.KEYWORD school
.FLYINGHEAD BACK TO SCHOOL
.TITLE Using your Palm handheld in the classroom
.FEATURE
.SUMMARY As you begin your back-to-school shopping, keep in mind that Palm handhelds are becoming more and more popular among students both in and out of the classroom. In this article, high school student Sam Kleinman shares a number of things he’s learned about using Palm handhelds in the classroom and offers pointers to help you or your child work more effectively.
.AUTHOR Sam Kleinman
Palm OS handhelds are becoming more and more popular among students for use both in and out of the classroom. High school students have been drawn to Palm handhelds in recent times because they’re cheaper, sexier, and lighter than some of the other options currently available. In addition, there are a large number of third party software applications that can make an already useful PDA even more helpful for a student. But simply having a wonderful organization and writing tool doesn’t mean you’re using it effectively. This articles attempts to teach you how to make the most of your Palm handheld at school.
There are essentially three things most students use their PDAs for: writing, task management, and appointment management. I know that students also use their Palm handhelds for gaming and mobile Internet applications, but these worthwhile tasks don’t usually fall into the field of "classroom and related activates," (though I do suspect there may be a fair amount of this happening in the classroom). And of course, the Internet is a great research resource.
.CALLOUT High school students have been drawn to Palm handhelds in recent times because they’re cheaper, sexier, and lighter.
In this article, I’d like to share a number of things I’ve learned about using a Palm handheld in the classroom, and I hope these pointers will help you work more effectively.
.H1 Buying the right handheld
Before you can even start using a Palm handheld in school, you have to have one. Those of you who already have a Palm OS handheld can probably skip over this. If you don’t already have one, pay attention. Lower end handhelds will probably work out better in the long run for students. Getting a fancy Palm m500, Palm m505, or Sony CLIE might be fun, but there’s no need for it. A simple Handspring Visor (a 2MB version with cradle) or a Palm m100 series handheld is more durable, in my experience. Also, having a cheaper handheld in school might contribute to your peace of mind.
Many handheld pundits preach that it’s a necessity to have as much RAM as possible, and for some people they’re right. However, for students who will only need two to four programs and a smattering of databases, 2MB will do quite nicely. Note: There’s a big difference between need and want.
Right now I tend to lean towards the HandEra (Formerly TRG Products) handhelds, but Handspring and Palm make some great little machines that are well worth looking into.
When buying a handheld, look into what accessories you can get for it. I consider a keyboard of some sort a necessity. Check out both the Palm Portable Keyboard at https://store.palm.com/Catalog/productdetails.asp?productnr=3C10439U and Landware’s Go Type! Pro at http://www.landware.com/gotype/index.html. With the amount of writing students tend to do, keyboards are just necessary. I’d also look into memory expansion, cases, styli, and other connectivity options before making a decision on your handheld.
.H1 Writing with the Palm OS
Any Palm OS handheld comes with what you already need for the classroom experience, however there are a number of software applications that’ll make your task easier. There are many options for people in search of quality alternatives to the "Big Four" applications, and I have a few suggestions from my personal experience. However, this isn’t a definitive guide to software by any stretch of the imagination.
The most important thing you’ll probably use your Palm OS computer for is word processing. While the included Memo Pad will suffice, there are several sizeable disadvantages to this solution. First of all, Memo Pad has a file limit of 4K per memo, and second of all, there’ are no special formatting options. This is a simple ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) text editor.
There are many methods to getting around these problems. Some are simple, and some are not. In order to get around the Memo Pad’s shortcomings, the Doc format was created This allows for much longer documents; however, there still aren’t any formatting options. There are Many Doc editors, and while they all offer different feature sets, in my experience it doesn’t make much difference. Don’t tell that to Larry Stedman, however. Check out his exhaustive look at various document readers in the May 2001 issue of PalmPower at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue200105/ebook0501001.html.
