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Title: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Graham on December 15, 2004, 12:46:46 PM This thread is for everyone on the board to introduce themselves and tell us a bit about what they do, where they do it and their interest in handheld learning and computing devices...
Quote I'm Graham, fairly long in the tooth tech-nerd, developer and some would say (have said), evangelist. I've been working in the educational software and hardware field since around 1982 when I was developing software for the "Micros in Schools" scheme at the OU for Sinclair Spectrums, BBC Micro's and RML 380Z. I went on to join Research Machines (RML) when it was just 50 people and making computers in a warehouse on Mill Street (just down the road from the train station). By the way, I still have a completely working RML 380Z system! I stayed with RML (which became RM and grew very fast) for about 5 years eventually heading up the interactive media side of things, running the RM version of the Domesday Project for example, before leaving to set up Next Technology in Cambridge. (http://www.handheldlearning.co.uk/graf/rml-380z.jpg) Next Technology was one of the first interactive media developers working with CD-ROM technology with shareholders including Philips Electronics and St Johns College we developed much of the very early system software that enabled various computers including the Acorn Archimedes to read CD-ROM discs, we developed hardware and software that allowed first generation Nimbus computers to work with videodiscs, developed audio/video compression and interleaving techniques that became the underlying principles of the CD-ROM XA format and the Enhanced CD. We developed numerous educational software and training titles for CD-ROM, CD-i and games consoles. In 1988 Next Technology won one of the first DTI SMART awards “for the research and development of a lightweight, handheld computer suitable for use by school children”. More info here (http://www.handheldlearning.co.uk/community/forum/index.php?topic=4.0). After Next, I took 10 years out of the education world having been seduced by the world of entertainment software. I started a company called Electronic Sound & Pictures (ESP) which pioneered "interactive music" and worked with a variety of recording artists including Peter Gabriel, U2, Nine Inch Nails, The Orb, The Grid, Stereo MC's and Depeche Mode. ESP was acquired by Virgin Interactive Entertainment and became an entertainment software developer and recording label. During this time I had acquired one of the first Palm Pilots and an Apple Newton (still have them in original packaging!). After ESP I worked with Future Sound of London (FSoL) visual artist, Buggy G. Riphead, to form an art/technology unit called Hypersonique where we developed and explored mainly the visual aspects of digital design. We created fine art that was exhibited in the Barbican and the New York Museum of Modern Art, we directed music videos for FSoL, The Fall and Salt Tank and designed the ships computer for the feature film "Lost In Space". I mean, who could resist the opportunity to design a human-computer interface for a computer set 5,000 years into the future? I then took the helm of leading Soho digital animation company Digital Arts (http://www.brown-martin.com/digitalarts/htdocs/html/shock.html), managed to grow it meteorically during the dot-com boom and then like a meteor it rapidly came down to earth with an almighty crash during the dot com bust. This was not before, however the very talented team there hadn't created some of the most compelling interactive theme park attractions, immersive visual environments and online experiences to date where only time will tell of the impact that some of this work will have had. But, of course, it's all about timing... Just after the crash, a colleague and I started new research into handheld computers initially developing games software and an emulator that would play over 1,000 Sinclair Spectrum games on a Pocket PC. Our attempts to raise capital at a time when venture capitalists were contemplating hari-kari were not good and neither was a letter from Amstrad, the owner of the Sinclair brand, threatening Jihad if we released our emulator. I spent the next 18 months travelling to various parts of the world with my wife, pre-school daughter and two (really big!) flight cases full of computers where I was providing consulting services to various companies in Australia, West Africa, China, America and the Caribbean. I also got involved in some human rights and social justice activism but that's another story ;) Maybe a mid-life crisis but also a time to reflect, develop ideas and consider future direction, which having taken full Palm OS and Pocket PC development systems with me I probably already had an inkling before I left. So now back in Blighty living in South London, I'm convinced and wanting to convince those prepared to listen as well as those, perhaps more importantly, that are not; that now is the time for a new revolution in educational computing. As you can tell from the above I've always enjoyed a bit of forward thinking and getting into the innovation trenches, I've set up Handheld Learning (the company not this forum) to provide consultancy and develop software, hardware and accessories for this nascent market. Apart from all this I have a passion for contemporary music, art, film and writing. I write for various magazines, websites and have been known to do a bit of telly ;D Please don't be put off by this long intro! All introductions are really warmly received so that we can build this community and make it useful for everyone. Cheers Graham Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: KathySchrock on December 17, 2004, 01:34:50 PM Thank you, Graham, for inviting me to become a member of this new online forum.
I am the Technology Administrator for a school district in Massachusetts, in the US, that is made up of 7 schools and a little over 3000 students, 500 staff, and 1200 computers. You can find out more about our school district here <http://nausetschools.org/> if you are interested. I have been using handhelds ever since the first PalmPilot and have used both Palm and WindowsCE handhelds and palmtops over the years. For the past two years, I have been concentrating my efforts into educating teachers and administrators, both in my school district and others in the US and abroad, on the best way to use these devices to support teaching and learning. I have quite a few presentations and Web pages dealing with handhelds, and will list them below. In addition, I maintain a large site of over 2500 educational resources for teachers, Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators, that will be 10 years old next June at <http://discoveryschool.com/schrockguide/> Handheld sites: POWER in the Palm of Your Hand http://kathyschrock.net/power/ A Day in the Life of an Educator's Handheld http://kathyschrock.net/dayinthelife/ Handheld Blog http://handhelds.motime.com/ I look forward to the discussions that will be available in this forum! Kathy Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: rdroyer on December 17, 2004, 02:46:40 PM Hello Graham and others. I am so thrilled that this forum has been created. I teach educational technology at Salisbury University in Maryland, USA. I work primarily with undergraduate students but we also have five graduate technology courses in our Master's program. I've only recently ventured into the world of handhelds but find the potential to be very exciting. I recently attended the Handhelds in Education conference in Michigan, hosted by Elliott Soloways' Go Know group and my eyes were opened. I live in an area that has few resources for technology; the digital divide is quite a reality in our area. Consequently, our local schools are looking to handhelds as a way to bridge the divide and provide technology resources to students. In our local schools, the current student to computer ratio is 10:1. :( I'm hoping to use this forum as a way to stay connected to what is happening in other regions with handhelds.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Graham on December 17, 2004, 03:07:41 PM Hi Kathy and Rdroyer
Sincere thanks for joing the forum and I hope you will find it a stimulating and useful place to visit from time to time. Very much looking forward to reading about your experiences in this field. I certainly feel that the adoption of handheld computers as is proposed by the Dudley pilot and experienced by rdroyer will make a positive contribution to bridging the digital divide. Kathy, the lists of resources on your web pages are fabulous! Best wishes Graham Title: Introduce yourself here! Post by: DanSutch on December 17, 2004, 04:35:24 PM Hi all,
Looking forward to getting involved in some really good discussion about the pros and cons of handheld learning and beginning to see if we can begin to seek out the principles that underpin good activities, environments and opportunities of connected, mobile learning. I am a Learning Researcher at NESTA Futurelab (www.nestafuturelab.org), a not-for-profit organisation that is investigating ways of transforming learning experiences through the use of digital technologies. I have a particular interest in investigating how handheld technologies can provide new learning experiences and what changes to current practice are needed to best support mobile connected learners. Looking forward to some interesting discussions. Dan Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: anorman on December 17, 2004, 05:16:34 PM Hi
Good to see a new list - and to see that other people are as excited by what handheld learning can do as I am (and as frustrated by why the rest of the world just doesn't seem to get it........) Anyway, a bit of background - In a previous life I was a lecturer in business in FE and then HE before I escaped. Now I’m a member of a research group based at Leeds University Business School ( www.aimtech.org) and a long time Palm user. Most of my work is concerned with using handhelds and other mobile devices to provide information to mobile workers and, specifically at the moment, to police officers. I’d emphasise that I am not from a technical background – my interest is far more in how such technologies shape the way that people work, their relationships and the capabilities which can be added to the organisation and the process of gaining the benefits while avoiding the bear pits. There is an overlap of interest in that I am now interested in looking at how the police forces who have invested in such technologies can make use of them in the provision of learning for officers – there are a number of areas which are emerging – self-briefing on what has gone on and who has done what, access to decision support materials for unfamiliar situations ( Can I nick him for that?) and some more formal teaching –type applications which a couple of forces are looking at. A bit of a hobby horse is that I think there is a lot of learning going on using various devices which isn't recognised simply becuase it isn't labelled as 'learning' and funded by a funding council as such. So if a paramedic uses a tablet to check a procedure while in an ambulance on the way to hospital ......... well, I'd call that learning but a funding body probably wouldn't. Given that, I think that the lines between learning and information ( and 'knowledge' is a whole other debate) are artificial at the moment and open to a lot more examination. I'm also interested in maybe getting an EU bid together around the area of mobile computing and decision support under the CWE head of IST call 5 - but we are EU virgins and so would really like some kindly organisation to take the lead.... any takers? Alistair Norman AIMTech Research Group Leeds Uni Business School Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: jont on December 17, 2004, 05:42:19 PM Hello everyone. I have similar tech nerd attributes to Graham as my computing goes back to the days of the Apple ][ I am now working on a research project at the Robert Clark Centre for Technological Education at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, investigating the educational benefits (or otherwise) of PDAs in higher education. I am particularly interested in the potential of the PDA to be used as a portable Computer Aided Assessment platform to deliver formative self-assessment questions to students where-ever they are. www.ninelocks.com/projweb explains a bit about our project and how we are hoping to log when the PDAs are used. By day I work in the dept of electronics at Glasgow as part of the computing support team and also help students with hardware and software projects. I develop shareware and custom software for www.ninelocks.com. USA users familiar with http://learninginhand.com/ may have encountered the NineColors application which gets used in some science classes. (I also noticed that Dudley get a mention on the learning in hand blog at http://learninginhand.com/blog/index.html it is good to see the UK catching up) I've been a PDA user/developer for around 5 years, and worked in education for 10 years. Prior to that I worked in the computing and comms industry. Anyway I am looking forward to some good discussion and hope we can get some good collaborations going! Though that can sometimes be tricky for both political and technical reasons ,as I know some of you already know! There is also a mailing list for pda/mobile device users which can be found at www.jiscmail.ac.uk/pda-edu. Which everyone here is welcome to join best wishes Jon ps (Hi Alistair hows the website ;) ) Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: keepps on December 17, 2004, 09:16:32 PM Hello. I work in ICT at the International School of Geneva (http://www.ecollint.ch), (Switzerland), where we are thinking about including handhelds (Palm Tungsten E) in the required "book list" for students from Class 7 up next fall on our new campus. Like any new idea, this one is meeting with cautious curiosity on the part of the administration. I've spent the last month on the web hunting for practical examples of success, warnings of weak spots to plan for, etc., and finally, through Bloglines I find a forum!
