School Setup and Management

Program Vision/Goals

We talked quite a bit about why we are doing this and where we want to be after using handhelds with students a few years down the road.  This pdf is an example of one of our brainstorming sessions.

Hardware

Acquired almost entirely through grant funding, O'Neill Public School and O'Neill St. Mary's fifth, sixth, and seventh grade students all have ubiquitous access to handheld technology.  Hardware resources currently include the following:

• Tungsten E and Tungsten E2 student handhelds
• Zire72 Teacher handhelds
• Palm wireless keyboards

Purchased Software and Extras

• Go Know's HLE (Handheld Learning Environment)
  • PAAM School Login
• eBook Studio
• Quizzler Instructor Pack
• SD memory cards

Student Use Contract

• A pdf copy of the O'Neill Public School's Student Use Contract including rules and consequences can be viewed here.
• Revised contract for 2006-2007 school year.
• A pdb version that can be viewed in eReader can be downloaded here.

Helpful Forms and Handouts

• Why_your_child_needs_a_handheld.pdf
• Zire 71 tips
• ZireIntroIntrohandout.pdf
• ZireIntermPt2handout.pdf
• ZireAdvhandout.pdf
• makingebooks.pdf
• Graffti.pdf and graffiti2_alphabet.pdf
• FlingIt_Quick_Start.pdf
• SketchyPro_Quick_Start_Guide.pdf
• SurfingWebonHandheld.pdf
• Checklist to complete when a Palm has beaming troubles
• Basic Handheld In-service
• Palm_lesson_plan_form
• O’Neill Public Schools Handheld Program Feedback

Instructional Sequence for Introducing Handhelds (suggested)

• Intro Sequence Handout

5th-6th "Handy Tips"

• Protective cases for transporting handhelds: We are using small "fanny packs" from Oriental Trading Company this year.  Retailing at about $1.25 each, these each provide the student with a zippered pouch and carrying strap that can go around the waist, over the shoulder, or over the back of their chair.

UPDATE on protective cases:  While the "fanny packs" seemed perfect most zippers lasted a week, at best.  We are now looking into the pros and cons of three-holed zippered pencil cases for binders, padded envelopes, and harder plastic "sandwich" cases to provide even more protection during transportation between classes.

Additional UPDATE:  As zippers and belt clasps on the "fanny packs" continued to break, we ended the year by purchasing a $.99 Targus camera case for every handheld from Walmart.com.  These nylon cases don't have the padding that a higher quality case may have, however they do have a loop on the back of them that is ideal for threading through a lanyard and many students already own these.  You can see a photo here

• Don't send the handhelds home for at least a few weeks if this is the students' first experience with handhelds.  The opportunity to take them home provides motivation for all the rest in the meantime.  Likewise, we make our students "prove themselves" with their paper planners before they can use the organizing tools on the handheld as a replacement for their planner. 
• **Serial numbers:  If you are worried about theft, in particular someone scratching off the serial number from the back of a handheld and claiming it belongs to them,...DON'T!  The serial numbers are programmed into the handheld and can never be erased. You will find them at:
  • Home
  • Pull-down menu
  • Info
  • Version

Update:  Note from a fellow educator:

Hi,
I came across your website via 'Learning In Hand'  and saw your reference to
serial numbers.  I have a Tungsten E and followed the steps you mentioned
but could not see where the serial number was actually listed.  Once I get
to the version page, there's an entire listing of what's on the Palm but no
SN.  Am I doing something incorrectly?  I'd like to know how to locate this
info, as I am about to distribute 650 Palms to some 9th grade students in
our district.

Thank you,
Karen Edge
Resource Teacher

And my reply:

Karen,
I know we actually tried it with E2s and Zire72s, so it could be that it
isn't built into the E's memory.  We do have many Es, also, so I will check
tomorrow at school and see where I can find it.

What we did before distributing handhelds was to make a binder with one page
per Palm.  Each page listed the serial number (copied from the back, if we
must) and a label with the "check-out" name of the Palm.  An identical label
was placed on each handheld.  Whenever something is reported in relation to
that handheld, we write it on its page in the binder.  Next year if we issue
new check out names we'll just put new labels on that same page.  In this
way we can track the history of the handheld through several years and
users.
Unfortunately the issue of an older, cleverer student scratching out the
serial number and claiming it as their own is not solved.
Someone suggested to me that we talk to a local jeweler as they have a
scratching/marking tool that is ALMOST invisible to the human eye, but would
mark each handheld to be the property of the school  and we could find it if
we knew what we were looking for.

I'll check on Monday on the E.  Thanks for the email.
Katie