August 28, 2004
Palm-Enabled Teaching
I've been a longtime user of a PDA (a Sony Clie with PalmOS) -- given a keyboard, it's become my substitute laptop for traveling, and I love to write on it when I'm on the road. A few years ago, I did a creative writing experiment with it (which developed into my book, Gorelets: Unpleasant Poems) and, along with Agendus Datebook, I use an excellent outlining tool called ShadowPlan to plan and organize my life.
This semester I've decided to bring the PDA into my teaching a little more actively. I just purchased Teacher's P.E.T. -- an interesting student management tool that includes a portable electronic gradebook. I worry that it's more suitable for courses where there are regular tests and quizzes than impromptu writing assignments, but I'm willing to give it a shot. It features "category weighting" of grades which, I think, might work well for my purposes. There's also a Windows' desktop add-on which I might look into down the line.
What I expect will be tricky: a) to remember to carry the PDA with me to class; b) not be impeded by the act of weilding a stylus on a small screen (paper and pen is always easier) -- hitting the checkboxes accurately is important; c) ensure visibility given the classroom lighting; d) keep regular backups and enable security features in case of emergencies; and e) try to keep my cool and not look too geeky in the front of the classroom.
Handango features many handheld software teaching aids if you're thinking about doing something along these lines, too. Handheld learning is becoming more and more common. Many schools have already made Palm Pilots an active part of their classes, with students performing work on them and "beaming" assignments to the teacher and so forth. Some teachers are doing pioneering work along these lines. PalmOne is supporting the growing industry. GoKnow seems to offer some very good educational tools in this regard (for example, their PicoMap is a neat "mind mapping/brainstorming" tool. You can find a great list of links on Midge Frazel's page, Tips and Tricks for Using Handhelds in the Classroom, which is intended to accompany her book by the same title.
One of the lessons here is that Palm Pilots aren't only being used for high tech cheating. Like all technology, it's only a tool -- it's up to teachers to make it pedagogical.
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Comments
Week 3 update: So far, the Palm software is working supremely well. It took longer to set up than I would have liked, but it is VERY easy to take roll and enter grades...and the cross-linkages in the program's database are helpful. The only thing I've missed was editing people's personal preference for names on my roster when I take roll the first day. And I forgot to bring my palm to class one day...no big deal, I passed around a sign-up sheet. I supsect the software will be all the better when it comes to conferencing and tallying final grades at the end of the term. I have a spreadsheet program for the Palm but I don't think I'd be able to use it as easily as Teacher's Pet for roll call. So far, thumbs up.
Teacher's PET has moved to Trusmart.com and is now here: Teacher's P.E.T.
I'd love to see what you think of it. I've thought about just using Excel sheets on my Palm, but if the templates and dialog boxes that come with Teachers PET are really convenient and useful, I'd like to know.