[cloud8]

"Motivation is huge," Gill said in a statement. "...kids are producing more and doing better work than they did with paper and pencils. Using a handheld keeps them on task and helps them to be more successful."

What exactly can they do on a Palm, except play Mine Sweeper, that they can't do with pencil and paper?

[martin_fierro]

I agree. This smells like another educrat boondoggle.

[FlingWingFlyer]

I agree. I have a friend that keeps telling me that I need to buy a palm pilot. He can't tell me why though. I love "gadgets" if they are useful.

[Incorrigible]

They can pass test messages to eachother with the infrared link. Or maybe even test answers!

[11Bush]

If I had one of these when I was in HS I would have been a straight A+ student.

The cheating potential is unlimited, the learning potential is dubious.

[randog]

What exactly can they do on a Palm, except play Mine Sweeper, that they can't do with pencil and paper?

I'll let you know just as soon as I figure out what I can do with the one I bought 6 months ago besides take it out and recharge the battery once a month. Obviously, according to the article, they're of more use to 7 year-olds than they are to 43 year-old professionals.

[Tax-chick]

It appears from the article that they're not doing any academic work that they couldn't do with paper, pencils, and books. What else they're doing is the real interesting question :-).

[Young Werther]

My son-in-law teaches History in New Jersey. His school is implementing a pilot program for integration of Tablet PCs in the classroom. He is working on History and Geography lessons with the necessary graphics to bring these subjects to life. For example, he might ask a student to point our the 13 colonies of Pre Revolutionary times.

The tablet is connected to a projector so that when the student uses the touch screen to highlight the map all the students will react. Students will be anxious to answer questions and be called to the front of the class to interact. Sounds like a powerful tool!

[Reaganesque]

One possible reason to go in this direction is the price of text books. If you can give the kids their text books as ebooks for $20 or less per child as opposed to $100 or more for hard copies, that's a significant savings. Plus if a kid loses his/her copy of a textbook, they have to buy another. With a ebook, they just have to download another copy at little to no cost.

Not to mention the fact that a Palm Pilot can hold dozens of ebooks at a time. So, instead of carrying around a ton of books in a backpack, they can carry even more info around in a handheld that weighs only a few ounces. I wish I had had my Tungsten T5 when I was in grade school, high school or college. I can't do with out it now.

Plus, there's the "cool" factor with kids. If you were raised on video games, which would you prefer to work with, books or handheld computers? I would expect that more kids would find it more fun to do their homework if it involves using a computer of any kind. My kids did, anyway.

That said, this is a public school system we're talking about and Teacher's Unions have demonstrated a singular talent for taking a good idea and turning it into a boodoggle. Here's hoping that doesn't happen here.

[LouD]

I use mine, with a folding keyboard, instead of a laptop at meetings.

My meeting notes are all organized, comprehensible, and electronically searchable.

I think, if used properly, PDAs can be a big addition to a classroom. The problem is that, if use of other computer technology in the classroom is any guide, it will be misused or unused if not implemented well.

[Salvation]

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[Danae]

Ummmm, how are they going to learn to write legibly if they never have to write?