In response to the growing popularity
of handhelds computers for educational uses and advances in technology, the
COE Tech Lab is acquiring a new lab set of Zire 71s, keyboards and
Scantron's Classroom Wizard system. These resources (funded by Project
M3) will be used in handheld workshops and available for checkout by faculty
and staff.
Equipment in the existing handheld lab (Handspring
Visors, keyboards and peripherals) will be cascaded to COE faculty who
do not own a handheld. One Visor will be retained to work with the
ImagiWorks sensor interface and Vernier probes.
The graduate-level Handheld Computer workshop continues to be popular. The curricular emphasis is
shifting from a how-to clinic to exploring the integration of handhelds into
the classroom, although hands-on exploration of the basic functions will always be a major
component of the workshop.
A pilot project to use handhelds for
student teacher observation was started Spring 2003. The College continues
to investigate effective methods for using handhelds for assessment.
Handhelds in education are
demonstrated in Block 2 during our Tech Fairs. Students are encouraged to use them to
prepare presentations. The handhelds are available to the
students for short-term checkout to complete the presentation.
The departments of Communicative Disorders & Science
(CDS) and Kinesiology & Sport Science (KSS) have also acquired a number of handhelds
for data collection and research. KSS students are assigned a
handheld during senior year to use for class activities.
