| It
had been three weeks since our last class. Some of us had used
our handhelds over the break while others dusted it off just in
time for class on Thursday. Tony assured us that we would be learning
a lot today as he showed us what he had planned for us throughout
the duration of the class period.
We started
our learning by beginning with the PowerPoint presentation that
taught us about how to use the Tasks program on our handhelds.
Probably the most important thing that we learned was how to go
to the grocery (or at least how Tony does it!) This program seemed
easy enough and I was able to think of some creative ways that
we could use lists to beam to students to use in the classroom.
We then jumped
right into our “Advanced Housekeeping” where we learned
about the memory, installing, applications, preferences and trouble
shooting. The following are the websites that we can find other
applications:
www.palmone.com/us/education
www.palmgear.com
www.handango.com
www.learninginhand.com
I think that
one of the most important things that I learned in today’s
class was how to troubleshoot if I happen to have problems with
my handheld. I would have had no idea how to fix my mine if it wouldn’t
have been for this. So the following is a reminder for us all…
- Digitize
- Soft reset
– paper clip in small hole on back of handheld
- Safe reset
– hold reset button in and then use paper clip in hole
- Hard reset
– hold power button and use paper clip (YOU LOSE ALL DATA!)
After that
lesson we went and had dinner together. The soup was great tonight
and so were all the cookies! I am dreading my turn to cook next
week because all the meals have been so good. Now there are high
expectations because of all of you that have already cooked did
such a good job!
As we began
to return from dinner Tony got us downloading programs into our
handhelds as we watched our nightly movie
which showed us more on the usage of handhelds in the classroom.
After the
movie we began to learn about eBooks
and began to have an eBook exchange. We learned all the tricks
of how to take notes and save pages while reading the books. One
of the great features that I had not figured out myself was the
automatic scrolling that can be used to read books. That is a
wonderful feature for those of us who don’t have a lot of
time to sit and read! Others in the class for this useful for
when they were traveling or flying. That is when the “Is
my handheld electronic?” speech popped up!
Once we got
Bridget sorted out on her most intelligent question we began to
play with two new programs that Tony showed and gave us. First,
was Prize
Wheel. I found this to be a great way to get students involved
in class participation. Anything where students can win prizes
can’t be half bad! The one downfall…the noise that
12 prize wheels creates in a class. REMEMBER: Don’t give
this program to students. This is for teachers only!
The last program
that we were able to get through was Name
Picker. We began with a list in Memo Pad and then brought
up that list in Name Picker. This is where you enter your class
names and it will randomly pick a name. This is a good tool to
have so that students are constantly paying attention because
they don’t know who is going to be picked.
We were supposed
to get through HanDBase
but we ran out of time. I am assuming that this will be one of
the first things that we cover during next week’s class.
Don’t forget about your assignment that is due next week.
Read the assigned
eBook and blog about ten new things that you learned!)
And for those
of you that were wondering… A HANDHELD IS ELECTRONIC!
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