missing number in the equation.
• MathAce maintains a report of the last 10 quizzes taken. The report includes the date, start time, stop time, score, and the preferences that were set to take the quiz.
• The report of the last 10 scores can be exported to Memos! That means they can be saved, printed out, or beamed to the teacher!

Visit Brian's site. There you can download MathAce and read the user manual. His home page has the educational freeware that he has released, including Simplify, Gone Mad!, MixedUp, Dictate. and Angles.

Setting up for a new year

It's hard to believe, but a new school year is upon us (though some of us with alternative calendars have been in session for several weeks already, right Elaine in North Carolina?). Many of us are thinking about those handhelds that have been locked away all summer. Others may be getting handhelds for the first time. It doesn't matter if the handhelds are new or not, you're going to have to prepare them for the upcoming school year.

The batteries on your handhelds are probably completely drained after being stuck in a cabinet or closet all summer. I suggest charging each handheld for three hours to get the batteries up and running properly. Because the batteries completely discharged, everything in the handheld's memory has been lost. Be aware, that from my experience, some handhelds never work again once the batteries have been emptied over the summer. Unfortunately, it's expensive to replace batteries and usually not cost-efficient. Anyhow, as long as the handheld does resuscitate after summer break, it will be just like it was when it was taken out of its box for the first time. You'll need to reload all of the software, documents, and settings on each handheld. There are some shortcuts you can take to make this happen.

No matter how you set up the handhelds, you will need to first turn them on after charging and go through the digitizer screen. You'll also have to set up the date and time. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts for setting these things–but after setting up a class set, you'll be very fast at this task.

My favorite way to set up handhelds is to use Grant Street Software's SD Deploy card. First you setup one handheld just the way you want it. That means you probably turn the system sounds off and add applications and documents. When you have this handheld the way you like it, insert the SD Deploy card while pressing the up button on the handheld. Then tell the card to make a clone of this handheld. Give it a minute or two. When done, insert this special SD card into another handheld. It will automatically make this handheld just like the first one you cloned. Continue inserting the card into as many handhelds as you need. SD Deploy is also available for Windows Mobile handhelds.

If you don't have an SD Deploy card, I suggest setting handhelds up through syncing. First, gather all of the applications and documents you wish to have on all handhelds into one folder on your desktop computer (you may even take these files from the backup folder of your handheld or that of one you have saved from last school year). Then sync each handheld, giving each a unique username. Next, Mac users launch the HotSync Manager and select Install Handheld Files from the HotSync menu and choose the first username. Windows users launch Palm Desktop, select the first username in the upper-right corner, and click Quick Install. Mac and Windows users then drag the files from the folder into the install window. Next, select the second username from the pop-up menu and drag the files into the window again. Go through the same process for each username that was created. Yes, it's a lot of clicking, dragging, and dropping (but you'll find a rhythm as you do it). After each username has all of the applications and documents queued up, then sync each handheld again. After syncing each handheld, they will be ready to go!

Things to remember when setting up Palm handhelds: Turn off system sound. Turn down the game and alarm sounds. Install Documents To Go and Noah Lite (these are not easy to beam). For synchronizing, it's very important each handheld has the correct date and time. If you include numbers in usernames, have 1-9 start with a leading zero (i.e. 01, 02, 03). Then your list of users will sort properly.

In a one-to-one environment where each student will have their own handheld, I recommend not putting all the applications you will use on the handheld at once. The extra applications will take up memory and will probably be a distraction to students. I prefer to beam students the applications as they need them (for instance, after learning about Graffiti strokes, beam students Giraffe). I do suggest pre-loading some commonly used Palm applications. These include Documents To Go, Noah Lite, Quizzler, and eReader.

If the handhelds are part of a shared or lab set, it's probably best to load as much software as you can. Then you don't have to mess with trying to beam or load software when these handhelds are checked out.

