March 2006 — Wireless/Mobile Computing
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A Mobile Cause
2) Staying Focused on the Purpose. Wireless is often misused, says Kellie Doubek, an instructional technology and literacy consultant who has worked with schools and districts in Illinois and Michigan. Too many schools, she contends, reach for hot new technologies like mobile and wireless without strategies in place on how they plan to use them.
“If you are looking at using technology,” Doubek says, “use the same sound instructional strategies that you would with any new initiative. Administrators and teachers forget that, because they’re overwhelmed by the tool.”
That said, Doubek sees handhelds as especially effective for some educational uses. Along with their mobility and lower price, they promote interaction among students, she says, far more than laptop computers do.
Doubek, who works with Tomasino, encourages client schools to focus on the purpose of the new technology, which should be driving the project in the first place. “If [devices] are being implemented with a purpose, think through staff development,” she says. “First, what is that purpose? Second, what’s your goal instructionally? Third, where’s the technology support coming from?” Doubek advises answering those sorts of questions up front, all the while making sure not to stray from the project’s instructional objective.
3) Finding Cost-Effective, Useful Software. A few years ago, finding good classroom software, especially for handhelds, wasn’t easy. But today, according to Tony Vincent, a fifth-grade teacher at Willowdale Elementary School in Omaha, NE, “whether you’re using Palms or Pocket PCs, there’s just a multitude of great programs out there.” Vincent, known for his evangelical support for using handhelds in the classroom, has more than 100 programs on his school handheld alone. “Some are cross-curricular; some you might use just for one lesson,” he says. “The market has exploded.” (For software ideas, try Vincent’s Web site, www.learninginhand.com. If cost is a concern, he lists many free and shareware programs.)
4) Managing the Classroom. What do you do with handhelds once you have them in class? How do you distribute, support, and manage them? Vincent, who also serves as a technology specialist at Willowdale, has worked out a system for managing the 30 or so non-wireless handhelds that rotate among Willowdale’s three fifth-grade classes of 25 students each. He simply passes them out when projects call for them, then collects them back again, charging the batteries in the off hours.
“Think through how things are going to work,” Vincent says, “but don’t be afraid to learn from students. This is a case where students know more than the teachers.” Vincent says his students often come up with ideas for new projects involving the handhelds.