I have used QED/QEX (at http://visionary2000.com/qed/) and TakeNote! (at http://www.landware.com/takenote/index.html), and both of them are quite capable programs. However, it’s hard to ignore the lack of formatting options, especially when doing a large amount of writing. In order to circumvent the lack of formatting options in the document editors, people have tried many different things, from writing documents in HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and converting to a Word document later, to creating a special markup language while using special macros to convert the files back and forth. But some people just lived with it, until Blue Nomad’s WordSmith was released.
WordSmith (at http://www.bluenomad.com/ws/prod_wordsmith_details.html) is a full-featured word processor for the Palm OS. With WordSmith, students can compose documents, limited in size only by the amount of free memory on their handhelds, with full formatting features that were previously unavailable to Palm OS users. This program isn’t freeware, but it’s worth every penny.
.H1 Time and task management
The Palm OS has grown a long way from being only a digital organizer, mostly as a result of third party developers and licensing. But out of the box, the Palm computer is still a great organizer. As a result of this heritage, the Palm OS is often at its best when performing time and task management. Students, as well as other Palm handheld users, should learn to properly take advantage of this ability, whether you decide to use the built-in PIM (Personal Information Management) applications or use enhanced third party applications.
As with writing, the built-in PIM applications will serve the purpose. However, by using more advanced third party applications, you may be able to achieve a higher level of organization. There are a number of specialized student organizer applications, such as 4.0Student (at http://www.handmark.com/products/40student/) and Due Yesterday (at http://www.nosleep.net/apps/yesterday.asp). These programs are very feature filled, but in my experience they’re more trouble than they’re worth. I have found that a very good agenda view is essential when organizing assignments and projects with the Palm handheld.
.BEGIN_KEEP
There are a number of good applications you can use for your task and appointment management. DateBk3 and DateBk4 (at http://www.pimlicosoftware.com) both offer advanced agenda views. DateBk4 is a wonderful program that in its simplest configuration is no more advanced than the built-in Date Book, but in its more advanced setups, it has a feature set equal to Microsoft Outlook (the desktop version). I really like DateBk4, but because of its size, I don’t tend to use it. Whatever you choose, you have to know how to be organized, and while I’m not going to get into the specifics of planning, I suggest that you read Jeff Kirvin’s wonderful planning column at http://www.writingonyourpalm.net/planning.htm.
Handheld computers of any kind are good tools for the classroom, and they make school life a little more manageable. However, in order to get the most out of your Palm computer, there are some things you should take into consideration. Before you even buy a handheld, you should evaluate your needs so that you get the most for your money. Once you get your handheld, you need to obtain software that will help make your experience more productive. Since everyone is different, my suggestions might not be perfect for everyone. Keep this in mind while you’re making decisions. Whatever you decide, if the solution isn’t filling your needs, change it. Try a number of different things until you have a solution that’s satisfactory. Good luck.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on the Palm Portable Keyboard, visit https://store.palm.com/Catalog/productdetails.asp?productnr=3C10439U.
For more information on Landware’s Go Type! Pro, visit http://www.landware.com/gotype/index.html.
For the article, "Document readers for the Palm OS: a user’s perspective," by Larry Stedman in the May 2001 issue of PalmPower, visit http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue200105/ebook0501001.html.
For more information on QED/QEX, visit http://visionary2000.com/qed/.
For more information on with TakeNote!, visit http://www.landware.com/takenote/index.html.
For more information on WordSmith, visit http://www.bluenomad.com/ws/prod_wordsmith_details.html.
For more information on 4.0Student, visit http://www.handmark.com/products/40student/.
For more information on Due Yesterday, visit http://www.nosleep.net/apps/yesterday.asp.
For more information on DateBk3 and DateBk4, visit http://www.pimlicosoftware.com.
For Jeff Kirvin’s planning column, visit http://www.writingonyourpalm.net/planning.htm.
For more information about Palm computers, visit http://www.palm.com.
.H1 Bulk reprints
Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO Sam Kleinman is a high school student in the Saint Louis area. He has and continues to use a variety of PDAs in the classroom. You can contact Sam by email at celchu19@yahoo.com.
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?50@@.ee6f75e
.END_KEEP