When setting up, I suggest using a label-maker to put the HotSync username onto the cover of each handheld. If you have a one-to-one handheld environment, the HotSync name will probably be that of the student's. If handhelds are shared among students, you'll need some other naming or numbering scheme.

If your school year has already started before you setup the handhelds, don't forget that your very excited students would love to help you in any way they can. Use this valuable resource to label handhelds, sync them, or set them up. After setting up over 100 handhelds in my school, I know that I grow really, really tired of setting the digitizer, date, time, and time zone on each handheld. But I bet I know some youngsters who would enjoy that task much more than I.

Want to know more about handhelds in the first weeks of school? Check out this page. Want to know more about classroom management, including charging and usage contracts? Go to learninginhand's Management page. Got any more suggestions or advice for setting up handhelds for the school year? Please leave a comment!

Podcast with Palm's Martha Rolley

Holly Jobe, from Montgomery Country in Pennsylvania, recorded an interview with Martha Rolley, educator and Director of Education Marketing at Palm, Inc. While at the National Educational Computing Conference, Martha shared some insights into handheld computing in education. One of the most eye-opening statements was Martha's remark that schools need to move from "loanership" to "ownership" when it comes to students and handhelds. Martha tells us to think about it this way: How do you drive a rental car versus driving your own car? Which do you treat better? When students have handhelds of their own, they treat them with much more respect.

Holly's interviews are part of a podcast called Getting To One. It features interviews with many educators about a variety of topics, not just technology. Also, there's even an interview with yours truly about podcasting.

Listen to the MP3 audio file of Holly's interview with Martha Rolley in your browser or go to the Getting To One podcast in iTunes.

Podcast: Southeast Missouri Tech Conference

I demonstrated podcasting to a group of fantastic teachers at the Southeast Regional Professional Development Center's Technology Conference August 4-5, 2005. The conference took place at Southeast Missouri State University and I had a blast showcasing two of my favorite topics: handheld computing and podcasting!

In fact, as part of the closing keynote speech, conference participants and I created a podcast before their very eyes! Not only was I able to show how to make a podcast using GarageBand and iTunes, but the exercise turned out to be a great reflection activity to conclude the conference.

It's amazing to think we put together a podcast in less than a half-hour, but we did! Want to hear it? Click here to listen to the three-and-a-half minute recording.

Music by Emry, a former fifth grader from Willowdale Elementary School in Omaha, Nebraska.

Podcasting Pages

According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, only 13% of online Americans know what podcasting is. 64% are not really sure, and 23% have never even heard the term before. Whether you're familiar with podcasting or not, I invite you to take a look at learninginhand's updated Podcasting section. The updated pages make the process more clear. I try to help you find podcasts, subscribe to podcasts, and listen to podcasts. Also, if you're feeling ambitious or curious, you can read about creating podcasts with students.

If you're really interested in podcasting, you can learn more from these sites:

iPodcast Directory for Educators
Lots of examples and links to resources from the U.K.

Trend: Podcasting in Academic and Corporate Learning
Read about how podcasting can be used in education

Pod People
Short article from Edutopia magazine about cool new uses of iPods by teachers

A Podcast of Your Own
Learn techniques for making your voice heard on the internet

Troubleshooting eBook

Having troubles beaming? Are you getting fatal errors? Syncing problems, perhaps? There's a handy reference from K12Handhelds called the Palm OS Troubleshooting Guide. You can download it for free in eReader or FlingIt/Plucker formats. It's not only useful to teachers, but to students as well. Whether it's given to an expert group or the entire class, students can help diagnose and solve problems with handhelds. Here's the table of contents:

• Power problems
• Date/time problems
• Tapping problems
• Beaming problems
• HotSync user name
• Freeze/fatal error problems
• Data loss problems
• Desktop problems
• Installation problems
• Syncing problems
• Documents to Go problems

NECC Exhibitor: MathAmigo

I stopped by the Valiant booth at NECC and eavesdropped as Nancy Kokat explained her company's Palm OS product, MathAmigo, to a group of interested educators. MathAmigo is for grades K-8 and features software to manage over 600 core math activities students complete on handhelds. Nancy explains how MathAmigo is an effective tool to differentiate the activities students do. The software can be set up to be used in a one-to-one environment or shared among students on one handheld. After students finish an activity, a complete assessment report is available to the teacher.

