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Wednesday, May 22, 2002

PDAs in Education/Watch movies on your pocket pc

More and more great sites and pda applications in education:

The Shifted Librarian
linked to a very interesting site Wake
Forest Pocket PC Classroom
which includes the following features:
"Software features include:

An instant-on, easy-to-manage portable web server that is completely under your control
A text feedback mechanism that enables your students or audience to submit questions or comments that show immediately on your PocketPC.
A feedback meter that enables students to submit numeric reponses (range: -10 to 10) according to your directions. These submissions show as a continuous curve on your PocketPC and are useful for quick assessments.
Presentation capabilities that enable you to use the PocketPC as a remote control to navigate to a PowerPoint presentation on your desktop or laptop computer, start and manage the presentation, and see slide text and speaker notes on your PocketPC.
Easy access for students to materials or links on your websever, including the option to use a folder that requires authentication, easily managed from your PocketPC. "
Wow! If you aren't reading The Shifted Librarian, you
should be! Every day there are at the very least 1-2 links I want to check out on current/emerging/imagined/
technologies with witty commentary about the technology and how it might work for libraries. Go, Jenny!

Getting a Handle on Handhelds:
What to Consider Before You Introduce Handheld Computers Into Your Schools
by David Pownell and
Gerald D. Bailey is a super article on specific points to consider and questions to ask when you are
considering implementing handheld computers in the classroom. They also predict that "handheld computers
..are the next machines that will change the face of our every day lives." This excellent article and list
would be very helpful for libraries thinking about integrating handheld computing into their services.

Did you ever think you would watch movies on your pda? Pocket
PC Films
is producing movies for pocket pc. Amazon is selling
these films. One of the available films is "Fright Night" and it is only $4.99. Since my assignment for this
week is to learn as much about the pocket pc I can in 5 days, this might be an entertaining way to learn
about the features of the pocket pc. The films go on an external memory card and they recommend a
minimum of 128 MB
"At Pocket PC Films, our focus is on distribution of films and videos for the Pocket PC. We format and compress our video programming to work with Pocket PC devices from Compaq, Casio, Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba, NEC and all other handheld devices using Microsoft Media Player 7.1 or higher. The movies are stored on the devices external memory systems, which can be CompactFlash Cards, Secure Digital (SD) Cards, PC Cards, or the IBM Microdrive.

For optimal performance and satisfaction, we recommend an external memory device of at least 128MB. There are many manufacturers of these devices. They are inexpensive and continue to drop in price. "

They also have instructional training and self-help titles.

Check out The Paperless
Classroom
, a middle school in Kentucky which is using pocket pcs in
7th and 8th grade English classes to eliminate paper. All reading and writing
for the classes is done on the PDA! (pocket pc) They started out with palms,
and are now using Pocket pcs. The students did all their assignments on
their pdas including writing papers and beaming them to the instructor. They also
took notes on their pdas. Reading assignments were downloaded from public
domain sites on the Internet and then beamed to other students. The teacher
uses "Romeo and Juliet" as an example of a work which was free, saving the
students money on textbooks. Students used Microsoft Outlook to schedule
homework and activities and used the voice recorder to record lectures. The teacher
says they then moved to pocket pcs and now want students to be able to access
Internet and email. He talks about added functionalities he would like to implement
in his classroom. There is also a paperless classroom yahoo group
you can join. Wow! Great kudoes to the paperless classroom! They are way ahead in terms
of not only implementing but imagining what the possibilities are!

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