Handheld Learning - learning with mobile and ubiquitous technologies

Why is this forum here?

Laptops are not handheld devices! They may be a good thing, they may be portable, but they are not handheld.

Handheld devices can be used anytime, anywhere. Portable devices are good at desks and you could use them standing with it on a shelf, but if you try using them in the field you are in for a fall and an even bigger smash!

Does it matter? Are we trying just to increase the number of computers available to our learners and the lower cost the device the better. Or are we trying to push back the boundaries of learning so that it can take place when the learner can seize the moment whenever and wherever.

P

Pedagogy, pedagogy, pedagogy
Well, it makes a change from education, education, education!
Computers, interactive whiteboards, learning platforms, handheld devices- they can all be used well- they can all be used badly. We are back to basics- it is not the equipment it is the pedagogy that is important. The learners can have their handheld devices locked, controlled and blocked, depersonalised and impersonal. Or, as teachers, we can begin to let go and begin to let them have control.

A handheld device and a learning platform are together a very powerful combination. By creating content and saving it in a personal learning space what is personal can become shared- or not.

Well thats the theory. As for the practice. Still practicing I'm afraid

Ok, I'll be really boring and reply to myself.

Since the original post I've been thinking a lot about this. Was our project right to go with handheld devices, rather than portable? After reflection, I think it was.

With our Nokia N800 the children can move around and use them anywhere in the classroom, or in the school. They use them standing up and sitting down. They've taken them to the seashore and to BETT, taken photos taken notes. They are not tied down by the constraint of being sat down and typing. Yes, typing is important, it is one of the main means of communication, but it's not everything. Most children can't actually type anyway, so a small keyboard is as good as a big one in many respects. What is really good with a handheld device is when you've also got a bluetooth keyboard- so when you are sat at a desk you can type if you need to, but are not constrained otherwise. I know that means you have two boxes, but they are both small ones!

Disagree if you dare! (well at least I won't have to reply to myself if you do!).

P

I agree with what has been said in that we will eventually be at the point where all learners will be able to access resources anytime and anywhere. If resources are stored on the device, then you can't access them if you are without your device- the wretched battery has gone flat again! However you can be in problems when the network is unavailable- we have a BSF school which I sometimes have meetings in which is inpenetrable to 3G! Another dichotomy?

By creating resources on the handheld and loading them to the network then all can see them, view them and learn from them. Our Shadow Forest project was created mostly on the handhelds, uploaded to the Learning Platform, then improved and edited on the PC's. Now its open for everyone to see.

http://www.school-portal.co.uk/GroupHomepage.asp?GroupID=197665

The IWB was important too- it allowed us to discuss the pages and how they could be improved part way through the project. So it is the interaction of the technologies that is adding real value to the learning process.

If you want to know more about what the children were doing at BETT download Sharing Good Practice 17 from the ICTopus site.

http://www.ictopus.org.uk/index.php?sec=1

Philip

Great to have some feedback.

It would be good to let the learners choose their preferred device but in our case (and probably most cases) that's not practical. We have the chance to buy just one device per child. We can't buy both- money and practical technical issues just intervene.

So we have to make a choice.

So is the critical questions what are the learners actually doing with the device?

Well, at the moment its winter so the chances of going out and using them are limited. So it is sitting round in the classroom and using the devices. Quite a bit of typing, which on a handheld isn't so much fun. Mind you, it only really matters when the child can type.

However, the handheld bit was critical when we went to BETT last week. Walking round the exhibition interviewing those on stands, the children just could not have been using portable devices. But on the N800's they could take the photos and make handwritten notes quickly and easily. If we had only had decent wifi we could then have uploaded straight to the Learning Platform. However, as it was we had to use portables as a means of transferring the information.

Perhaps the handheld device when paired with a bluetooth keyboard is the ideal device. You can type when you want to, but be perfectly portable at other times.

Philip

Which is best, handheld or portable?

My definition is quite simple. A Handheld device you can use standing up or sitting at a desk. A Portable device you have to sit down to use, as it has a keyboard. So a PDA is a handheld device, a laptop and other devices with a folding keyboard are portable device.

I much prefer handheld devices, although I have a portable which I'm writing this with. Handheld devices allow anywhere anytime learning, whereas portable devices you can take anywhere, but can you use it on a field trip standing on a beech?

On the other hand, how often every year do you stand on a beach?

At present we have a set of handheld devices in my class. But with the cost of portable devices dropping, would portable be better?

Hi

Radstock Primary School is bringing 8 children to BETT in conjunction with Uniservity on Thursday. We will be going to various stands, asking exhibitors what is new and interesting in the handheld and learning platform areas, writing reports on our handheld devices (Nokia N800 Internet Tablets) and then uploading information to part of the Uniservity site.

Anyone dare to be interviewed by a group of Y6 children?

Philip Griffin

Hi Graham

Is there still an issue with submissions as I proposed a breakout session late last week and I've heard nothing as yet- no auto reply.

Philip Griffin