My own interests lie in the involvement of ICT tools with student learning/outcome / video, hyperlinked creations, etc. Resources at our place are slim, and necessity has been the mother of invention. Some of that is visible at my own site, http://www.isg-online.org. Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: ctomasino on December 18, 2004, 05:38:09 AM Graham,
Thanks for the invite to this much needed forum! Let me give you some background...I am trainied as a classroom teacher, whose love for technology and learning has brought me to working with teachers to create the learning connection for technology! With my passion for teaching and learning I have acquired some "geeky" skills while working with thousands of teachers. My professional development support site can be found at http://ctomasino.home.comcast.net and www. active2go.com. While I have been an active handheld user for years, where I live Illinois, USA handheld use in classrooms is just emerging. In concert with two other colleagues, Meg Ormiston and Kellie Doubek, I designed and am currently implementing a three-year No Child Left Behind Grant which puts handhelds in the hands of over 3000 students in 5th and 9th grade! We are working with over 100 social science and science teachers to embed reading strategies to increase student comprehension and Palm OS handhelds are the tools we are using to facilitate this! We have some lesson plans found at https://www.pdaonline.org/BTDLessons/Search.aspx that the teachers are just beginning to create to show how the handhelds are used in their "active learning" classrooms. ANDwe have had statistically significant increases in student test scores after just one year!!! They key behind the implementation is a framework that was developed so that handhelds don't follow the same path of technology integration as some of the other digital tools we see in schools. We have aligned handheld use with reading strategies that research studies indicate increase achievement. Our teachers create student learning activities with handhelds following a unique "ACTIVE" framework! It lets them be content area specialist and deploy reading across the content areas! You can find more information at http:www.active2go.com/researchlinks/research.htm or visit one of my conference sessions at MACUL in Michigan http://www.macul.org/conferences/index.html Illinois Computing Educators Conference http://www.il-tce.org/home/home.asp International Reading Associations Annual Convention http://www.reading.org/association/meetings/annual.html I look forward to discussing handhelds in education with EVERYONE! **Christine** Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Graham on December 18, 2004, 09:57:13 AM Welcome Dan, Jon, Alistair, Keepps and Christine
many thanks for joining the forum and introducing yourselves! I'm looking forward to great discussions on here and to learning a lot Best wishes Graham Title: Hello Handheld Mavens! Post by: MidgeF on December 19, 2004, 04:04:51 PM I'm Midge and like my friend Kathy Schrock live in Massachusetts in the USA. Last year I wrote a book on using Handhelds in the classroom published by Teacher Created Materials and I have authored two "expert guides" on using Palm Powered Handhelds for electronic reading and genealogy hosted by PalmSource. I am a student in a Master's program at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA (but the classes are all distance) in educational technology.
I have been involved in technology for over 20 years. My first handheld was a Newton! Right now, I own a Zire 72, a m130 and a Sony Clie. I admit I follow Kathy around and buy her discarded technology when she tires of it or lusts for new models. I carry my handheld everywhere I go but of course, so does everyone else here. ;D Nice to be a member of the group. Midge Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Tony Vincent on December 20, 2004, 04:37:16 AM Many people I already know have introduced themselves! Hi Midge, Kathy, and Jon—fancy meeting you here! Christine, I don’t think we got to meet, but you presented at the Michigan handhelds conference I keynoted earlier this month. It’s a small world!
Here’s a little about myself: My first handheld was a Palm III. I used it to organize my calendar and to remind myself when I needed to keep students in for recess. In 2001, I received a class set of Palm m505s for my fifth graders at Willowdale Elementary School in Nebraska, USA. It was time to move beyond using handhelds as an electronic organizer and use them as a learning tool. I scoured the web to find software that would help students learn the fifth grade curriculum. I loved teaching in a classroom where each student had his or her own computer. I also discovered I enjoyed helping other teachers use technology with students. Currently I’m the technology teacher/facilitator/specialist/coordinator for my elementary school. My school has a handheld for each fifth grader and two roving class sets shared by grades kindergarten through fourth. Check out Willowdale’s web site: http://www.mpsomaha.org/willow Aside from teaching students and teachers at Willowdale, I’ve contributed to or written books and articles about educational use of handhelds. I teach a university class titled “Handhelds in Teaching and Learning” and developed a series of Palm and Pocket PC workshops for teachers. Also, I maintain my web site, http://learninginhand.com I know from visitors to my site that interest in handheld computers in schools is certainly not limited to the United States. I’m pleased to see this new forum online! Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: richardmillwood on December 20, 2004, 02:03:21 PM
Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: mo on December 20, 2004, 02:35:49 PM Thanks to Kathy Trinder for inviting me and this forum comes at a good time for me as I'm thinking about PDAs in medical education.
I trained as doctor in the UK during which time I "saw the light" - after almost missing an exam because I had forgotten what time it was at, I realised that a PDA might be necessary for survival. It then turned out to be rather useful for my clinical studies as well. After graduating, I developed software for Cambridge University's Project Palm: http://www.cbcu.cam.ac.uk/cbcu/pdfs_ppts/projectpalm.pdf. It allowed clinical students in the East Anglia region to share what they had learned in different specialties at different hospitals, pooling their educational resources. During my house jobs I switched to helping clinicians use the machines for ward work, and eventually went on to write the book "Handheld Computers for Doctors". Its site (http://www.handheldsfordoctors.com) includes other articles that I've written about PDAs. I now work at the National Center for Biotechnology Information, part of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD in the USA. My work is at the NCBI BookShelf, which provides free access to biomedical textbooks. Last week we did a soft launch of our first PDA title, a collection of evidence-based medicine protocols: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=hstat1.part.93877 (click the PDA icon to the left of the title). One of my colleagues is writing a new textbook for the BookShelf. Her topic is blood transfusion, and she kindly said that she will consider any PDA (useful) features that I would like to include in the book. So I am now thinking about the best ways to teach blood transfusion principles using a PDA's advantages. On the other hand, another colleague let me know that all her son's primary school teachers are getting PDAs. But apparently the machines are there to allow the teachers to document the students' test scores. In other words, the machines have been bought for administrative reasons, not educational ones. That's fine (the only thing worse than filling out forms all day on PDAs is filling them out all day on paper) but I'm sure that there are better educational uses for the devices. All of which brings me back to this forum - I'm keen to learn from participants, and to get feedback on my own efforts. Thank you Graham for setting this up. mo Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Andy on December 21, 2004, 09:28:52 AM Hi All,
I love these things ;D - I'm based in Bristol, I've an educational background, and kind of worked into this area via developing elearning material to support my teaching at both HE and FE. In terms of mobile learning, then I've been interested for the last few years. Some of my reserach work / ideas are documented on http://www.mobile-learning.blog-city.com Cheers Andy Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: lmnaismith on December 21, 2004, 10:00:09 AM Greetings!
I'm an educational technology researcher at The University of Birmingham, funded by Microsoft. I am currently working on a project called CAERUS (www.caerus.bham.ac.uk), which is a context sensitive software system for visitors to outdoor tourist locations and educational centres. One of the key features is the ability for tourist site administrators to manage their own location-based content and activities. I have also co-authored a literature review commissioned by NESTA Futurelab entitled "Mobile Technologies and Learning". It will be available free for download from their website at http://www.nestafuturelab.org/research/lit_reviews.htm in January 2005. Broadly, I am interested in providing easy to use tools (desktop and handheld) for educators and students to create and deliver their own experiences on their mobile devices, including location-based games and treasure hunts, gathering themed multimedia 'collections' and other small group and whole class activities. Looking forward to talking with you all further! Laura Naismith The University of Birmingham www.msprojects.bham.ac.uk Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: KathyT on December 21, 2004, 10:31:21 AM Hi All,
Again, thanks to Graham for inviting me to join the forum. And what a lively, enthusiastic forum this is turning out to be! I'm also a Kathy, but to avoid confusion with Kathy Scrock, call me KathyT or Kath, or anything you like. My interest in PDAs started when I first spotted the Newton, but at time I couldn't afford many gadgets so was never destined to own my own :'( . The next time was in about 2000, when I decide to spend my birthday money on an electronic dairy (as, like Mo, I kept missing appointments!). On wandering around the shop, we came across a Palm IIIe and that was it - hooked! (The other half of 'We' being Jon, who has already introduced himself above.) My next PDA (m105) was provided by the Open University, where I was a part-time (mature ;) ) student, as part of the project by Waycott and Kukulska-Hulme investigating the use of PDAs as eBook readers in education. I happily bandy this about when trying to presuade people that it IS possible to read text on a small screen! I've been working with educational technology since the late 80s. At the moment I'm working as an e-learning developer at Glasgow Caledonian University in the e-Learning Innovation Support Unit. Previously I worked in the Nursing & Midwifery School, where I repeatedly failed to get anyone else interested in the use of PDAs for learning! :-) Just now, with our Business School, I'm investigating supporting flexible delivery for students out on placement, though we've not got fully started yet. http://elisu.gcal.ac.uk/flexiblemobile.html. Nice to meet you all, and 'Season's Greetings'. Kathy Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: hedgehog on December 25, 2004, 07:15:29 PM Wow, I'm definitely a tadpole in a very large pond. I wandered in from Tony Vincent's invaluable site (thanks, Tony), and I guess if I lurk in the background and am very quiet, I might learn something. I teach 4th grade in rural Western North Carolina, USA. Two years ago a federal grant fell in my lap, and I was handed 25 m105 Palms to teach with, my rather rude introduction to handheld computing. Now, we have 180 m500s in grades 4-6, which are used in varying degrees of success across the curriculum. My students adore them, and beg to use them. I am currently looking for information to start a classroom blog, and for any appropriate, exciting, software or ideas to continue incorporating handhelds into teaching and learning for me and the students. I especially am looking for ideas for using handhelds with English as a Second Language students and autistic (high functioning) students. In addition to the m500s, I bought Zire 71s for the teachers, as well as a Tungsten C with WiFi. (My principal still razzes me about pronouncing it wiff-fee!) Anyway, if any of you big leaguers feel mentorly and have any ideas for us, please let us know. We don't want to leave any child behind, but I am being left behind in the technology race. My kids deserve the best, and you're out there, so tell me something good! Thanks for your help.
