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Session S4E ADDING PDAS to YOUR TEACHING TOOLKIT

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Session S4E ADDING PDAS to YOUR TEACHING TOOLKIT Session S4E ADDING PDAS TO YOUR TEACHING TOOLKIT1 2 3 Kenneth L. Alford and John M. D. Hill Abstract¾This paper describes our experience core information technology (IT) course as a freshman, and incorporating Personal Digital Assistants into computer beginning with the 2003 Fall semester all juniors are science courses in the Department of Electrical Engineering required to take a second IT course as part of their general and Computer Science at the United States Military education requirements. Academy at West Point, New York. All students at our institution are required to purchase a Personal Digital Computing Environment Assistant. The primary goal of this paper is to provide an overview of some of the many ways that handheld computing All West Point students are required to purchase a personal devices can be used to supplement curriculum resources and computer and, beginning with the graduating class of 2003, a presentation in undergraduate education. This paper personal digital assistant as well (see Figures 1 and 2). discusses four kinds of tools that can be used to create Handheld and desktop computer purchases are centrally academic resources for students and faculty: (1) managed, and with very few exceptions all students within programming tools, (2) HTML and XML-based tools, (3) the same graduating class own the same personal version of text tools, and (4) calendar tools. We also discuss benefits computer, PDA, and software applications. Students from providing handheld computing resources and share purchase their personal computer and PDA prior to the lessons learned. beginning of their freshman year, and they receive initial training in the setup and use of the hardware and the Index Terms¾Personal Digital Assistants, PDAs, handheld software applications. There is a mandatory technology computing, undergraduate education enhancement purchase scheduled prior to the beginning of a student’s junior year, primarily used to upgrade equipment so that their personal computer and PDA will remain as current and functional as possible. INTRODUC TION Computer technology continues to increase in capacity and decrease in both cost and size. Today’s relatively low-cost handheld personal digital assistants (PDAs) allow computing capability to be ubiquitous. The developments in handheld computing provide new opportunities for both students and faculty. PDAs can become an extremely effective tool in an instructor’s toolkit. This paper will discuss some of the many ways that PDAs can be used to foster and support student learning. Background The United States Military Academy (USMA) is a medium- sized undergraduate academic institution located approximately 50 miles north of New York City on the FIGURE 1. A CADET USES APDA DURING CLASS Hudson River at West Point, New York. There are approximately 4,200 students, all of whom will serve in the There are currently two different PDAs used by cadets military upon graduation. There are usually 80-120 students at West Point. Freshmen and juniors purchased a Palm m515 who are Computer Science or Information Systems PDA with 16 megabytes of memory. Sophomore and seniors Engineering majors. There are also approximately 200 other purchased a Visor PDA with 8 megabytes of memory. There students who take a three-course engineering sequence are currently no wireless PDA access points. PDAs are (similar to a minor) in Computer Science. All students take a synchronized directly with personal computers. Beginning in 1 The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Military Academy, the Department of the Army, the Department of Defense, or the United States Government. 2 Kenneth L. Alford, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Thayer Hall, Building 601, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY 10996, [email protected]. 3 John M. D. Hill, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Thayer Hall, Building 601, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY 10996, [email protected]. 0-7803-7961-6/03/$17.00 © 2003 IEEE November 5-8, 2003, Boulder, CO 33rd ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference S4E-14 Session S4E the summer of 2002, incoming students purchased laptop SAMPLE PDA TOOLKIT computers instead of desktop computers as previous classes had done since 1986. There are numerous commercial products available to increase the functionality and usability of personal digital assistants. It is important to note, though, that there are also PREVIOUS RESEARCH AND EXPERIENCE a variety of no-cost and low-cost solutions that allow There is a growing body of research and experience instructors to provide similar, if not equivalent, resources, regarding the undergraduate educational use of handheld materials, and instructional products for students. computers. With increasing frequency universities and This section will briefly discuss four categories of PDA colleges are turning to handheld computing to solve tools that can be created: (1) programming tools, (2) HTML problems and provide students with additional resources. and XML-based tools, (3) text tools, and (4) calendar tools. Here are a few recent examples where PDAs have been We will also briefly discuss example products that have been introduced to support university-level education [1]: developed at the Military Academy in each of these areas. · Capitalizing on the infrared capability of handheld Programming Tools devices, Stanford University has created “myStanford” —a web-based portal that allows students, faculty, staff Several software development environments exist for and alumni to access university information through developing applications for personal digital assistants. their handheld computers and access boxes scattered Introductory information can be found online at numerous across campus. websites [2]. Java¾whether in the form of KVM (Kilobyte Virtual Machine), Kawt (an implementation of the Abstract · Beginning with the 2001-2002 academic year, the Window Toolkit for the KVM), J9 (IBM’s virtual machine University of South Dakota requires that all students that is supported by Visual Age Micro Edition), or any purchase a PDA. number of other flavors—is currently one of the most · Penn State Abington has provided PDAs to students in popular languages for programming handheld applications. selected courses since 1999. Application development is appropriate when existing PDA software resources cannot adequately satisfy student · At Central Carolina Technical College students can requirements. At West Point, for example, freshmen (who apply for admission, regis ter for classes, review the are referred to as plebes) must be able to recite the number course catalog, access campus calendars, and read of days that remain until each football game, spring leave, campus news using a handheld computer. graduation, and other notable student activities. Faculty in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science · Medical schools, law schools, MBA programs, and Department created a small PDA program entitled “The numerous graduate schools are also providing students Days” that simplifies this daily ritual for freshmen students. support for handheld computing devices. One instructor uses a PDA to choose which student to call on in class based on both the frequency they have been called on and the quality of their answers in the past. PDAs have also been incorporated into senior design projects. For example, one student team converted a manual multi-player wargame into a distributed wireless application in which each player used a PDA to communicate with a laptop acting as the server. HTML and XML-Based Tools HTML (hypertext markup language) and XML (extensible markup language) pages can be formatted so that they can be saved and read on personal digital assistants. There are numerous ways this capability can be used to support teaching. For example, instructors at West Point have formatted all of the following into HTML and/or XML pages to be read on PDAs: · Course syllabus and guidelines FIGURE 2. A CADET IS SHOWN GIVING · Course schedules A BRIEFING ABOUT HANDHELD COMPUTING 0-7803-7961-6/03/$17.00 © 2003 IEEE November 5-8, 2003, Boulder, CO 33rd ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference S4E-15 Session S4E · Reading assignments extremely useful documents and electronic books for handheld computers. · Projects and other course assignments · Supplemental reading assignments Calendar Tools · Class handouts The ability of handheld computers to hot synch with calendar and other information located on personal · Review information for exams computers makes calendar and schedule applications a · Self-administrated, non-graded quizzes natural target for coursework development. Faculty and students at the United States Military · Web pages, websites, and other HTML documents Academy use CHAOS (Course Hour Appointment for Outlook Scheduler) a Microsoft Visual Basic program for Two of the most popular programs for transforming entering lesson dates, titles, and assignment information into web-ready pages into PDA documents are Plucker [4], a their personal and handheld computers. freeware program, and AvantGo [5], a commercial product. CHAOS-generated files are loaded into the Microsoft Plucker software, for example, allows users to easily Outlook calendar and then synchronized with the calendar create and update PDA-readable versions of single program on student PDAs. CHAOS automates the creation webpages, portions of websites,
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