Buyer's Guide: Untethered Technology
Looking for the right wireless notebooks or handhelds for your schools? We've got you covered.
"In five minutes, a student can go on the Internet and find more information on a topic than a teacher can learn in an entire career," says Mike Hall, Ed.D., former principal of Houston County High School in Warner Robins, Georgia. "Teachers have to be facilitators-not deliverers-of information." When technology is accessible from each student's desk, lap, or palm, it transforms the way teachers teach and students learn. Integrated into lessons, available whenever questions arise, illustrating complex topics, and making projects possible that once seemed to rest solely in the realm of professionals, wireless technology creates a revolution in each classroom.
For all of these reasons, Houston County High is entirely wireless: From the computer-aided design system in wood shop to the whiteboards in algebra class, students feast on information.
"Wireless technology is making the classroom look more like a knowledge workplace than a classroom," says Elliot Soloway, professor at the University of Michigan School of Education and director of the school's Center for Highly Interactive Computing in Education. "It prepares kids for the 21st century."
Fortunately, $100 wireless routers now handle what once entailed rewiring buildings with expensive fiber optics. Houston County High School went wireless for $7,000. Notebooks and handheld computers have become more powerful and affordable, too, but choosing one hasn't gotten easier.
The products in this buyer's guide represent notebooks and handhelds from the 10 major manufacturers developing products for education. All are solid wireless choices because of their durability and value.
Your decision should be dictated by how your teachers plan to use the systems-and by your budget-rather than by any single feature. If students work primarily at their desks, desktop replacements are a budget-conscious option. They are heavier and use a less expensive desktop processor instead of the newer Pentium M processors.
If visuals are important, take a look at the wide-screen models. If getting a computer into an already heavy backpack is the top priority, balancing cost against weight will be your task.
With handhelds, how you get data into them is key to how much use you'll get out of them. Handhelds are great for sending e-mail, gathering data, and taking files into the field.
But they are not replacements for computers that students can use to search the Internet and create multimedia projects.
Whatever you decide, you can feel good about it. You are starting a revolution, after all. And everyone in your district will think you're a hero.
Reproducibles:
- The World of Wireless (PDF)
Christina Wood is a North Carolina-based technology writer who has covered technology for PC Magazine, PC World, USA Weekend, and Family Circle. She is trying to convince her husband to move to Warner Robins, Georgia.
- Teacher Store
-
Access Workshop for Teachers
The Teacher Store 
Access Workshop for Teachers
Finally the book you've been asking for! This easy to use book shows you step-by-step how to make the most of Microsoft Access in the classroom. Quickly and easily learn to:
- Organize and analyze student data
- Keep track of classroom materials and equipment
- Create student-centered databases to help students improve their research and analytical skills
- Do mail merges, and more!
Each book comes with a CD-ROM (Mac/Win compatible) packed with clip art, templates, and sample files f
$35.00
Professional Book | Grades K-12
Grades K-12 $35.00
- Teacher Store
-
Word Workshop for Teachers
The Teacher Store 
Word Workshop for Teachers
Word Workshop for Teachers helps you turn a common productivity tool into an uncommonly valuable resource. Quickly and easily learn to:
- Create newsletters and mail-merge letters
- Create Web Quests and Web pages
- Incorporate graphics, movies, and Internet links
- And more!
Each book comes with a CD-ROM (Mac/Win compatible) packed with clip art, templates, and sample files from students and teachers around the country!
$35.00
Microsoft Word software not included.
Professional Book | Grades K-12
Grades K-12 $35.00