Elaine aka hedgehog Title: Thanks for the invite! Post by: meg on January 05, 2005, 09:40:54 PM Thanks Graham!
Hello friends and all I look forward to meeting! I started my intro before the holidays, but my two “short little people” demanded my attention. Now they are back at school I am again thinking and communicating with adults. A New Year with new hope of completing thoughts without interruption. Thanks for letting me join this much needed group! I see many friends here including Christine, Kathy, Tony and new friends I look forward to growing professionally with. I look forward to professional dialogue to help us all make the most of handheld computers. I live outside Chicago and work with Christine on a large project placing handhelds in the hands of over 3000 students. We have learned a great deal, wrestled some tough problems and after one year we have positive assessment results. See Christine Tomasino’s intro for more details! My current research includes blogging online and on the handheld, rss feeds, podcasting just to name a few. In between research I work with teachers exploring the many ways to transform teaching and learning in the 21st century. I look forward to learning more! Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Will Wellesley-Davies on January 07, 2005, 12:01:31 PM Hi - Thanks Graham for your unsolicited email invite!
I‘m Will - Creative Director of Node, we're a tech-media company based in Bristol, UK. Frustrated with the restricting handheld computers on the market, we've developed our own funky hand held media player as well as software to create location aware multimedia experiences for indoors as well as out. For more details please look at our site: http://www.nodeexoplore.com So far we've been working in the heritage and entertainment sectors but are now focusing on opportunity in Education. We're keen to establish relationships with ‘like minded’ innovators- and this forum looks like the perfect place. A bit about my background - I've been working within interactive media for over 12 years, developing solutions for education, training, entertainment and corporate communications, 6 of these years were spent at the BBC as a senior designer developing broadcast and online 'edutainment'. I look forward to the discussions ps - we'll be at the BETT conference in London next week if anyone wants to come and see us - we'll be at stand SW106. cheers Will Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: KathyT on January 07, 2005, 12:03:59 PM http://www.nodeexoplore.com Hi Will, afraid I can't get the URL to work? (page not found error, or is it me? :-) ) Kathy Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: KathyT on January 07, 2005, 12:13:30 PM Ah, got it, you've no www
http://nodeexplore.com Cheers, Kathy :-) Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Graham on January 07, 2005, 12:28:48 PM Hi Will
Glad you could make it! I gave your kit a bit of a plug here (http://www.handheldlearning.co.uk/community/forum/index.php?topic=13.0) by the way :) It looks really interesting and I think a lot of the members of this forum would want to know more about your experiences (good and bad) about using this kind of equipment in the field (no pun intended). I'm planning to be at BETT (http://www.bettshow.co.uk/) on 12th by the way so hope to see you there, any one else going? Cheers Graham Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Mike L. on January 07, 2005, 11:02:39 PM Hello everyone. Thanks for the invitation to join this forum.
I teach Webmastering and A+ Certification at Capital High School in Boise, Idaho. I became interested using PDAs in the classroom when I attended a session at a past NCCE convention that Karen Fasempaur of K12 Handhelds was giving. I was surprised and intreagued at the possibility of using PDAs after attending this session. I then took a class from her in the summer to learn if it was possible to do all the things she mentioned with a PDA. I discovered you could! Once back in school I wrote a grant proposal to my District for a PDA pilot using two science classes, which as carried out second semester of last year. I am in the process of completing the report on this pilot now. I'm convinced that PDAs are a better answer for a personal technology tool in the school rather than a desktop or laptop computer. PDAs are so inexpensive compared to computers that eventually each student can have one. In our District, and I know many other that are similar, there is not enough money for technology, even though we get $3 mil per year for 26K students. That said, I am interested in learning if and how the rest of the world views the use of PDAs in the classroom and if their use is becoming more widespread and if so, with what success, if any. I'm really looking forward to learning what you all have to say. My PDA Pilot Report will be found from our school web site www.boiseschools.org/schools/capital. Mike Luque Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Petra on January 09, 2005, 05:03:37 PM Best wishes for a New Year! :-*
A perfect idea to install a Handheld Learning Forum, thank you Graham. I'm a middle school teacher for 10-15 year old students of widespread abilities and multi-cultural backgrounds in Vienna, Austria. I teach English ( "ETL" = English as a third language), Geography and ICT. I have taken up a post-graduate for Educational Technology and am in my finals for a MSc. Since a fieldtrip to SITE Conference (Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education) in 2003 I am a Palm user, a handheld addict and convinced that a handheld is an enhancement to teaching. For my thesis (PDA macht SCHULE- mLearning in der Sekundarstufe; the first German MT on teaching possibilities with Palm Handhelds) I did a lot of research on mLearning, hard- and software for educational purposes, curriculum ideas and lesson plans. Thanks to Tony Vincent (his website is admirable with innumerable, inspiring examples), Kathy Schrock (always up-to-date) and Elliot Soloway (the Handheld Guru) I have many arguments to back up the practical aspects of my thesis, that handhelds are a sound resource for mLearning. I have also submitted a PDA Pilot for secondary level education with the Austrian Ministry of Education. Petra Title: I love it! Post by: mgladhar on January 10, 2005, 04:23:06 PM Thanks for the invitation! This is a great discussion tool..the technology is terrific! I have been using handhelds since the first Palm and have taught workshops and given introductions to handhelds for the last three years. We are looking at ways to use Palm OS handhelds in teacher education here at the Center for Teacher Education at the University of Alaska Southeast. I'm glad to have another resource to turn to.
Marsha Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: fmcpherson on January 22, 2005, 03:49:58 PM Hello everyone, my name is Frank McPherson. I am the author of How To Do Everything With Your Pocket PC, Third edition. (http://www.pocketpchow2.com/htde3.html) I also maintain the PocketPCHow2.com web site. Many years ago when I was in college I obtained secondary ed. certification from Michigan Technological University, along with a B.S. in Computer Science. Today I work for EDS in the Detroit area. I've presented at the Ohio Schoolnet Technology conference on the topic of using Pocket PCs in classrooms, and I am always happy to help people with using their Pocket PCs.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: jcring on January 22, 2005, 07:02:03 PM Thank you for the invite to join this discussion. I'm Jason Cring and I teach Special Education at Hilton High School, in Hilton, New York; which is a suburb of Rochester, NY. I first started using handheld computers with my students in 2003 after buying enough used Palm M100's for each of my students with my own money on EBay. The students liked using them so much that by the end of that school year each of my students had a brand new Handspring Treo 90 loaded with Documents To Go and other software, provided by the school. I too have a website that deals with using handheld computers in a high school setting. The link to my website is:
Mr. Cring's Classroom (http://schoolcenter.hilton.k12.ny.us/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=3345) Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Mark van 't Hooft on January 25, 2005, 06:37:21 PM Hi all,
It's great to see another handheld forum! To introduce myself: I'm Mark van 't Hooft, originally hailing from the Netherlands. I currently live in Kent, Ohio, USA, and am a researcher and tech specialist for the Research Center for Educational Technology at Kent State University. My specialty is mobile computing in K-12 education, especially social studies. We do quite a bit of research and professional development in this area. I'm a licensed trainer for both palmOne and AlphaSmart. We've done two handheld conferences and published a CD-Rom two years ago, of which we distributed 5,000 copies worldwide. I'm also finishing up my dissertation and hope to be done in August of this year. It's good to see many of my American compadres have already responded to this list. I hope though that this forum will be a truly global enterprise. I'll contribute what I can. Thanks, and nice to meet all of you. Mark http://www.rcet.org Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: mike.curtis on January 26, 2005, 02:39:58 AM Hello everyone!
My name is Mike Curtis. My first experience with handhelds was as a graduate student with the Highly Interactive Computing in Education research group out of the University of Michigan. Basically in 1999, we were trying to see what these handheld things might potentially offer education. Now I work with a company called GoKnow, and my specialty is working in the areas of Curriculum and Professional Development. I'd have to conclude that handhelds are realizing their potential in many ways. I also strive to be multidexterous in that if it can fit in my hand I will use it. Palm, Pocket PC, Game Boy, it's all fine with me. By the way, what's a Newton? Just kidding. ;) My shameless plug for the day would be to mention that we have a few handheld related books published through ISTE at www.iste.org/bookstore (http://www.iste.org/bookstore). I look forward to being a part of this community and more of the discussions I've seen so far. Title: Hi! From South Carolina! Post by: wen on January 26, 2005, 11:40:48 AM ;)
Hey, I am Wendy Gallagher a Technology Integration Specialist @ Lexington School District One in Lexington South Carolina. I assist teachers in grades k-12 to integrate technology that will engage student learning. I just had the opportunity to attend the Michigan Handheld conference where I spent several hours in Mike Curtis's training sessions.(Hi Mike!) He loaned me his book and it is a fabulous resource. I am using it as part of a handheld graduate course that I am teaching in our school district. My experience with handhelds first begin at NECC where I sat in a session from Wireless Generations and I saw what their software could do for a student who is struggling to learn how to read. Thanks to this company and Andy Mann who sat behind me with 10 hh in his bag, I was hooked! Since that session, our teachers in grades 1-3 have been using mClass reading software for completing running records on their handhelds. This assessment provides the teachers with instant data that allows them to change instruction for that child's specific need. Very impressive stuff! So, my experience with handhelds is just in the beginning stages for classroom use by students. But Wow! The students and the teachers get so excited about using this mobile technology. I hope to learn a lot this year and I will be glad to share about our mClass implementation. Wendy ;) Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: emjay on January 26, 2005, 06:21:51 PM Hi,
Just wanted to intro myself. My name is Maulik Gandhi, and I am currently a 5th year medical student. I have an interest in health/medical informatics and like to learn more about the technologies currently available and modify or tailor it for medical purposes, be it for patients, students or health professionals. I look forward to learning from this forum, Regards Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: swalthes on January 26, 2005, 07:08:14 PM Thanks to Mark van' t Hooft for letting the folks on his list serve know about this new forum.
