Handheld Computers in Education

The Personal Digital Assistant, once only a productivity tool for business people and techies, is finding its way into classrooms everywhere. Education journals are rushing to feature the small devices on their covers. In his Palm Manifesto, Elliot Solloway says, "Every child in K-12 needs to be provided with a Palm computer, just as they are provided with pencils and notebooks."

Why the recent focus on handheld computing? The size of the devices makes them easily portable, and with a price about half that of a laptop, one per student does not seem quite as impossible to achieve. Infrared technology enables quick collaboration with the touch of a button.

A variety of peripherals and expansion cards make them adaptable to the demands of the classroom. One example is the Palm device shown at the right with an interface from ImagiWorks. This combination allows students to use science probes to do experiments anywhere and automatically record the data.

Follow these links for more information about palmtop computing:

• The Educator's Palm

• The Palm OS in Education

• ImagiWorks

• pdaEd.com

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