Title: A Handful of Learning: Educators Are Turning to Handheld Computers to Bring Multimedia Applications Such as Digital Movies and E-Books to Their Students
Abstract: IN MANY CLASSROOMS, movies are a special occasion--a tool that creative teachers intersperse with regular lessons to supplement the everyday curriculum and make learning fun. But at the nine school districts served by the Monroe 2-Orleans Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) in Spencerport, NY, movies are becoming part of the routine, with the help of specially customized handheld computers that are bringing students engaging instructional math content right into the palms of their hands. After identifying a need to improve math achievement among its middle school students, BOCES enlisted the help of K12 Handhelds (www.k12handhelds.com), a technology integrator in Long Beach, CA, that specializes in building multimedia applications specifically for handhelds. The company created a series of mini-movies to help teach a variety of middle school-level math concepts, such as algebra, the distributive property, exponents, etc. Each movie is about five minutes long and focuses on a specific topic, giving a basic overview and typically showing a math problem being solved, much as you would see a teacher solving a problem on a whiteboard. Broken down into different levels, the movies enable teachers to differentiate instruction and teach students at their own pace. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] BOCES is at the front of a trend in K-12 that is reconsidering the capabilities of handhelds. After years of confining handhelds to the world of assessment, educators are discovering new and innovative ways to incorporate the technology into their classrooms. Movies, e-books, podcasts--you name the multimedia application, chances are students can use it on a handheld. Perhaps most importantly, according to educators, because of the portability of handhelds and the privacy they afford, students can make use of the content whenever and wherever they desire. One of the surprising things we observed was that when students could work privately they were more willing to take a risk, says Laura Skolny, instructional technology coordinator with BOCES' Department for Exceptional Children, adding that the devices help with the delivery of customized materials to special needs students. It's no secret that young people of today learn better from movies and more game-oriented environments, says Karen Fasimpaur, president of K12 Handhelds. We're just using handhelds to react to that. Handy Phonics Anything that can be played on a handheld has instructional potential. In southwest Delaware, Seaford School District is supporting the teaching of phonics and reading and writing skills to its early-elementary students with several series of sight mini-movies that K12 Handhelds created for the district. The videos are used by students in kindergarten through second grade to practice recognizing and reading words. A word is shown, read aloud, and used in a sentence with an accompanying picture. The words are then shown with no audio, giving students an opportunity to practice reading independently. The movies are supplemented with e-books that enable students to further hone their reading skills. Teachers use both technologies to supplement in-class lessons. Jim White, Seaford's technology integration specialist, says the handheld implementation began in 2002 as a trial in a handful of kindergarten classes. After teachers reported astounding anecdotal results, the school went out and secured a total of more than $150,000 in funding from the federal government and private organizations to expand the program to every school in the district. We just wanted to give teachers another tool for their toolbox, he says, insisting that while the district doesn't keep specific metrics on how the technology has improved student performance, it is making a huge difference. Sometimes the teachers might go to the chalkboard and teach the old-fashioned way. …
Publication Year: 2007
Publication Date: 2007-12-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 1
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