My name is Scott. I am an Educational Technology Consultant / Technology Coordinator / duties as assigned :) for the Madison County Regional Office of Education in Illinois (just east of St. Louis, MO). I became a school district tech. coordinator in 1998 after teaching for 4 years. I received my 1st handheld in 2001 (iPAQ 3650). Since that time I have trained over 200 teachers and school district administrators in my area on using Pocket PCs in the classroom as well as to collect data for our NCLB grant. We have schools using them for mobile student management access, graphing calculators, collecting real world science data (through DataHarvest probes), and the obvious PIM uses as well. I am always looking for resources and examples of folks using handhelds (particularly Pocket PCs) in education, especially at the K-12 level. Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: bbracey on February 06, 2005, 01:04:53 PM Thank you for the invitation to join here.
My name is Bonnie Bracey, and I have been involved in technology education at the highest levels. The individual study of ubiquitous computing started for me, with an invitation to a three year project at CILT. http://www.cilt.org. It was a fascinating learning journey. I was a member of President Clinton's National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council, the only K-12 teacher involved. We framed the use of technology in America with two documents suggesting uses and we piloted some initiatives to get technology started. That was a long time ago. My initial use of technology was very early. I was trying to help a child learn to communicate and one of the ways to help him, was to let him write using the computer. Since most other people were not all that interested I was able to pioneer many ways of using technology. I like knowledgenetworks where we can exchange ideas , share information and learn from each other. Technology leaps over the false divisions in education. I hope to me working on a wireless initiative in Thailand soon. It is the next project on my agenda. I have been mentored by members of EdGrid at the National Center for Supercomputing on many types of projects. Bonnie Bracey www.tcpd.org Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: thornuk on February 11, 2005, 10:34:43 PM Member profile
I’m now a semi-retired Assistant Head (large secondary comprehensive school) and Faculty Leader of Design Technology in the UK. In July 2003 I shook off the people management and paperwork that involved and took early retirement, but am now teaching part-time (no admin, no paperwork, and a mostly empty mail slot / pigeon hole in the staff room !!!). I’ve been involved with computers since 1974, when the only machines available were 200 miles away and accessed by teletypewriters with a 1/2 second delay between pressing a key and seeing it type (in duplex mode, that is – in simplex you didn’t see it type – just hoped !). The first micocomputer I used was a plain rectangular box about 10in x 6in x3in with a row of 8 toggle switches, a push button and a 7 sector LED display – it took 3 hours to program in the loader (in switched binary) and you prayer for no power cuts, as it was all volatile memory. Having braved the RML 380Z (I suspected it of having been built on Clydeside, such were the dimensions of its rivetted construction !), the Apple 2e was pure luxury, with its built in BASIC and a whole 16k bytes RAM – enough for anyone ! In 1984 I was on the point of buying a BBC “B” when Sir Clive Sinclair announced the Sinclair QL – fantastic machine (I still have 2 in the loft), on which I ran department, faculty, and some school admin for several years. It was only the improved screen resolution that drew me away to the world of the PC especially as they had just ported the software across, so I could use the same applications. Over 3 years ago I had the opportunity of a new Palm Vx at a good price and started using that mostly for diary, addresses, & notes/memos. Last June I upgraded to Palm T3 and now use Excel on it for registration, as well as the photos facility for pictures of particularly good projects kids have made. I’m presently looking for a database to replace / be compatible with the Paradox application I had extensively developed for pupil records, assessments, and automatic reporting. Most I’ve seen so far seem very primitive in comparison. Most seem to synchronise only with Excel which is not what I expect of a proper relational database. I get VERY steamed up about all those (we) teaching professionals re-inventing the **** wheel when we sit in our study writing workschemes and lesson plans from the same nationally imposed curricula, and abhor duplication of effort. I look to the intelligent use of ICT to reduce that. Unfortunately it seems that the main use has been for educational management to see it as a means of requiring yet more (mostly unread) documentation from those at the chalk-face (or whiteboard-face, if you want to be more health conscious). End of rant. Possibly. Any ideas ? Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Kate89a on February 15, 2005, 11:32:03 AM Hi, I've been meaning to join for some time and am really pleased to have done it at last and had a chance to look around. Having taught for many years I eventually arrived at Valiant Technology. We're probably best known (in the UK atleast) for Roamer, but we now are in the realms of handheld devices having developed the MathAmigo system - which is a complete Maths system delivered through handhelds.
I have believed for some time now that the only way forward in educational ICT is through the use of handhelds. The positive contribution that ICT can make in a childs progress has been shown time and time again, yet the practicalities of providing technology as a tool has been limited to computers in a suite with perhaps one or two in a classroom. No one would dream of providing a special room for paper and pen, yet that is what we do with technology. Only by integrating it into the classroom can we hope to make progress and the most sensible way forward to my mind is through the use of handhelds. I do invisage a time when instead of banning students' phones they will be encouraged to bring them into school to be used as part of their educational toolkit. Anyway I'm glad I'm here and I look forward to seeing, and perhaps even joining in, the discussions. Kate Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: cf on February 16, 2005, 02:27:25 PM Thankyou Graham. Super idea. I was put onto this by Laura Naismith who is researching educational technology at Brum University. I am an ordinary teacher working in Scotland at primary and secondary level and totally frustrated at what is going on here. Together with my primary school aged daughter I am hoping to spend next academic year trying out different mobile technologies in practice as we travel in the States and India. Not being a nerd college in 2000 having given me NO IT training, (and having received none from my own authority since despite running a suite of networked computers for a year) I will have to spend the next 6 months or so before we leave getting myself a little more knowledgeable about what is going on and about how to use some of the best and latest . . I will be following this forum closely. Thanks in advance for any tips. Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: dsugden on March 05, 2005, 06:28:53 PM Hi everyone,
My name is David Sugden and I work at Dewsbury College in West Yorkshire. I'm one of Kathy Triner's invites - she and I have yet to meet. My interest in Handhelds stems from the day I took up my post as e-Learning Manager for the college, almost three years ago now. I was given an old PALM (almost as a badge of office) and no instructions. Not that I read instructions anyway, but I soon figured that the PALM would help me to be more organised (as if!). It took a trip by train to Birmingham and back (approx 3 hours each way) for me to master the thing. But then I was hooked. I began to look for ways in which the tool could be used in teaching and learning. I came across iPaqs and Pocket PC soon after and sidelined enough of my (meagre) budget to buy one. I know that my convertion to PPC will be sacrilege to some but I found the interface much easier to use (and more colourful) than the PALM. The PALM was passed on to someone else, I took another trip to Birmingham and started to ask questions of those who know more than me. My friend and colleague Glen (serious techie!) is a TUNGSTEN user and with money coming into college from somewhere else we bought her an iPaq to play with. She figured out the answer to my questions: e.g. How do I get this video to play on there? .. Why won't this PPT play on there? etc. The result was an exciting array of learning objects that played on screen. I collaborated with friends around the region, who like me had caught the handheld bug. There is some really exciting work being done out there. This lead to several months of desperately trying to get funding for more PDAs to try with students but this became impossible. However, in mid-2004 all colleges received some money from their funding agents - the LSC - to help embed the use of e-Learning. I took some of this and bought 10 x iPaq 2210s for use in a quickly developed project with Child Care students in establishments around Dewsbury - but which were not part of the college or very well equipped. Briefly, we took tutor's web pages (home-made) and converted them for use of the PDA. This worked a treat. The project attracted interest from JISC (http://www.jisc.ac.uk/elearning_pedagogy.html) and a case study will shortly be published. Now I want to get some funding to allow students to take the PDAs away with them and to test the ways in which we can promote personailsed learning with PDAs. Anyway, I look forward to hearing more about the world of handhelds and to contributing to the debate. Cheers David Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Phil on March 09, 2005, 02:30:24 AM Hi everyone,
Hello from Melbourne Australia. I met a number of you at the NO NECC last June. It was my first and hopefully not last time at NECC and I came back with a stack of ideas - alphasmarts, Visual Ranking, IWB and pda use in schools to name a few. I'm Faculty Head of IT for our school of 2000 students over 3 campuses but I'm based in the middle school and have an interest in curriculum development with ICT, especially video use in course material and giving students opportunities to use video editing in their responses. I regular run professional learning for teachers on innovative uses of video editing in the curriculum. Our school is Apple based to 8th grade on two separate campuses. From there, students go the Senior Campus. Each student from the 9th grade has their PC laptop. Having used my own pda for 4 years, I'm keen to learn the ins and outs of running a class set. As some of you may know, Australian schools (and Melbourne schools especially) have been at the forefront of laptop learning. However pda use for students is still very much in its infancy here. I'm just about to buy a class set of pdas as a trial for 6th grade students. I've settled on a Palm pda but my burning question is: how important is Documents to Go? These pdas will have to last 3 years so I'm looking at a portable keyboard for each. Initiallly I'd settled on the Zire 31 but that doesn't have DTGo. I'm looking now at a Zire 72. Is that too good for kids? There's a good deal on with a portable keyboard included but is it worth the extra dollars. Any help gratefully received. Phil Callil Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: thornuk on March 09, 2005, 04:15:11 PM Hi Phil and welcome,
...Whether to go fo DocToGo...? I'd say essential, as it enables pretty seemless connectivity with Excel / Word / etc. (but not directly to Access or any other database). As these are the main two that pupils are likely to use for recording data / writing reports, essays, etc., they should cover most of what's necessary. I'm not familiar with the Palm 31 (I have a T3), - would it be worth buying DTGo as an extra, or does the cost difference between a Zire 72 (presumably with DTGo onboard) and a 31 without not stack up ? You might be able to negotiate a bulk purchse discount. I've always (as a "materials educator" - Design Technology, etc. for 37 years) regarded things that fold as having inherent failure points. The extra keyboard bulk also reduces the pocketable advantage of the pda, and I'm not convinced that pupils' typing speeds would offer an advantage over either using Graffiti or the touch screen keyboard (unless they are visually impaired, when it could offer definite advantage). HTH PeterB Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: teach534 on March 18, 2005, 07:35:27 PM We are students at Mogadore school in Ohio. I think we should use the technology in school it makes kids want to respond more to the problem or work that they are assigned. I like the idea better with hands-on things than I do sitting and watching the teacher. It makes me want to work harder on what I might be doing.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: teach534 on March 18, 2005, 07:42:45 PM We go to school in the United States. Our palms teach us to be responsable on our school work that we do on our palms. On our palms we have KWL (Know-Want to learn-Learned). In our classroom we have alot of technology, there are computers, Dana's, palms, Elmo, camera, and Oscilloscope. The reason why we have the technology is to make learning easier. :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: teach534 on March 18, 2005, 07:50:59 PM Hello To All,
We are a group of fifth grade students who use palm pilots to learn with. It does not disrupt the educational process it assists it. We use them to take notes with, we have Venn Diagrams, we have KWL charts. I's amazing to have so much programing in a palm size mechanism. We have a program that allows us to download websites so we can veiw them on your palms. It is very easy to learn in other places in the room instead of sitting in front of the computer. We are vey happy to have palms becasue of the conveinence of them being so small and portable. There are cameras that conect to the palm and we can do assignments including use to take pictures of things. it is very amusing to have palms and very appropriate for the learning process and we are happy to have them too. Sincerely, 2 students Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: teach534 on March 18, 2005, 07:57:46 PM Hi, we go to a school in the United states. Were do you teach school? We have alot of technology like palm pilots, computers and Dana's in our class. We write alot of information. What kind of technology do you use or have? We also have Elmo which is an overhead projector. We love using technology. We use technology every day. How much do you use technology? We us technology for typing, sending things and stuff like that. What do you use technology for?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: teach534 on March 18, 2005, 07:58:57 PM Hello, I am a 5th grade student at in the US. I love using the technology in my classroom. We get to use palms, danas, and hands on stuff during science. It makes kids feel like they can be trusted with technology. We love to have the freedom in our classroom and our school. People always say " children can never be trusted because of their lack of intelligence", but in this classroom I know it's total opposite. My teacher actual trusts me. I'm glad I have my liberty. This is probably the best year ever thanks to my teacher and my classmates.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: thornuk on March 18, 2005, 09:33:01 PM Hi teach534,
