The University of South Dakota, Palm Initiative: A Two Year Experiment ? !. Roberta Ambur, CIO Joe Collette, Manager of Internet Services Cheryl Tiahrt, Manager of Technology Services

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USD: PDAs and Education The Concept Planning Implementation Key Issues Assessment and Evaluation Future Goals Lessons Learned

The Concept A Novel Idea Administrative Support Key Elements Spring 2001

Planning The Unveiling – External & Internal Administrative Steering Committee – Academic/Instruction – Technical Support – Financial/Procurement Summer 2001

Implementation: Phase I Early Issues/Decisions: – Who gets PDAs? – What software? – What technical support? – What training? – How distributed and billed? – What academic uses? Summer 2001

Implementation: Phase I Software Selection -- Palm OS – NearSpace – AvantGo – Multimail – Palm Reader – MobileMentor PowerOne Calculator Documents to Go Thought Manager 4.0 Student MobileDB – Additional software for medical students Late Summer 2001

Implementation: Phase I Early Issues/Decisions: – Who gets PDAs? – What software? – What technical support? – What training? – How distributed and billed? – What academic uses? Summer 2001

Implementation: Phase I Application in the classroom Lecture schedules, syllabi, notes Quizzes Web clipping In action USD Handheld Computing Website – Late Summer & Fall 2001

Key Issues Education-driven Student & faculty experience Student access – Students without PDAs – Students without desktop PCs Connectivity and distribution of material Support Rapidly changing technology Ongoing Fall 2001–Spring 2002

Implementation: Phase II Administrative restructuring Mini-grants Faculty mentoring Designation of PDA-based sections Server solution – XTND Connect Palm Users Group Beyond 2002 Ongoing Fall 2001-Spring 2002

Evaluation of Initiative Assessment of educational impact – PDAs as catalysts for academic engagement – Classroom results – Student feedback Program evaluation – Roll-out, distribution, training – Student and faculty use – Creative application Spring 2002

Future Goals Still evolving Adaptation to new technologies Faculty input Educational software development Continual assessment Two tier approach: Beyond and Beyond

Lessons Learned Change/Innovation in Higher Education Bleeding Edge / Cutting Edge / Dull Edge Information technology advances and first-year students At end of Year One, more ? than ! but have made enough progress to be optimistic that at the end of Year Two, conclusion will be ! 2002 and Beyond

Join Us! HandTEd: Handheld Technologies in Education Conference at The University of South Dakota mid-May and Beyond