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USING
THE RIGHT TOOLS TO HELP YOU
by Jaffer Qamar and Stefene Russell
It has been said that to succeed in the Internet-era,
all you need is a computer, a connection, and some creativity.
This may be true in many cases, but there ARE times
when something different is needed.
For
instance, if you are teaching a group of students how
to write in a computer-environment, one computer is
just not going to be enough. Or, say you have a staff
of writers who need to work on a computer at the same
time. And what happens if you need a computer that you
can take with you? The standard one-computer setup is
not going to be able to handle these situations.
Middle
School students at o.b.s. De Bonte Stegge in The Netherlands
Photo by Bjorn-Zillen - ICT Coordinator
So,
what can be done in these situations? Well, if you have
lots of money to spend, you might buy several laptop
computers. There are, however, other solutions. A number
of devices can be useful when it comes to expanding
the capabilities of your organization. As your business
grows, you might consider using a mix of these devices
to give you flexibility and efficiency. In addition
to purchasing laptop computers, you might also consider
personal digital assistants (or PDAs) and portable word-processors.
The
nice thing about laptops is that they are compatible
with your desktop system as long as you buy ones that
use the same operating system and platform. The downside
is obvious: they are expensive, battery-life is short,
they weigh 6 or more lbs. and they require lots of care.
PDAs
are easy to carry and can do a multitude of tasks, including
date-keeping, quick note-taking, and other computer-related
activities. They also cost significantly less than laptops.
However, PDAs have problems communicating with desktop
computers. Also, if the main use of the device is for
data entry (such as word processing), then a PDA is
an awkward tool.
An
alternative is a Portable Word Processor (PWP). It lets
you do the most common tasks, such as writing and transferring
text to a computer or printer. One particular PWP also
has a built-in interactive calculator. It can do math
in a word-processing-like environment, meaning that
you can type data into a math-file and save it -- just
like composing and saving a word-file.
Another
feature that the best models have is an IR interface
so that assignments and projects can be beamed directly
into the units -- a great feature for a teacher or for
a manager passing out work assignments. For instance,
when used with the interactive calculator, teachers
can "beam" word problems to their students. The students
can then compose math expressions to solve the problems
and insert text remarks to explain their methodology.
If corrections are needed, the students can revise both
their text AND math expressions and have the results
automatically recomputed. The best part is that, like
PDAs, these devices are light, inexpensive, very durable
and rugged, and extremely reliable.
As
technology and the "Information Arts" grow, there will
be an increasing amount of reliance on portability and
flexibility.
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