I'm at the other end of the learning spectrum, having taken early retirement from teaching in "state" (ie: government / local council funded) schools after 37 years. Now I've shaken off the administrative chores that went with being Assistant Head of a comprehensive school in south western United Kingdom of Great Britain, I can enjoy teaching again (part time). I was also (at the same time) Faculty Head of Design Technology, and, at one time Coordinator of ICT, so it was all a bit pressured - I'm now well out of that. How old is "5th grade" - in UK "year 5" = 9-10 years old ? I'm glad your teacher trusts you - it's the only way to learn how to handlle that trust successfully - hopefully you won't make too many mistakes in the process ! And I'm glad that you find learning more interesting WITH the technology - it helps you make the same mistakes as you would have - but FASTER so you can find out why they're wrong and learn more as you fix it ! Bestregards, PeterB Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: teach534 on March 20, 2005, 02:45:20 PM PeterB,
Thank you for replying to my students. I am adding a narrative about the way we had to have students engage in some dialog in this forum. I was unable to allow students to log on as they had to supply their personal information. We have some very strict rules about children on the internet (as you well know) and I had to log them into the forum with my information. I am sure each student will be excited that they have been heard and will respond asap. Thank you for considering their perspective as we engage in dialog about computing. Teach534 Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: citricky on March 22, 2005, 10:52:40 AM Hi
I work in the UK at a University and I'm currently investigating how handhelds can help my students with their language learning, specifically English for Academic purposes. I've got a PalmOne Zire 72 for which I've bought a wireless card. This works fine at home but I can't work out how to get it to search for hot spots. Can anyone help? Regards Citricky Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: thornuk on March 22, 2005, 01:49:15 PM Welcome citricky
You may find useful advice if you post to the UKPalm User Group (ukpug) email list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ukpug . HTH Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: thornuk on March 22, 2005, 01:53:41 PM ps: I meant to say you can also access the group via www.ukpug.org , which give links to various related sites.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: teach534 on March 29, 2005, 09:14:01 PM Dear PeterB, We are indeed 10-12. I myself am 11. The technology is actually fun at the same time and we enjoy it alot. It is much more interesting and we remember more of what we learned if it was on palms (not that we don't learn without them) and I'm sure our teachers love that. We always are very careful with the palms. Always two hands while holding them, don't press too hard on the screens (e.c.t) it's really something we just know to do. It is a faster way to learn, we make some mistakes and we indeed learn from them. Our teacher has alot of trust in us, we appreciate it alot. We have become independent learners with our palms and they help. We are very trustworthy with her about everything. Hey, when you were a teacher did you have palms? What type of technology did you use in your classroom? I like the technology in our room it's very handy alot of times. Well it's three o'clock I better go pack up. Have a nice day. Stundent of Teach534 Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: KathyT on April 02, 2005, 09:41:41 AM Hiya students of Teach534! ;D Its nice to meet you, and I think its lovely to get students involved with this forum. After all, it's the students we're trying to do all this for. :)
This is great to hear about you and your use of technology, especially the Palms. I'm involved getting some university students (about 19-21 yrs old) to use PDAs. We're giving them access to the Internet via their Palms (which have built in mobile phones). They're studying away from campus on an 'online' course, so we're trying to see if they can get into their course website and discussion board on the Palms. Do you have older brothers or sisters, and if so, are they interested in what you do in school with your Palms? Do they get to use Palms too? Kathy :) Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: thornuk on April 02, 2005, 11:36:58 AM Hi Students of Teach534,
>>> when you were a teacher did you have palms? What type of technology did you use in your classroom<<< I took early retirement so I could escape the non-teaching management responsibilities of budgetting, staff management, documentation, and being in charge of the school from time to time, and all that. Now I've been able to go back to actually teaching, which I do 3 days a week, and I'm enjoying, despite the school being in a socially deprived area and having some tough kids (there're also some fabulous kids who want to learn - they make it all worthwhile !). The only Palms in the school are mine and one of the year 9 (13-14yrs - and he doesn't use it in school !), but others (staff) are interested. The kids in my classes are fascinated by it when I do the register, and log merits or detentions, and write comments about their progress that lesson, as well as when I use its dictionary, calculator, and other applications. They always ask can I get the internet - which I can, and I use it for SMS texting (not during lessons, so far, as it hasn't been necessary educationally). It would be cool to beam them each their homework assignment, rather than have them copying it from a board ! In most classrooms we have a couple of workstations (on the school network), and have 4 computer rooms with about 20 stations; these also have data projectors. Many rooms are being fitted with interactive whiteboards. In Design & Technology we use CAD/CAM (computer aided draughting/design and computer aided manufacturing) quite a lot, linked to a laser cutter. Exciting times to be learning ! Best wishes PeterB Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: johnpem on April 04, 2005, 11:40:53 AM Hi All
I am John Pembroke, Head of Technology at All Hallows' School, Brisbane, Australia. All Hallows' is an All Girls school catering for girls from 13years to 17years of age. I have an interest in using Handhelds in Education and look forward to discussing topics in this forum. I am currently a Palm user, have been for the past 6 years but am about to switch to HP IPAQs mainly due to better intergration with our existing network. I am currently developing a project of utilizing HP IPAQs at All Hallows'. In July to December this year we will have approximately 70 HP IPAQs being used predominately in business classes with a view a wider scale implementation in 2006-7. We have finished a technical trial in November-December of 2004. I am particularly interest in hearing from schools who have a large scale implementtation of these devices. Regards John Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: George Edwards on April 12, 2005, 04:30:49 PM Hi
Easiest if I just paste in my standartd conference bnlurb and a link to my website and blog! Really useful looking list. My main interest is in meaningful lifelong learning. George George Edwards Head of Development, Institute of Leadership & Management Educated in New Zealand, Malta, and the United Kingdom, George had a brief career in the as a teacher in Britain and Zambia, before joining British Aerospace as an instructor. After a spell in Dhahran at their technical studies institute, he worked for Saudi Arabian Airlines in Jeddah, then with Kuwait National Petroleum, and Olivetti personal computers in Italy. He then spent some years as communications consultant with a factory automation company. His career subsequently encompassed trainer training for the EITB, open learning consultancy, and the design and launch of several qualifications for Managers and Team Leaders. Since 1997 he has designed platforms which enable ILM to accredit a range of online and conventionally delivered management and leadership learning. He is responsible for new directions thinking, for establishing external relationships, and for enabling cross-functional activities in ILM, including the establishment of the Faculty of Local Government Managers. A fellow of the RSA and ILM, he has a published 23 books and workbooks in management. Tel: 01423 819745 E: leadership@NTLworld.com Web: www.TheGeorgeEdwards.com Blog: www.bloglines.com/blog/leadership Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: phayes on April 12, 2005, 04:38:05 PM hi, i'm Paul from Dublin. Doing a Ph.D in mobile learning :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Manu on April 18, 2005, 11:31:29 AM Hello Everyone,
This is Manu from Encore Software Ltd., India. We are the co-inventors and developers of Simputer. First of all I would really like to thank Graham for inviting me to be a part of this group. I feel that this is an excellent platform of discussing various issues pertaining to handheld devices and exploring new avenues for implementation. I also came across the article on Simputers and I admit that I was really disappointed by the information given there as it is not true. I would like to provide you all with the true picture of Encore Simputer and its capabilities as it is the only device of its kind in the world today. I would like to lay stress on the fact that Encore Simputer is not a typical PDA. It is a versatile mobile computing device which is much more powerful then a PDA and caters to a wider user requirement. It has almost all the features of a PDA and much more. The strength of Encore Simputer is a high computing platform, which can be loaded with customized applications to help clients in their respective line of business. It has a wide in-built peripheral support and multiple connectivity options that makes it one of a kind and enables it to operate in varied environments. These features make Encore Simputer fulfill most of the client’s requirements and provide optimized results. To mention the multiple connectivity options available on Encore Simputer: 1) Serial & USB Master/Slave ports which allows the peripheral devices, like printers, scanners, digital camera, keyboards, USB storage devices etc., to be attched with it. 2) It is the only handheld device with a Smart Card reader/writer. 3) IrDA for wireless transference of information. 4) Inbuilt modem which allows you to connect to internet on the move. 5) Compact Flash slot to attach a compact flash, a WiFi card or an ethernet adapter. And above all it is a completely customisable device. It can be loaded with customised software applications and hence can be used exactly for the purpose user wants to use it and thus can make his respective workflow more efficient and optimized. Some of the verticals that Encore Simputer can cater to are: 1) e-Education 2) e-Governance 3) Sales Force Automation 4) Utility Billing 5) Point of Sale & Loyalty program 6) Inventory and Warehouse management You can get more information on the websites: www.ncoretech.com and www.encoresimputer.com There has been an article in The Hindu's Businessline, which gives a clear picture of the popularity and usage of Encore Simputer. The article is available at the following link: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/04/14/stories/2005041400850500.htm Since most of the members in this group are related to education and learning field, I would like to inform you all that Encore Simputer is a potent tool for the complete automation of schools and institutions. Infact we have writups with us that explain how Encore Simputer can be used for the same. If anyone is interested in the related information they can get in touch with me at the following email address: manu@ncoretech.com I hope that I have been able to provide you all a clear picture of the capabilities and usability of Encore Simputer. In case of more information please feel free to get back to me. Looking forward of sharing and gaining more information from this group. Best Regards. Manu Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: phildhall on April 21, 2005, 08:30:29 PM Hi Folks,
Quick intro and what goes on around here ... Phil Hall. Been working with A.I. solutions for a few years now, first for a systems integration company and since mid 2002 running Elzware which is a Chatterbot company. We build conversational interfaces for clients cross sector, working with LingubotTM technology and partners of various kinds. Came across Graham in discussions on educational content recently and he invited me in. :) Too early to really get into where we are going in this area yet, and a lot of topics to cover before I start stepping on peoples toes ;), so as a 10,000 brief. Chatterbots are of two sorts, self learning or pattern matching. We work with the later and we are starting from 1 billion patterns matched. We work on the basis of a complex template which we then skill up in the topic at hand. This template is called Yhaken. The technology can store variables, lookup third party data stores, manipulate conversational dynamics, be rude ( etc. etc. ) Applications are too numerous to mention ( at this point ) - but replacing FAQ systems, content management systems and site management systems is where we are pointed. It doesn't know a thing about hand held learning ... so don't expect it to be clever in any fashion ;) Will look about and dig into topics as seems appropriate. Cheers, Phil www.elzware.com Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Fran Cedres on May 23, 2005, 10:36:33 PM Hello,my name is Fran Cedres, from the Canary Islands. I'm seriously thinking to do a Ph.D in m-learning. My english is no good enough so I prefer listening and reading than talking, till I can really contribute to this project.
