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Back to Erskine's PDA web Site
Deploying Palm Pilots within your District Noel Erskine & Jim McConnell Norris School District 160 Presented at NETA in Omaha Nebraska- April 25 2002
Contact information: Norris Schools 402-791-0000 noel@norris160.org jim@norris160.org Note: This handout is available at: http://www.norris160.org/noel/PalmSoftware.htm Visit my PDA site for more information at: http://www.norris160.org/noel/pdas.htm
Palm programs we deployed to students:BeamPro—Allows for easy beaming. (Be careful it is also easy to delete programs using this program.) (http://www.ecamm.com/palm/beampro/) Shareware. BigClock—Alarm clock/timer. (http://www.rupp.paessler.com/bigclock.htm) Freeware Cooties—Disease spread simulation game. http://www.handheld.hice-dev.org/ Freeware Didlebug—Drawing tool with an alarm. http://www.palmgear.com/software/showsoftware.cfm?prodID=3457 Freware FreeWrite -- A word processor with some nice features. http://www.handheld.hice-dev.org/freewriteAppPage.htm Freeware Garaffe—Game for teaching graffiti. (Comes with your Palm.) ImagiProbe—Program that will be used in science classes for connecting probes to the Palm for data collection. (Commercial Software that comes with Imagiprobes.) http://www.imagiworks.com/ Isilo—A document reader for text files. http://www.isilo.com/ (We included the Lincoln Street directory.) Freeware Launcher—Add a better interface to use for the Palm…. Very good. http://www.benc.hr/lnchiii.htm The new version 3 is shareware the older version 2.2 is freeware. This is the best launcher program on the market! Loan Calc—A simple loan calculator. http://microguru.com/ Freeware Loan Helper—A loan calculating program. http://5star.freeserve.com/Sony/BusinessandFinance/loanhelper.html Freeware Memory safe—This program is used for backup and restore. Needs to be left on the Palm, but not used by students. Commercial hardware/software package available from Northstar Mobile at http://www.northstarmobile.com/ (Commercial software) Pico Map—Simple concept mapping program. http://www.handheld.hice-dev.org/ Freeware PitiCalc- Another loan calculation program. Available at Handago http://www.handango.com Freeware Quizler—A program that quizzes you on information. (Teachers may beam quizes.) http://www.quizzlerpro.com/ Freeware SciCalc—A simple scientific calculator http://www.btinternet.com/~palmdev/prod01.htm Freeware Yaps—A program where you can safely store Pin numbers, locker combinations, etc…. You only need to remember one password. http://www.msbsoftware.ch/yaps/index.html Freeware
Additional Palm software that may be useful for a students or Staff:
Anaclock—Clock display with hands (http://www.palmadd.com/download.htm) Chem Table—periodic chart with information. http://www3.sympatico.ca/marywong/ChemTable/ Freeware DueYesterday-Student Organizer http://www.nosleep.net/yesterday.asp Freeware This is a great student organizer. I highly recommend it. Sketchy—A simple drawing program. (Has a feature of creating multiple frames and then playing the animation.) (Not as nice a dittlebug… other than the added animation.) Documents to Go (Allows you to read and edit Excel and Word files – Commercial Software) Noah Lite—Dictionary http://www.arslexis.com/ Freeware FileZ—A simple file manager program. http://www.nosleep.net/filez.asp Freeware. AdvantGo – A simple web/data viewing program that you use to subscribe to ‘Channels” and then the current data is placed on your Palm. (CNN, The Weather Channel, etc…) MapOpolis—A Map viewing program that allows you to load a map and view the map on your Palm. http://www.mapopolis.com/ The program is Free, but you now must purchase the maps. ParensLite Scientific Calculator—Another scientific calculator. http://www.radiks.net/~rhuebner/parens.html Shareware PriceBook—Just a program for using to comparison shop between grocery stores. http://shop.store.yahoo.com/pilotgearsw/billnalen.html Shareware PrintBoy – For printing from the Palm to an IR printer. http://www.bachmannsoftware.com/printboy.htm (Commercial Software.)
Here are a list of the probes that we have that go along with the Palms and the imageprobe setup:
Exercise heart rate sensor Ekg sensor Respiration monitor belt Temperature probe pH senor Gas pressure probe
Key items to consider when deploying Palms:
Have a contract that is signed by the student and parents before ever checking out units. This contract should cover loss, damage, appropriate use, etc…
Have an approved software list with no additional software added or removed from the palm unit.
Have a penalty policy in place for abuse of the guidelines. Do not support students hot syncing to your network. (Takes to much time!) Should every student be required to participate? What about problems with classes that have some students with Palms and some without? I would recommend using the memory safe product made by Northstar mobile to “clone” an image of one Palm unit to all of the Palm units that you are planning on deploying.
We marked each unit using a permanent engraver.
You may want to have an organization in your district that sells Palm supplies, batteries, etc… for students to purchase.
Staff involvement is key when deploying PDA’s on a wide scale basis. Utilize Palms to enhance the curriculum; do not adapt the curriculum to fit the Palm.
We would recommend deploying Palms on a class and/or departmental basis instead of entire grade levels.
I would recommend a minimum of 8 meg of ram for Palm units. (Expansion slots add flexibility down the road.)
Deploying Palm Pilots Within your District PowerPoint Presentation
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