Handheld Learning
Here is an Extract from Education Business Magazine January 2008
St. Luke’s School in Redbourn, Hertfordshire is a Special School for children and young people with moderate learning difficulties and associated needs. It has a strong history of innovative ICT use, and is currently exploring how the use of handheld technologies might benefit young people with learning difficulties. The school recently joined forces with Wildkey to offer an outdoor handheld learning experience to a year 8 and 9 group. Wildkey’s software tools run on PDA / EDA devices and enable the user to identify species, record the find and capture data to the mobile device. This data could include GPS information and a photograph of the find, which could be taken with the device used.The youngsters immediately took to the devices and within minutes were finding their way around the menus, even though it was the first time they had used this type of technology. A quick introductory session in the classroom and they were outside in the school grounds hunting for minibeasts to identify, record and photograph. It was clear to see that they were highly engaged by using the devices, and all the learners stayed on task throughout the session, achieving the objectives of the lesson. Their enthusiasm was clear from their requests to work in this way again.Deputy head, John Warwick said “he expected his special needs pupils to be motivated to use these devices but was very surprised how quickly they learnt to use the handhelds and the Wildkey software. Their engagement, prolonged concentration and learning outcomes achieved were very impressive. I am now even more convinced that handheld learning opportunities have much to offer Special Needs pupils in helping them overcome barriers to learning.”
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warwick // Feb 14th 2008 at 7:25 am
Here is the Link to the published article
http://www.educationbusinessuk.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=336&Itemid=10
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