I am a teacher (since 1986), but for the last eleven years I have been working as Boss of Computing Projects for Culture, in the Government of the Canary Islands. Regards to everybody Fran Title: Tony Parkin Post by: Tony P on June 07, 2005, 11:57:25 PM Hi - Tony Parkin, here under rather false pretences, without a handheld to my name :o! But like Graham I also started with an RML 380Z ("A thirty-eight ounce what?" as I was once asked). And I still have a strong belief that new technologies bring enormous potential for learners that we are only beginning to understand (and the 380Z was new once, and brought me a lot - including a new career!). And now I want to find out what handhelds have to offer education.....
:D And I still can't resist playing with this stuff [/color] ::) Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: cardav on June 15, 2005, 08:41:00 PM Hi folks - I'm a Head of ICT in a High School in the West Midlands (UK) When my head is spinning from dealing with Key Stage 3 Strategy, National Strategy, TLR changes and all the other stuff we're constantly bombarded with in UK education I retreat to a quiet place with my Palm Tungsten T3.
My affair with PDAs started about 3 years ago when I got fed up with trying to manage 3 diaries, a filofax and endless pieces of paper. My first PDA was a Sony Clie. Once I used it for a few months I was surprised to find out how much software existed. Needless to say my Sony was quickly upgraded to a T3 (hopefully I will upgrade again in the Summer) After familiarising myself with Docs to Go, ThoughtManager, Smartlist to Go and several others I set myself the task of finding applications that were equivalents/replacements to the PC apps used in schools. Extreme delight when Inspiration was made available for Palm. Yes I know there's something sort of similar that's free - but one of my "soapboxes" relates to buying hardware then not investing in software. (for 4 years I was an advisory teacher and was puzzled to find schools that spent 1000's on hardware then begrudged spending money on software) Last year I spent time investigating useful classroom/education management software. Most seemed great if I was teaching in the US or Canada, but not really geared to the UK market. "Markbook" from Asylum Software in Canada (and who wouldn't look at a website with a name like that) comes with a PDA client that can be used for attendance registration. Unfortunately it only records absences or lates (tardies for our US guests!) However at BETT a rep from Asylum agreed that this needed to be changed. Actually I think this is one area that a UK developer could investigate (Ninelocks perhaps?) My other main interest is in sound applications - key programs from Chocpoolp, Microbe and Bhaji's loops and from Minimusic. Enough of this ramble! I find the developments with PDAs refreshing and challenging - it seems as though we are challenging the tradition of spending more and more for our pupils to achieve less and less. (That's another soapbox) Regards David Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Volleyann on June 17, 2005, 02:18:43 AM Hi everyone! My name is Ann, and I am from St. Louis, Missouri. This will be my fifth year teaching. I have taught second grade for a year, fifth grade for three years, and next year I will teach sixth grade Communication Arts. I love to integrate technology into my class. I also have a class website that I maintain. I will be teaching with handhelds for the first time next year and I am very excited for the opportunity. I am looking forward to reading and participating in the discussions on this board.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: eckhard on July 06, 2005, 04:32:59 AM Hi I'm Eckhard and I teach highschool horticulture in Ontario Canada ;D I'm a computer electronics grad and worked for Westinghouse doing military sonar R/D before heading to the classroom to teach electronics..... took some time off to care for children and buy the family farm and when I finally returned to teaching I lucked into a Hort position 15 minutes from home.
Still love tech toys so this forum should be fun. Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: frohberg on August 08, 2005, 01:46:00 PM Hello everyone
My name is Dirk and I'm doing a phd on mobile learning at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. I am not so much a technical guy, but more interested in the pedagogy dimension of mobile learning. I'm hunting the added value of mobile learning and it should be beyond "anywhere and anytime". I am not so much interested in how to deliver mobile contents to learners, but much more how to set up mobile technology for informal learning and situated learning as well as collaborative learning. Just let me know, if you would like to discuss such a topic. I am not complicated and enjoy any person that would like to talk about mobile learning. Have fun. Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: bastefany on August 18, 2005, 02:12:57 PM Hi, All,
I've been reading along for some time, but realize that it's time to properly join. I've been involved with technology integration from the informal/community realm. Youth in my NH town wanted more environmental involvement, which led to water quality and eventually to a project in Marine Science that culminated in Bermuda at their biological station in 1995. The station's Internet use was integrated into our group's method of communication. The group became involved with JASON Project (jasonproject.org) and, as an active user of on-line info, I joined as a moderator, eventually assuming the novel support area. This year for their Mars focus, I'll facilitate The War of the Worlds and Robot Visions by Asimov. Currently, I'm developing what I've learned from working with novels and youth as a grad student in Children's Literature writing my thesis on the elements in novels that instigate interactivity. Thanks for all the valued information this forum offers. BAStefany Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: MLuland on August 20, 2005, 01:10:31 AM Hello everyone, I am a Masters in Computing student based in Ireland and am coming to the end of a taught Masters in Computing. For my final project I decided to focus on hand-held computers for second level students and the benefits the use of these devices could bring to Irish schools. I am using a Dell Axim X30 supplied by the college for this project but so far have found it very disappointing. The idea is for students to use the hand-held out in the field, in particular the rocky seashore, and I developed a programme with pictures and sound narration for them to take to the seashore. However the finished product is too large to the stored on the hand-held without additional storage. The purchase of the hand-helds would represent a considerable investment for parents and schools without the need to purchase memory cards as well.
Any opinions on hand-held computers for use by students both from students and teachers would be much appreciated. Is there a better model than the X30? How are hand-helds currently used by schools? Any input would be very much appreciated. My project must be submitted by early September. I should also tell you all that although I am a full time student I would also qualify as a 'silver surfer' and will be celebrating my 60th birthday in October. I returned to education very late in life and got my batchelors degree in 2003. I started out using a manual typewriter back in the 60s and progressed through electric typewriters, word processors and finally computers. It will be a real achievement to finally get my Masters degree and any help or advice will be very much appreciated./ Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: drrevis on September 05, 2005, 10:31:45 PM Hi Everyone,
I'm a developer and have been developing educational applications for kids for about two years now. Before that I worked mainly on Internet and communications protocols, most recently for Cisco developing Voice over IP technology. It was fun and I enjoyed it, but I decided to take a big leap and start a small company developing Palm applications instead. Over the past two years, I've been amazed at how much there is to learn about education!! I've definitely had to get an education myself and still know that I'm just scratching the surface. That's one of the reasons I joined this group - to learn from educators about what they need and want in applications. I'm always looking for feedback and ways we can improve our applications. Check out our website at www.leadingstep.com and let us know what you think... I'll be uploading demo versions of our applications to the site here and will do another posting with more information about our applications, but if anyone is interested and wants more information, please just let me know. Thanks! Renee Revis Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: rboswell on October 08, 2005, 07:00:16 PM My name is Rod Boswell, eLearning Director at Chafford Hundred Campus (Secondary) Business and Enterprise College. We are a (un)conventional UK state secondary school with 750 students aged 11-16 years.