I've tried an earlier version of MathAmigo and the management software was too time-consuming to learn. Nancy tells me there is a new version of the software that is much more user-friendly. MathAmigo has great features and student activities, but it does come at a premium. According to the website, an example price for 15 users is $495 per grade level (pricing varies depending on many factors and you may be able to get a special discount). Currently you must use a Windows computer to install and use MathAmigo on Palm-based handhelds, including the AlphaSmart Dana. The site says a Windows Mobile version will be available in 2004–looks like they missed that deadline. Additionally, Nancy tells me that a Macintosh version of the management system is in the works.

Click here to listen to the recording (3 minutes 21 seconds).

SpellIT Tip

SpellIT, free Palm OS software for practicing lists of spelling words, generates a report each time a student enters Test mode. It was specifically programmed to not allow students to delete these scores. However, there may be times when you want to erase this data, perhaps because you have a shared set of handhelds. You surely don't want students to have access to other students' private scores. There is a way to erase all of the test results data. From SpellIT's main menu, choose Test Results. Tap on any dated entry to see its details. Hold the down button on your handheld and tap Done. A dialog box will appear asking you if your are sure you want to reset test data. Tap Yes. Now all of the test results are deleted. There is no way to delete just one entry, so it's all or nothing when it comes to SpellIT's Test Results.

Since SpellIT is freeware, it's not perfect software (though it has the perfect price tag). You may be interested in trying some commercial solutions for spelling practice on handhelds. There's SpellChamp that lets you choose from 5100 defined words and students use these words to play various games. There's also Grant Street Software's Speller. Speller actually speaks the words and phrases out loud! It's very cool.

More Audio from NECC

Remember the National Educational Computing Conference that took place in June? Well, I have more recordings to post! In this recording I speak with two teachers and two students from Mattawa, Washington who presented at the conference. You'll learn about a variety of commercial Palm applications used by these folks. The latest version of Documents To Go (7.0) features the SmartChart feature where you can graph your data right on the handheld. You can even choose the colors of your graphs! MathAmigo is used to try to get students up to grade level by customizing the instruction for each learner. Audible reads stories to you. Additionally, ImagiGraph was used throughout a student's seventh grade algebra class and was a big help. Isn't it just amazing how much educational software, both commercial and freeware, is out there for handheld computers?

Click here to listen to 5 minutes and 30 seconds recording.

Great Professional Development Offering: Palm Camp

Carla Hurchalla, Cherie Skeeter, and Patti Weeg have organized an amazing professional development offering for teachers in Maryland's Wicomico school district. They call it Palm Camp. Approximately 20 campers (teachers in the school district) are spending the week learning about handheld computing. The campers spent Monday attending the Mid-Atlantic Handheld Conference. Instead of simply going to the conference and then having no follow-up, Wicomico's campers get to spend the rest of the week learning, discussing, and exploring ideas from the conference. In fact, Tuesday I was their "guest camp counselor." I demonstrated a myriad of activities, strategies, and software for Palm computers. The campers got to participate in many sample lessons, so they were able to see handheld computing used in context. The best part was that the campers used these lessons as a springboard for brainstorming ways they can integrate handheld computing into their curriculum. The camp continues through Thursday. Campers will learn how to make eBooks, use iKWL, What-If Builder, and more.

Wicomico's Palm Camp seems to be a highly effective way to deliver teacher training for handheld computing! A couple of the campers actually remarked that they can't wait for school to begin because they are so excited to use handhelds with students! To learn more about the camp and to see photos, click here.