How PDAs Intersect With School

An Anonymous Coward writes: "It's never too young to be a yuppie. An engineering professor at the University of Michigan is studying how handheld technology can be incorporated in elementary and high schools. His theory is that PDAs can provide students with a much more interactive and cheaper means of learning than desktop computers. The professor has created a number of interesting applications for using PDAs in school, including a 'cooties' simulator, where students beam around a virus from Palm to Palm and then figure out how it propagated. The New York Times covers the use of PDAs in classrooms here, and Wired News has an article here talking about schools who ban students from carrying PDAs." Both articles focus on Palm OS devices at a school in Ann Arbor, but only the Wired piece points out that the devices were banned there last year.

Comments

Can't react to change

[zinovylr]

All these schools seem to be afraid of change. whether people will admit it or not PDA's are the future notebooks and pencils. In 10-20 years they will most likely replace all notebooks, text books, and writing devices.

Re:Can't react to change

[Bonker]

Notebooks and textbooks yes, but I have *yet* to see anyone that could write in palm-scribble whatever as fast as they could take notes.

Even if they hand out the folding keyboards, I think it will be problematic. Personally, I can't type on flat keyboards for anything. They have to have spring loaded keys, or else my hands don't work right.

Re:Can't react to change

[goldspider]

I think the schools are finally taking a rational preventative measure here.

In addition to the more serious problem of students transmitting data (answers) to each other, think of how little schoolwork would get done in school if everyone had minesweeper/solitaire/DOOM at their fingertips :)

PDAs in schools, like cell phones, are more of a distraction than anything.

What ever happened to low-tech

[Uttles]

OK, first let me say that banning a PDA is just stupid. Don't punish the many students who use them in a good way just because a few misuse them. On the other hand, I don't think schools should require laptops or PDA's for studies. Realistically, we don't need that much technology for each student in a high school. We need to focus money on getting teachers who don't say things like "ewww, math is hard, I hate math." The problem with education is the educators and the problem with the educators is that smart people don't want to go to college and come out with a job that pays less than a garbage man's salary. Anyway, my point is that PDA's can be good but instead of mounting an initiative to get every kid a PDA, why don't we focus on getting better, higher paid teachers.

Schools and Technology

[apirkle]

All too often, we get so carried away with the "this is neat" aspect of ideas that we forget to ask: Is this really a good idea?

Technology is really neat, it has tons of wonderful applications... but, you can't just throw technology at a problem for the sake of using technology.

When I first got a TI-85 in 8th grade, it was a really neat toy. I found that I could load all sorts of games on it, like Tetris and Galaxian. That calculator got used for games far more than it got used for schoolwork. Did it ever help me learn more about math, or get better at math? Nope. In fact, it probably hurt my skills at arithmetic.

Then, I went off to college. Classes were more intense and interesting, so I had less cause to play games and daydream. You don't have so much busywork, so even in math and science classes there is rarely a need for a calculator at all; you do all your work, and then sometimes at the end of a problem you'll plug a few numbers in the calculator to get a final answer.

Kids in school should be learning to think, not how to play with shiny toys.

_DO_ PDAs Intersect With School?

[_Mustang]

I think that would be a much better question. The reality seems to be that we have a totally disfunctional group running the educational system with little or no effort made to coordinate the various levels together to provide a comprehensive education.

1. Interactive (but not-computer) devices being banned from preschool/Kindergarden/grade school children.
2. Middleschool/Highschools banning HP-type calculators and handheld-type devices.
3. Universities that claim to be intellectual bastions of free-thinking; but then go out of their way to lock students into proprietary and expensive software.

Wasn't the whole promise of the "Information Age" and the digital revolution to begin the process of seeding ideas *before* the kids get set in their ways? It's only when the inventions of the previous generation become the *standards* for the next generation that real breakthrough bubble up.
Refusing to integrate these potentially educationally-rich technologies is a huge failure.

It seems that it's these supposed "educators" who need to learn a thing or two.

Re:True points on why Palms aren't evil...

[l33t3$t_hax0r]

Despite the fact that the graphics aren't good at all, they're just not exciting when you're controlling them though stylus strokes. I have a couple, and they are absolutely last resort -- if your students play PDA games, you're *really* boring them.

You seem to reject the fact that Solitaire and Freecell are some of the most popular and time-consuming games in the world. Secondly, let's fac it; school is going to be boring sometimes. It's *work*, and it requires that students be attentive and focused in order for them to learn. They may not like it, but most learning is not a matter of osmosis. It is done with rote drilling, practice and study. Trying to make every learning lesson "fun and exciting" will not make people smarter.

...at each other, and are within (I think) 3 feet.

Blah, blah, blah. Most kids sit near people they like, therefore they're probably beaming things with people near them, thus your argument is moot.

Not to mention the beeping.

You've obviously never found the *sound preferences* on your Palm before...

but for cheating and entertainment, not so much.

Play a bit of "DopeWars" and then come tell me that Palms aren't good for entertainment. I will then take the opportunity to smack you.

"Johnny, stop passing ICQs to Mary!"

[SkewlD00d]

Just what kids need... another excuse to not pay attention to class.

<rant>
Maybe education researchers should get off their collective asses and encourage real teaching instead of promoting "Let's watch a film now class." teaching abdication to mass-media and tech wiz-bang nonsense. Having computers solves nothing, in fact, some studies show computers take valuable teaching time away from teachers. I guess they want an open-source teacher-emulation hologram in all the schools, so they don't have to pay those under-paid and under-respected teachers. Poo on them! Academics of the world unite!
</rant>

SkewlD00d

Is it Wired's fault or Soloway's?