I have been teaching Technology and Information Technology for 9 years and hold a BSc(Hon) Degree in Electronics and a PGCE in Education. Handheld learning has been an integral part of the curriculum since the school opened in 2001. Initially we issued each student with a laptop but eventually cost and practicality got the better of us. We now issue each new student with Dell Pocket PCs with are integrated with our wireless network. As well as the Pocket PCs we also use a mixed economy of high spec desktop machines and laptops. We are (as far as I am aware) the largest school user of Pocket PCs in Europe with over 350 units in use. It sounds expensive but we have introduced some very novel funding methods to be able to do this. As well as having a pioneering approach to handheld learning, we also shun the English National Curriculum in favour of an integrated curriculum where skills count more than subjects. Our older students each enjoy a personalised curriculum and are able to choose each subject that they study. This makes for an enormous variety of class sizes! (5 students in some, 35 in others) We also ensure that all Year 10 and 11 students (15-16 years) have 1 day per week where they are placed with local companies to gain experience of the modern workplace. We have developed a global reputation in eLearning and have collaborated with educational professionals and establishments in South Africa, China, Japan, the EU and South Korea. If you are interested in how the mass introduction of Pocket PCs works within education then please feel free to drop me a line. Title: Re: Introduce yourself here Andy Black Post by: andyb on October 09, 2005, 09:21:02 PM Hi Andy Black
Who has been lurking in the forum for a while . Good forum got some really useful ideas already. My background is a reall mix ten years of teaching environmental conservation after a first degree in geography . Started using apple IIe and BBC micro's in the early 80's. Direct involvement with using technology to support learning whatever you want to call it for 8 years or so. A long term interest in GIS and spatial aware features like geo blogging and great tools like buddy space. ;D I work for British Education Communcations Technology Agency (Becta). But in my spare time am working on a handheld project putting British Sign language for ICT terms in the form of flash movies onto PDA or SD card plans for 1500 signs that will nicely fit on a 1 Gb Sd card . Another one who isnt happy about pocket PC flashplayer not being availalble free !! Got my own blog http://andysblackhole.blogspot.com Also involved with Post 16 e-learning conference on 1,2nd November at GMEX in Manchester http://ferl.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=12583 Several stars from Handheld learning event are appearing there to and some interesting others. Looking forward to the event next weekend hugely !!! Andy Black Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Graham Parsons on October 12, 2005, 03:59:07 PM Hi,
I am Graham Parsons and I am a senior project manager at the school grounds charity Learning through Landscapes, based in Winchesher, Hampshire. For the past year I have been working on a project to introduce secondary school pupils to GIS technology by developing a system which will enable them to map their school grounds. The project has been funded by the department for education and skills. I have been working along side ESRI (UK) to adapt ArcView and ArcPad so it is more suitable for young people to use easily. We have adapted the toolbars and created a data set for school grounds features. The system is also installed onto XDAIIs so pupils can go into their grounds and capture the features first hand. The data can then the synchronised with the PC back in the class. The pilot, which involved 3 secondary schools in England, ended in July and I am now looking to present my findings and recommendations back to the DfES. I would very much welcome discussing this and related matters with any of you who are interested. I shall be at the conference on Friday and Saturday and look forward to sharing thoughts and ideas with you all more. Regards Graham Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Patty Scheel on October 17, 2005, 09:40:38 AM Hi, my name is Patty Scheel;
I’m so pleased to find this site. Many of you were probably at the conference this past weekend, which I found out about too late to register for. I’m sure it was great, and that I missed a fabulous amount of information. I hope you all will tell me about what you found most interesting and important, and where I can read more about it. For about a year, I was part of a Becta e-mail group, centered on hardware issues, but left it about a year ago, as most of the messages, while interesting, were about whiteboards rather than handhelds. It’s great what Becta has done, to facilitate the creation of these forums, where communities with the same interests in ICT and education can meet. My imagination has been really fired by the use of handhelds in schools. I’m not a teacher; I’m an architect/designer, but I’m also the mother of 2 kids in primary school. Their dad is French, and we lived in France until 2 years ago. Now we live in Germany. I grew up in American schools, and spent a year in university in Britain. All to say that I’ve been in a position to observe schools in different countries. My own experience in school, after age 11, was mostly negative, and I hope that it will be more positive for my kids. I’m excited by the potential offered by handhelds to transform the education experience, especially for those many who get bored or otherwise disenchanted by the classic classroom set-up. I really look forward to reading about what you have all heard at the conference. From what I’ve gleaned from this site, the use of handhelds in schools is accepted by most of you as a positive and irreversible trend, given the economics and ergonomics of handhelds compared to laptops. And the teachers using handhelds are still the pioneers, discovering to what best use handhelds can be applied, in classrooms. I am primarily intrigued by the question of the form that handhelds designed for schools should take, and will post some comments and questions on the ‘hardware wishlist’ site. It seems to me that the discussion about the best hardware stopped short, perhaps because there is still not a consensus about what exactly is needed in a classroom handheld. Does it need to have capacities comparable to a PC, or should it be rather a nifty, fast little “internet appliance”, very good for downloading, viewing and listening to all sorts of multimedia applications from the web? And features that are most popular with kids, like instant messaging and video telephoning, MP3 and gaming – how important are these in the classroom? The ‘teaching’ potential of a handheld – does it depend mostly on how well it is used by teachers, or are there educational lessons inherent in the devices themselves, from which students can learn, away from their teachers? There is no forum specific to the issue of game playing on handhelds, and their potential educational benefits, and I wonder why not. There is a game page. Are these still favorite games, among kids? Should kids be allowed, encouraged, or discouraged from playing them, and what stance should parents take towards games? Since games are surely the best part of any computer, from the point of view of most kids, this question seems critical to the discussion of the best use of handhelds in schools, and the best hardware design. Should potential manufacturers be lured by the possibility of entering the lucrative market so far cornered by gameboys? You have all been sharing the most up to date descriptions and predictions of handheld learning. I hope you will share with me, what seems to be coming next? I look forward to further educating myself about this fascinating subject. Thanks for your help! Patty Scheel Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Graham on October 22, 2005, 06:06:26 PM Welcome to all our new members! ;D
Lots of interesting points raised above that I hope will be discussed in the various parts of the forum. Anybody who's recently joined or has been a member for a while but hasn't said a bit about themselves yet please don't be shy! This is a friendly community (nobody too big for their boots yet anyway :) ) and it's great to find out about each other 8) So who's next I wonder? Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: shartley on October 24, 2005, 09:46:29 AM Hi,
I work for a Programme and System Assurance company who, as part of thier work, provide learning solutions. My particular job is to identify learning needs and suggest a cost effective way of meeting those needs. The use of heandheld technology is clearly an option to meting those needs and to that end I have just produced a framework that allows you to compare different solutions and come up with a rational answer taking into account the affordances of mobile technology/learning (that's the theory at least - if anyone wnats to try it out pse let me know). I'm also studying for a Masters in Education, Technolgy and Society at Bristol University, whch is where I heard about handheld learning. I can be contacted on steve@shartley.freeserve.co.uk Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Robert Gadd on October 24, 2005, 09:31:09 PM Hello All,
I'm a newbie to this site and found the forum today while continuing my research into emerging mLearning products and services. I am one of the cofounders of a USA-based e-learning software company focused on corporate training/performance improvement and our company is working to devise new solutions for mobile learning and wireless information collection/delivery. In recent years, we were involved with a Norwegian company called Screen Media that had designed a Linux-based wireless tablet device. Through an early partnership, we began generating interest for Screen Media's FreePad device here in the US including gaining positive traction in several markets and even garnering an Gold Innovative Technology Award from Brandon-hall.com here in the US back in October 2003. However, after 1+ years of effort, Screen Media was unable to get their device into mass production and our efforts were sidetracked. Check out: http://www.onpointdigital.com/demo_production/FreePad.htm We are now poised to pursue our aspirations/vision for mLearning again with the advent and introduction of Nokia's new 770 Wireless Tablet device which is slated for release in the immediate future. The N770 has most of the characteristics and features our recent prospects all seemed to be clamouring for and the fact a company Nokia's size is bringing it to market brings us "more comfort" the myriad possibilities we foresaw can now be realized. Our company recently began optimizing all our software offerings to take advantage of the N770's display size and standard capabilities. We're excited about the future that's unfolding, and I'm happy to share our experiences with those in this Forum who are considering similar mobile learning deployment strategies in the corporate market. Robert Gadd OnPoint Digital, Inc. www.onpointdigital.com www.mlearning.com Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: ictchc on November 11, 2005, 02:14:29 PM Hello All
I am also a Newbie to this site and was invited to post here after Graham came to visit our school here in Thurrock www.chaffordhundredcampus.thurrock.sch.uk (http://www.chaffordhundredcampus.thurrock.sch.uk). Being the network manager, I am very sceptical about new ideas especially if teachers are very enthusiastic about a product but for once, I found a straight talking person who put his hands up and said they do not have all the solutions...yet thanks mate welcome change. Anyway, back to me. I have been working in ICT in education for the last four and a bit years and I have seen allot of new ideas some bad some good. Coming from a business and military background, i am very much for value for money. We have had Pocket PC’s on site now for over 14 months (300 at the moment increasing by 150 each year until we have 1-1 ratio roughly 1000) and we have various issues which I will post elsewhere in the forums. Until Graham’s product came along, I was very sceptical about PPC’s as all I saw was an expensive way to have a timetable and email facility. Now I can see the potential with help of this software and enabling greater control of the units. Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: tfishburn on January 06, 2006, 07:04:47 PM Hello! My name is Todd A. Fishburn from Seaford, Delaware, USA where I am a Technology Integration Specialist for the Seaford School District. I have been using handhelds for personal use more than 10 years and am excited about the possibilities of handheld computers in K-12 schools. We have been using Pocket PCs and Palms in my district now for about 3 years. We have student lab packs that teachers use with students. We also have given all our teachers a handheld (a Dell Axim x50v or Palm Tungsten T5). We feel that if teachers feel comfortable using their own handheld, they will be more likely to use the handhelds with their students (which they are doing).
