The Effects of Handheld Computers on Teaching and Learning

Elliot Soloway, Univ of Michigan, and Cathie Norris
1 July 2003

Yes there are bifocal generation people out there today
For the first time with handhelds, it feels like we are at the right place, at the right time

One on one handheld technology is the topic

Want to address common myths and debunk them

Why does every child need their own computer? That is the fundamental question.
Why are handheld computers not stepchildren of laptops (Elliot things handhelds are better than laptops)
What is coming down the future

Common wisdom #1

Scott McNealy - COE from Sun, wants to the focus on the network, believes it is the network we should focus on
John Bailey, US DOE: if we are serious of reaching every child, we must seriously explore distance learning

Elliot says NO, ACCESS is still the #1 problem

Don't worry about the internet, if there is great stuff on the internet it doesn't matter to kids if they

ration now is 6:1 students to computers, in urban schools it is 9:1 (they work primarily in urban Detroit)

For K-12, handheld computers are more important than the internet! (for now, with the access realities we have)

Larry Cuban, prof at Stanford, book "Oversold and Underused: Computers in the Classroom" - he advocates a moratorium on the purchase of computers in schools

Elliot and Kathy agree: instead by handheld computers!!!!

Myth: personal computer model will not scale

fact is in the near term we can't get every computer a laptop!
new model is handheld computers, they are the hope

Our argument: handheld computers should be the main personal computer for K-12

If we spend $100 per handheld, we could by them for 55 million students for $55 million-- that is doable given current federal

Common wisdom of tech evangelist: to use technology YOU (teachers) need to change

teachers say "I don't think so"

Detroit schools have 50% chance of internet working, so teachers using tech have to

With handhelds, take your existing curriculum and fold it a little bit into handhelds (don't have to start over)

EVOLUTION, not REVOLUTION (G. Moore, "Crossing the Chasm")

Revolution won't happen by exhorting teachers to change

Usage of technolgy by Detroit Teachers: 4 years, 50% of science teachers use the Artemis Digital Library

In 1 year, 87% of science teachers use "Cooties" on handhelds (it is less intimidating and scary, they are fun, they are wonderful)

Handhelds WILL revolutionize / transform education, slowly step by step

3rd grade classroom example: using handhelds (just like supersize notebooks - it becomes part of who they are)

Cathie: Now addresses Why does each child need his/her own computer

Current use of computers (example)

8 week unit on water quality
1-2 days on internet
1-2 days on simulation / modeling
4 days out of 40 days using technology
how could so little use have any real impact?
Little use because of little access

Alternative scenario in Texas, 5 week unit on "inventors" - Use handheld every day- software they use:

Fling It (offline rendering) - can't cut and paste (is good and bad news)
PicoMap: Next thing to synthesize their ideas (like Inspiration)
Freewrite: use a word processor (Not MSWord, is a basic plain vanilla word processor)
Sketchy: do a drawing of the invention - allows for drawing and animation

Why 1:1?

10% use versus 100% use

impact on learning:

learning in context (are computers in the periphery, not advocating getting rid of desktops)
conversation: Use pic chat to discuss and work through problems and issues
collaboration: beaming back and forth, sharing picomaps, rather than having to write with paper and pencil, they can trade back and forth, can build an assignment together
rich artifacts: students use all these tools to create this rich artifacts, multiple representations of the same info
success: 3rd Graders in Ana, Texas - they get excited even when finishing a spelling test on their handheld

Next: Bob Melton from Putnam Public Schools in Oklahoma City, OK

PALS - Personal Access - student success

Have 1 computer per classroom, 1-2 computer labs per site, but it is very hard for students to get to the lab
Now have over 2000+ handheld computers that have been checked out to students like a textbook
initially to 8th graders in middle schools
partnered with OSDE, OSU, UCO, GoKnow, and many vendors
PALS looks at effectiveness of large-scale handheld usage

What kept us up at night

palm set-up and distribution (labor intensive) - So you must look at people who do this full time, keep records
worked closely with librarians for this
Staff development (continuous and on-going) - working with kids it is not much of a problem, transition from GameBoy to palm is pretty easy, the bigger problem is with teachers
Lost, stolen or broken Palms (some naysayers predicted we'd see a lot of Palms at he local Palm store -- loss rate is about 5%, same as library books and textbooks -- transfers and suspensions were a main source of the loss) - That rate of loss is about the same for faculty
Interacting with the network (at this type of scale, must have some means to sync beyond - working with the network internally was VERY difficult)

What did we include in the report to the school board?

support from parents was AMAZING (parents want kids to have access to technology, they know it is important - they would sign the forms to be responsible for the loss)
students using handhelds for collaboration and interaction, as well as expression
Think of handhelds like a swiss army knife: data collection, drawing, journaling, writing, simulations, presentation software, we have shifted from that focus to usign 100% recycled electrons
Middle schools are an easy fit, there is a collaborative atmosphere there already, high schools can be more difficult
Interacting with the network (PAAM changes everything) - Through a web browser the teacher can access everything that is on students' palms