[JWhitlock]

Here's from the Wired article:

"I have no data, but I believe kids will read more on the Palm than they do on books because Palms are their generation," said Elliot Soloway, a professor in the college of engineering and school of education at the University of Michigan.

"Books are Perry Como's generation.... The children don't see the Palm as a computer, they see the Palm as media. Media is hot. Media is exciting. That's why they're going to participate in the reading."

Soloway, who is studying Palm handheld programs in schools, said that in order for "computing technology" to be effective in class instruction, there must be enough hardware for all the students, teachers must know how to use it, and administrators and parents must be supportive of the curriculum that incorporates it.

Handheld computers have an advantage over desktop PCs or laptops in that they are small enough to be carried anywhere and relatively inexpensive -- "the cost of a pair of tennis shoes," Soloway said.

"As long as the computers are down the hall and up the stairs to the lab, they are irrelevant to education," Soloway said.

This guy sounds like one of the pie-in-the-sky technologists that loves tech for the sake of tech, and is unwilling to recognize reality. Now, it that because he is, or because Wired is so pro-tech that everything that passes by their editors sounds that way?

To pick apart his statements:

No, kids won't read more just because it is on a handheld computer. Some kids read with their spare time, others do other things. If I was a kid with a handheld computer, I might read, but more likely I would be installing games or other fun apps. I might even have fun writing games for others to play. But reading? Given the book or the e-book, I'll take the book, until e-book tech gets a bit better.

One advantage, though, is that "Penthouse Forum" looks the same as "Tom Saywer", at least from 10 ft away. Maybe kids will read more...

Soloway then says that if all kids had one, and if all the teachers knew how to use them effectively, and if the parents were behind the curiculum, then they would be useful in the classroom. Well, the same could be said for gym equipment, musical instruments, textbooks, lab equipment, or computers. The fact that this isn't the case for a majority of students is why education is in so much trouble - hand-held computers might just make it worse.

Handheld computers are as cheap as a pair of shoes? Maybe, but not any I wore as a kid... My family had to save money, so I got other kid's hand-me-downs, wore shoes til they fell apart (and were already well out of fashion), and generally wore clothes that kept me from being naked. I was aware of the kids who had the newest and most expensive clothes, and that is was a status symbol. Handheld computers would have to be the same across the board (All Visors, for instance, instead of some Visors, some Visor Prisms, and some Visor Edges), and the parents would bitch and moan - "If Johnny wants the orange one with 16MB rather than the ugly black one with 8MB, then why can't he have it? It interacts with the cheaper ones!!!" Just like in the workplace, hand-helds are a status symbol, just a more expensive one.

Please, let's not put a computer in every classroom. Please, put them down the hall. I have never met a computer program that could teach better than a teacher. Mathematica and Matlab are no substitute for a good math teacher. Shockwave Shakespeare is no substitute for a good English Teacher. Dance Dance Revolution is no substitute for a good Phys. Ed. teacher. Axis and Allies is no substitute for a good history teacher. Hell, even Microsoft Visual Studio and gcc are no substitute for a good programming teacher. Computers are tools, but they are limited tools, and the programs are expensive, and can't replace a good teacher. Let's keep the computers down the hall, where they belong, irrevlevant to education.

So let me get this straight...

[ilsa]

Sounds to me like some professor got conned into buying his kid a PDA on the pretext of how this would help his child in school. PDAs are however banned at the local high school. Professor/daddy considers this an insult to his intelligence and goes about finding/creating legitimate uses for the PDA in class.

As someone who went to school during the transition between calculators being banned and calculators being required, this is interesting. If nothing else at least making the "wrong" OS choice for my child on a PDA is cheaper than on a notebook computer!

Why the Hell not?

[gelfling]

My son has a requirement, as in requirement to get a TI-83Plus. If students can get that functionality plus any other PDA benefit such as their own Avantgo channel then why not. What are you complaining about? If they beam a list of the weeks assignments to it or a list of resources for where to get information I figure its paid for itself then and there.

The math teacher says...

[munner]

I've just got to comment on this one. I'm a math/science teacher starting my first year in about two weeks. PDA's have got to be the worst idea ever. Calculators are the worst idea ever. Some specific points to make:

Number 1:
How many students can actually add/subtract/multiply/divide without having to turn to a calculator? Very few, and sticking more computers and PDA's into the classroom won't solve anything.

I've taught math classes using graphing calculators. Yes, they can do things nice and pretty and quick. There are two problems. The first is a practical one -- every single class the students have to be shown over again how to use the calculator. Second, they may know how to produce a box-and-whisker plot by pressing the right buttons, but do they have any deeper understanding of what they're doing and why they're doing it? Not really.

Number 2:
It's a whole lot easier for administrators to get their picture taken in a brand new computer lab with lots of stuff to show off, than it is for them to get their picture taken next to a brand new, innovative, and ground-breaking curriculum. We can't really expect the public to demand anything else. People are a lot more content when money is spent on something tangible that they can see.

Number 3:
Suppose we've got every student plugging away at their PDAs. Where's the collaboration? Group learning? Student-led learning? All I can see are a bunch of solitary students going through the motions on a device.

There's no disadvantage to having students work with (gasp!) pencil and paper and to work in groups, without depending on these external devices. Confidence (and academic performance) increases when students realize that they have knowledge and ability beyond a device.

Number 4:
Computers are tools; they're good tools. But we have to remember that they're just that. They don't "make" students learn. They may help develop understanding, but they certainly don't cause students to learn.

We have to require teachers to stick to their chalk. If we don't, it's all downhill from here.