Handheld Learning - learning with mobile and ubiquitous technologies

Hi, I’ve just introduced myself on the general forum page. I like this topic, of imagineering the best handheld. I’ve read the discussion that has taken place so far in this forum, and hope that the discussion will be resumed now that the conference is over, and you must be brimming over with new ideas and information. I thought it might be helpful if I tried to list what has been written so far:
A WISHLIST FOR A HANDHELD TO BE AVAILABLE FOR USE IN SCHOOLS BY 2010:

A.   Handhelds in schools can be seen as a “collaboration and accountability” tool, for the student’s use, but which teachers and parents can also use, to communicate to each other about the student’s work. (Each student has his own handheld)

B.   The minimum (and directly classroom-related) abilities of the handheld, need to include:
•   to upload and download assignments, and
•   to project  a students’ work.

C.   Other capabilities that have proven useful in the classroom, and which appeal to the students are:
•   Peer to peer communicating;
•   MMS, IMS; VOIP;
•   MP3;
•   video messaging,
•   rich media playback,
•   high quality gaming.

D. Important design factors that seem necessary are:
•   Good resolution, with the largest possible screen.
•   USB interfaces,
•   WiFi, Bluetooth, and any other necessary bandwiths so that the device is always connected to the web.
•   12 hour battery life.
•   Comes on immediately, no need to boot up.
•   Durability
•   Reliability
•   Easy to use
•   Reasonable cost; up to $400.

E.   Possibly desirable would be (if technological advances make them possible):
•   Internal hard drive
•   Voice recognition.
•   Fuel cells

One of the most surprising observations was by Kathy T., who reported that the students at her school rejected the Treos that were offered them, finding them very uncool. This is an important point, because it seems a common assumption, that students will find using handhelds very cool, and that that will help drive their eager adoption. As Kathy T. points out, this may be a fallacious assumption, and one that educators and designers should be wary of making.

In the late 1970s, calculators were introduced in schools for students in advanced math and science classes. If “cool” were an objective value, then these tools were extremely cool, the very first high tech instrument available to students. But, at least in NY, they were perceived by most of the students as extremely uncool, the visible stigmata of nerds, who compounded their geekiness by hanging the calculators on their belts. But the students who wanted to take those math and science classes bought them and wore them, anyway, and the sales of those devices went from 0 to millions over a very short period. If schools try to get their students to use a high tech tool because it is cool, some wise guy is sure to show up with a notepad and pencil, and insist that that’s the only cool way to go. And on some level he’ll be right, and he’ll have followers. Cool is completely subjective, and young people need to exercise their prerogative to decide what is cool for them, and what isn’t.

So I think designers should try for what is beautiful and ‘cool’ according to their standards, but know that students may not agree that they are cool. And that the priority should be to design a brilliant educating tool, not the coolest device that kids will want to show off – let their parents buy them the next great phone, or psp or whatever, for that. 

Anyway, the brainstorming stopped short in July, and I thought perhaps this is because there is still not a clear consensus of what exactly is the role of handhelds in schools. Will the educating potential of a handheld depend mostly on how well it is used by the student’s teachers, or can it be hoped that a student out of class will also use it in a way that educators, and parents, deem educational?

My children are in a situation where they are learning their 3rd language, because of our family circumstance. I know that I’m less adverse to them watching tv here in Germany, than I was in France, partly because kids’ programming here is generally better, but also because at least they are having some practice of their new language. How about this suggestion: that handhelds for students be packed full of materials in 3 or more languages, and that they can be seen as educational for foreign languages even if they are never used in a foreign language classroom. I think of this because I saw that my kids were quite happy to watch cartoons when we first arrived here, when they didn’t know German at all yet. My son would like to be able to play his Pokemon video game no matter what the language – he’d learn soon enough to translate the directions.  He likes German comic books, too, although his German is still very basic, and it’s the only German reading he does. Are comic books in English, for English speaking kids, educational? Maybe. Are they when they are in a foreign language, and kids make the effort to understand them? There’s no doubt of that, in my mind. And with handhelds, foreign language comic books could be also have an audio aspect, so that kids reading them can hear new words pronounced correctly. There is such a wealth of educational, but also very entertaining materials that have been produced by television companies around the world; if a community of interested people can have gotten together to create wikipedia, then surely a similar community can come together and assemble the best educational/entertaining materials from a variety of languages and cultures. Package all of this in a neat handheld, design clever interfaces so students (and parents and teachers) are encouraged to go exploring. Keep all commercial interests from entering, and you have something that is already 100 times better than normal tv, and which can be continually updated.

I’m just throwing out ideas – maybe some of you will tell me why they are not very good. But I’m interested in the brainstorming that can happen in  this forum. Enough from me for now! Thanks for feedback, Patty Scheel

For me the biggest pains are battery life, weight, instant on/off and the heat these things can chuck out!!!  My students would really complain about each of these problems.

There is wikia project to collaboratively design a handheld computer for dyslexic learners, at http://dyslexia.wikia.com/wiki/Dyslexia_Handheld_Computer  .
Dyslexic learners have a recognized, and well-defined specific need for an ubiquitous computer tool, and there is a wealth of computer materials designed to meet those needs, that could be adapted to handhelds. A brilliantly designed handheld for dyslexics might serve as a base model, that could be extended to other learners. The wiki needs interested contributors.