I get so excited about the possibilities that new technologies bring to education that others can’t help but be excited, too. When I conduct a workshop or teach my graduate class, I show examples and model how to use the technology for learning. I give teachers plenty of time to experiment on their own. The key is to encourage discussion among teachers and to get them to brainstorm ways to connect what I show them to the curriculum. I want teachers to see that the big deal is not the technology, it’s what teachers and students can do with it for teaching and learning.

Take a look at the activities that Tony uses in his classroom by reading his graduate class log and student blogs at: http://www.learninginhand.com/class/index.html.

Review the videos on this site to watch feedback provided by both Tony’s elementary and graduate students on how they use Palm handheld computers in the classroom: http://teachingnow.org/watchTV.php?id=32&start=00:01:43&end=00:15:40.

It seems that no matter the age, people are attracted to handhelds.  They want to hold them.  They want to tap the screen. And they really want to beam. Beaming data between handhelds is usually what gets both teachers and students “beaming” about handheld computing. Instead of being stuck behind a computer screen, handhelds allow for more human contact. You can move freely about the room and actually see each other’s faces!

What teachers really need to be successful are lots and lots of good examples. In my role as technology specialist, I see my job as modeling these examples for teachers. For instance, I recently took a set of handhelds into a third grade classroom. I used a program called Idea Pad and entered all of the week’s spelling words into a concept map. Using the handhelds, the students sorted the spelling words on the handhelds according to how they are spelled.  I also had students sort the words into how they are used in sentences, alphabetically, and by meaning. I then instructed students to sort the words into five different categories of their choice. The third grade teacher followed along with this lesson as a student. She saw how cool the students thought this activity was. She witnessed that this word sort activity was to not only helping her students spell their words for the week, but it also supported thinking and problem solving. The classroom teacher had done word sorts before, but now that she saw how handhelds could facilitate this, she is doing weekly word sorts on her own.

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