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

Handheld devices?

[sllort]

Ann Arbor Open's policy isn't unique: Several schools around the country are banning handheld devices.

Damn. Busted for carrying an automatic pencil.

Schools really are getting out of hand.

_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:School Funds

[Psmylie]

I agree with you. First of all, what you are "taught" in phys ed is pretty useless. I use math and writing skills every day, but it's been a while since I actually needed to peg someone in the head with a large red ball (although I occasionally do that just for fun).

If phys ed is going to be taught, it should be more "learning to to take care of yourself" and less "pointless running around". Also, I learned more about teamwork working in pairs in science class then I ever did playing softball, football, etc.

Maybe it was just my school, but I always thought phys ed was pretty pointless.

Re:Morons- All Of You! - Your Opinion Noted

[q-soe]

You have a right to your opinion and i think that in the example you mention you are justified.

However there is the other side to the coin - i work as an IS manager and have half a dozen remote sites to support. I use my palm Vx extensively and so do my staff - they are admittedly not the most practical thing for taking notes with (yuck) but they have a great many good uses.

I have the follwing stuff i use every day in mine (and my staff have most of it too)
- Database of file extensions (usefull as hell)
- Database of cable / termination / cable maps
- Netork database with all site info
- Database of common fault types in our environment
- All hone and contact numbers for all offices
- Patch panel diagrams for all sites
- Router configs for sites
- We can download current calls from our call database and take them with us
- Various database on applications etc

I also have a few games and half a dozen books (1984, Brave newq world, etc - what i feel like reading) and can download my mail and jot small qucik notes when onsite - as well as syncing with my out look

The best thing is that all of this software we use is freeware (bar one database program we bought licenses for) we can convert anything into a PDB file by using isoloweb (www.isilo.com) and we use a number of database aps to create smalll database for them - its quick and easy and bloody usefull - and the best thing is with all of it in my palm including meg launcher, a dozen hacks and games i still have 4mb of the 8mb memory free.

My staff dont lug notebooks out to sites unless they have to (and thats very seldom, and i dont need to lug my notebook home each nght (i have my latest emails on it and all my contacts)

In short i think the palm is incredily usefull - and i am a person who thought they were over priced toys - dont forget that just because you meet one moron that all the other people are neccesarily morons (otherwise i would never have used linux - you should have met the first guy i knew with that :) )