Anytime / Anywhere learning

how is that done in a computer poor district?
hardware cost is $300 per student (about the cost of textbooks!) vis $1200 per student with laptop computers
software cost is $50 - $60 per student (includes logistical support)
staff training and infrastructure
$400 - $450 per student for everything, all infrastructure, etc
PAAM

A handheld is NOT a stepchild to a PC

I was a classroom teacher, still am a classroom teacher, just a different classroom
instantaneous (there is NO wait! file saving so easy, is no losing data!)
invisible (focus on the task, not the tool - thermometer is invisible, you look at the temperature not the instrument)
malleable (satisfies lots of needs: teachers, student needs, IT, administrators)
personal (kids make them personal by putting stickers on them, on mailer envelopes kids make labels- a PC is ANYTHING but personal in a school)

Cathie: 1:1 IS not enough

must be total access learning infrastructure (TALI)

Curriculum - ACCESS for Admins - Access for Parents - Desktop / Internet

PAAM: When kids sync palms, it sucks up all the data and stores all the data on a website
as teacher you can go in, grade assignments, embed remarks
protects children from themselves (if they load too many games and they lock up their palms requiring a hard reset

This builds an electronic portfolio for every child from Day 1 (from Sept thru June, can see progress)

Handheld evolution

Generation 1: repurposed business devices, we have written educational apps to run on these
Generation 2: started to appear last year (like Dana by Alphasmart) - made by an educational company for education - includes admin app, can turn off beaming, can hide apps like if you don't want them to use a calculator, can lock down the date and time (can't make it look like they turned an assignment in yesterday
- TI now has a keyboard that goes with their calculator ($40 keyboard)
- TI Navigator has polling system, lots of other functionality
Generation 3: new features are absolutely wonderful, she knows some of the future...

Elliot on Gen3 software:

Cooties: How are germs spread - Participatory, immersive simulation

Now have Cooties running on TI calculators, but no IR so must hook cables together

Kids already have calculators

Math teachers have had 1:1 computing for a long time with graphing calculators

don't need $400-500 handheld computers to get started

HI-CE developed PicoWrite, for Texas TEKS

now can do outlining and graphic organizer, beam it and share / collaborate
works very well on Dana with larger screen

KWL is new program (what do I know, what do I want to know, what did I learn)

new twist on KWL: not just individualized, when kids fill out KWL it fills it out on the server, so it can be shared / shown, it is a collaborative KWL

Color sketchy

sketchy is probably the favorite program for kids and teachers

Also have Cells: can do spreadsheets

Locker: keep track of assignments

Kids are not using handheld calendars to keep themselves organized naturally - locker is simple and not a businessman's organizer

Program called "Go Observe" developed with Michigan State principals

trying to get admins to feel useful with their handhelds
gives admins a way to monitor time spent in different areas

Another platform WinCE (wince)

Microsoft view: Honey I shrunk the computer
Old / Palm view: just enough functionality
can now buy WinCE devices around same price point of $200-300
This is good because education has more choices

Do have cooties that run on cell phones, and gameboy games too

eChem is program on PocketPC

chemistry modeling kid and molecule viewer
kids build a molecule and can rotate it in 3D on the handheld

You don't care if it is a plam or pocket PC at some level, so they have run the Pocket Learning Environment (PLE) and these will be identical (not the same now, however)

PLE has launchpad for programs, and below icons for different programs and files involved in a particular project
Documents on handheld have nodes to connect different files / documents

Michigan took a page out of Main iBook plan, developed Michigan's "Learning Without Limits"

now largest handheld project in the country, 100 teachers, 5000 children
now the Michigan legislature is considering purchasing handhelds for all 132,000 students
This is going to

End: "The Tipping Point" by Malcom Gladwell, when does a phenomenon reach the tipping point? (when will every kid have a handheld)

Kids are doing thumbs" - playing game boys
if you have a boy between ages of 7 and 13, you have a gameboy, they have 1:1 computing and have had it for years
daughter's 7th grade school in Ann Arbor, had downloaded TV remote control program to his palm and was turning TV on and off, banned the handhelds from the alternative school (where you are supposed to )
Teacher asked: why do the kids need the palm to learn? Answer: they don't, but the kids love the technology
at one time not everyone in the class had a pencil
availability of paperback books in 50s and 60s changed education fundamentally, because everyone could have their own copy of Beowulf
We are absolutely going to have 1:1 computing in educatioin

URLS (software is free now but it might not be forever)

PAAM software right now uploads to a server in Ann Arbor, it is not free, right now it is not available for sale, by Sept 03 it will be available for schools to purchase

Very heavily framed websites don't "fling" very well

Syncing: now kids take their palms to 1 computer and sync to it, with PAAM software it aggregates information into the server in the sky

Back to Wesley's NECC 2003 Notes