Here are a couple links of intertest: - Mid-Atlantic Handheld Conference - www.seaford.k12.de.us/mahc - Our endeavors in the PocketPC arena - www.seaford.k12.deus/hh - Our Palm handheld project - www.seaford.k12.de.us/it/palm/home.htm - A site I created of websites that fit nicely on handheld screens - www.seaford.k12.de.us/it/pda/pocketportal/hh.htm - My school site - www.seaford.k12.de.us/it I look forward to interacting with like-minded educators, Todd! Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: James Clay on January 09, 2006, 11:03:58 AM - Our endeavors in the PocketPC arena - www.seaford.k12.deus/hh The above link should read http://www.seaford.k12.de.us/hh/ Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Lee on January 15, 2006, 01:41:12 PM Hi I'm Lee Ashton
I work as ICT co-ordinator in a primary school in Wolverhampton and through this I am part of the learning 2 go project our LEA is currently leading. We were at the BETT show in 2006 and were part of the handheld learning community as well as demonstrating on the Dfes stand. Hi Graham it was great to be with you and I'm sure our children enjoyed the day too Cheers Lee Ashton Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: neil@wildkey on January 20, 2006, 11:11:47 PM Hello, My name is Neil Bailey and I am also a new member as a result of the BETT show. I am a post Doc researcher at the Spatial Ecology and Landuse Unit (SELU) at Oxford Brookes University and have a GIS/conservation background. I am in the process of spinning out a company from Brookes which uses the power of mobile devices to help pupils (and other novices) identify and record wildlife. We launched our first product...Butterfly Wildkey at BETT and are now moving onto a rockyshore key...visit www.wildkey.co.uk if you are interested...am also open to any ideas you may have!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: James Clay on February 03, 2006, 12:00:50 PM Though I have been lurking (and posting) for a bit, time for my intro piece.
I am James Clay, Director of the Western Colleges Consortium, a group of four FE (post 16) Colleges in the West of England. WCC Website (http://www.westerncc.ac.uk/home.html) I have been interesting in handheld learning ever since I purchased a Toshiba Libretto 50 back in 1997 or 98. Still probably one of my favourite computers of all time. I used it often as a presentation laptop, though the projector back then was huge (carried in alarge metal suitcase). Working for at-Bristol (http://www.at-bristol.org.uk/) I worked on a project with HP looking at using HP Jornadas as a interactive device for visitors using JetSend IR technology and a wireless network to squirt URLs to the devices to provide additional information on exhibits on webpages (via the wireless network). Certainly was interesting and then HP cut development on JetSend with the potential growth of Bluetooth over IR. Using the Jornada I was impressed with the usability and usefulness of the device. When I moved to my current position I was disappointed to find when I came to order a PDA that the Jornada clamshell was no longer available so I ordered an iPAQ instead. We created a PDA version (http://www.westerncc.ac.uk/pda/) of our website very early on, but as very few people had wireless PDAs it did not get many visitors, so was not used much except as an experiment. My current interest with regards to handheld learning is in learning on the handheld devices that learners have. So how can we create learning activities which work on mobile phones, iPods, PSPs, PDAs, digital cameras, PVRs and others... I also like small sub-portable laptops and am evaluating tablet PCs for one of our partner colleges. Regards James Clay WCC Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: davew on February 04, 2006, 05:51:26 PM Hi Everyone,
My name is Dave Whyley and I am Headteacher Consultant for the City of Wolverhampton - right in the centre of England... and I am part of the team leading the Learning2Go handheld project in the city. :) So OK Graham, I have finally got around to post on the Handheld Learning Forum! My Interest in Small computers probably goes back to my childhood watching programmes like Star Trek Thunderbirds UFO etc. :D... But to move swiftly on.... I began in earnest in 2001 when I bought an IPAQ to use as a PDA for my Headteacher Job.... I was fortunate enough following that to be involved in the original BECTA pilot with David Wright... ably written up by David Perry! It was during this project that Gavin Hawkins and I had the idea of letting some year 6 learners loose with some Ipaqs to see what they could do with them if they had then for 24/7... we were amazed.... Check out these early stages on the following link .... http://wgfl.wolverhampton.gov.uk/PDASite/index.html In 2004 we expanded our interest in PDA's and responded to learners requests to have the internet and multimedia content in the palm of their hands.... We began phase 1 of Learning2Go which involved 4 schools but concentrated on 2 Primary schools using the Toshiba e 800 VGA screened devices.... Check out phase 1 on this link http://members.microsoft.com/CustomerEvidence/Search/EvidenceDetails.aspx?EvidenceID=4594&LanguageID=1 I presented on this at Handheld Learning 2005 .... Great to see everyone there by the way... Now we are into Phase 2 with 1000 Fujitsu Pocket Loox Handhelds in 18 different Learning establishments delivering mainstream content and applications to the palm of the learners hands.. We are very lucky to be working with lots of talented individuals - grown ups and children!! Look out for a full write up soon... for any updates so far see http://wgfl.wolverhampton.gov.uk/PDASite/index.html Oh yes and Learning2Go is a BECTA ICT in Practice award winner for 2006.... So there you have it .... Would be pleased to contact and share with members of this community... Top non educational Tip so far..... Check out the weblog of Jason "Mr Mobile" Langridge if you want to keep uptodate with all things Windows Mobile... http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonlan/ This community is superb.... I really appreciate all of the contributions..... Will 2006 finally be the year of the handheld in education?????? Keep up the good work Graham...!! :) Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: esanders on February 06, 2006, 08:20:01 PM Hello, My name is Elizabeth Sanders and I teach first grade in Florence SC. I have been teaching for 30 years and I am always looking for new and interesting things to help my students learn. I have tried to keep up with the new technology by taking courses. I am taking a new one on using handhelds in the classroom. I do not own a PDA but I am very interested in purchasing one. I would like to discover some good ways to use PDA's in the classroom and maybe even write a grant to help fund them in our school. Thanks for allowing me to join your forum.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Benton on February 07, 2006, 09:07:58 PM Hello,
My name is Carleen Benton and I teach a science lab for K through fourth grade classes. I am interested in working with hand helds with a group of my students. I think that I can collect data with a hand held. I would love to talk to other teachers about what they are doing these things. Technology can help children become involved in the class and help them become excited about new knowledge. C Benton Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: pturner on February 07, 2006, 09:22:05 PM Hi, my name is Pam and I'm interested in using a handheld for personal reasons and as an organizational tool in my classroom. I wish our school had them for us to use. I am taking a course at this time and I really enjoy using the handheld. I would really like to have one of my own. Our PTO gave us $300 to spend so I thought I would be really smart and get a handheld E II. Well, much to my disappointment they turned me down. They informed me that they wanted me to use the money for something that would be instructional. I later found out that they ok'd a rolling teacher's chair. I still can't understand how that would be instructional. Oh, well so much for informed technology.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: EHarding on February 08, 2006, 10:13:26 PM I am Emma Harding, Graphics Course Leader and Education Techno
ogist(!) at a 6th Form College in Leicester. I am not really a techie and have my limitations, but I enjoy using all kinds of technology in education. I teach animation and would love to see students creating visual resources for handhelds. l think we are very behind compared to many sectors. I have had an iPAQ through college for several years, but have not realised its full potential. On fixing a wireless network at home I had time to experiment more and have had great fun. I now have to write a report on the possible implementation of more handhelds for staff use, so am looking for all the useful links. Our network managers are very concerned about the security problems which may be caused by the same devices being used on the college network and at home. This does not seem to have stopped many schools and other bodies letting students access the internet at home as well as in the school etc. There is much I would like to learn from others! Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: James Clay on February 09, 2006, 11:15:14 AM Our network managers are very concerned about the security problems which may be caused by the same devices being used on the college network and at home. This does not seem to have stopped many schools and other bodies letting students access the internet at home as well as in the school etc. What specific concerns does he have? One problem with Windows laptops is the possibility of viruses and trojans being caught at home from an unprotected broadband connection and these then causing problems on the college network. This is less of an issue with PDAs... My advice is say quite clearly that this is what you want to do, use the PDA on the home and the college network and he needs to come up with a solution to this issue. Don't try and offer a solution, ask him to come up with one. Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: jonnydavey on February 26, 2006, 09:59:52 PM Hi from Jonny Davey, I work at Islington CLC in London where we are using mobile devices to teach local KS3/4/5 learners. I'm currently writing an MSc final paper on the influence of mobile learning devices on the design of classrooms of the future. Help me if you can!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: hartlap on February 27, 2006, 10:54:24 AM Hi my name is Peter Hartland and Senior Lecturer in Initial Teacher Training at Liverpool Hope University.
My subject specialism is Physical Education, KS1 - KS5, and i am particularly interested in how PDAs can be used to maximize teaching and learning for both pupils and trainee teachers in National Curriculum Physical Education. I'm sure that is a wide range of experience within this group and look forward in exchanging ideas with you over the coming year. Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Dr Plankenstein on March 04, 2006, 09:50:28 AM Hello, my name is Pete Wells and my interest is ICT, SEN and fligminkling.
I taught at Portland School in Sunderland for the last 10 years and this year am chuffed to have blagged Becta's ICT in Practice Award for Inclusion. I now work at Sunderland City Learning Centre teaching all kinds of mad stuff to huge groups of super children. Workwise, I like writing sensory stories for pupils with profound learning difficulties and making cool chromakey films with pupils of all ages and abilities. My site is www.petewells.co.uk, please feel free to have a look! Outside of work I love all manner of geeky stuff including comic reading (geek!), computer games (nerd!) and surfing. Hello to all! Pete (and Dr Plankenstein.) Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: toxfly on April 01, 2006, 04:47:23 PM I've had a personal virtual stalker for 10 years after posting my name on an early ICT forum so suffice to say I'm Asst Head in a London Comp.
I've been using mobile technology for many years including the Apple emates which were just a bit too soon for wireless and an early adopter of thin client technology which may still find its niche with smartphones. I've little time for laptops with their 2 hour batterylife and self destruct mentalities. Hoping that Origami might be the breakthrough product if the power issue is addressed. Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: James Clay on April 03, 2006, 10:09:19 AM I've little time for laptops with their 2 hour batterylife and self destruct mentalities. The battery life of more recent models is much better these days, my new VAIO can do four hours on a single battery (and I normally carry a spare). My older VAIO with an extended battery could last eleven hours. Title: Re: Introduce yourself here! Post by: Marty on April 28, 2006, 07:33:22 PM My name is Marty Cannon and I'm the Assistant Principal at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School in Lafayette, Louisiana. I taught 6th grade world history for five years before taking this post. During that time I earned my Master's Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. I took every educational technology class that I could while doing it because I love computers and gadgets and I think they are great tools for learning. Palms/PDA's really got my attention about a year ago b |