Lightning in a Bottle

There is a nice graphical presentation of how PDAs are being used throughout the educational community. Just go to the following website to see some well done graphs.

http://districtadministration.com/page.cfm?id=363

If you want to display PowerPoint shows from your PocketPC, the best alternative I’ve found is PocketSlides from Conduits. When you transfer your PowerPoint slideshow into PocketSlides format, it preserves transitions and animations. It also allows you to edit your slides once they are in the PDA, unlike other similar programs. It will work with the Margi Presenter-to-Go and the Voyager Colorgraphic systems for connecting to a projection system.

You can find more info at www.conduits.com. Also check out their really cool PocketArtist program for drawing and painting on your PocketPC!

Stephanie Korn, a NO LIMIT! teacher in Sedro-Woolley, brought a recent NEA monthly publication to Donna Craighead’s attention about a teacher who uses handhelds in his classroom.

This teacher has a website with some very good tips, tricks, lists, etc. Under “applications” there are lists according to subject area. If you are not already familar with this site, you might want to check it out.

http://www.mpsomaha.org/willow/p5/handhelds/

Margi’s - Presenter To Go - is a device which currently is supported by PC
computers and Mac computers running OS9. Margi is currently working on
this issue, and they say the answer is only weeks away! The tech folks at
Margi say an update will be on their website soon which will allow Mac
users to use Margi if you are running OSX version 10.2 or
newer. Unfortunately, there may not be a Margi answer for those of you
using OSX version 10.1. www.margi.com

One alternative is PitchSolo from Portsmith (now iGo). I have not used
this device myself, so I am requesting feedback from the PETC forum
regarding OSX compatibility. The people at iGo indicate there is no
problem, but this information came from the sales staff, as I was
unsuccessful reaching someone in tech support. You may want to investigate
this option, and I will provide additional information as it becomes
available. http://www.portsmith.com/products/presentation.shtml

One difference between the two: Presenter To Go doesn’t support
transitions between slides, but I have been told that PitchSolo supports
“limited” transitions.

by Larry Davison, Yakima ESD

Handheld Computing Magazine has a weekly downloadable one-page newsletter that covers issues about PDAs. This week’s issue compares the Palm and PocketPC operating systems. It’s a nicely done overview and is worth the read for those interested in comparing handhelds. You can download the PDF file at http://www.hhcenterprise.com/HHC_Weekly/wk0155h.pdf.

My recurring PDA upgrade nightmare
Tech Update - March 6, 2003

David Berlind relates in this article that he has been using PDAs for 10 years and he states that he is getting very tired of the torturous and expensive upgrade path that’s reminiscent of the PC’s early days.

He states that just about any PC or notebook bought today will have expansion slots. Then, much of the hardware and software you already own can be re-used. His major point is that the same cannot be said of (PDAs).

The author goes on to say that vendors force us to endure unnecessary expense
along the upgrade path. He gave many examples of how he has been unable to upgrade PDAs without having to spend a lot of money to increase the power of a PDA.

I am now using Mac OS X and wish to purchase a Margi-like devise since the Magi isn’t OS X compatible. Has anyone experienced success with another product? Also, which Microsoft Office compatible software do you prefer while using your Palm? Documents To Go isn’t OS X compatible either so I am shopping for that software also.

Conn?s response - Documents to Go v. 5.0 is Mac OS X compatible. The link below explains the incompatibility issues with earlier versions:

http://support.dataviz.com/support.srch?docid=2381

McGraw-Hill has announced some new PDA software tools for some of their higher-ed products. They include quizzes, flash-cards, and similar self-study tools. While it’s only higher ed now, K-12 products would probably be lurking somewhere down the road.

http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/media/news/2003/02/20030219.html.

How Much Memory do I Have?

There’s an easy way to find out how much memory you have left, the number of kilobyes each application uses and which versions are loaded on your Palm handheld.

Try this tip:
1. On your handheld, tap the Home button.
2. Tap the silkscreen Menu button (directly below the house).
3. Tap Info from the ‘App’ pull-down menu.
4. The bar on the Info screen tells you how much memory you’ve used.
5. Tap the Version box at the bottom to see what version of Palm OS you have.
6. Tap the Records box at the bottom of the Info screen for additional storage details, such as how many people & organizations are in your address book.

A couple of months ago SRI International, a leading non-profit research agency, put out the results of a 2 year study evaluating 100 elementary and secondary classrooms using handhelds. The study found that 90% of the teachers surveyed say handhelds are an effective instructional tool. There were also positive finding in the areas of homework completion rates, increased motivation and increased collaboration. For more information about the study, go to: http://www.sri.com/news/releases/11-11-02.html