PDAs for Initial Teacher Training

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• PDAs for Initial Teacher Training
• Jocelyn Wishart
• Angela McFarlane
• Andy Ramsden
• j.m.wishart_at_bris.ac.uk

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• The Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE)
• One-year science teacher training course in the
  UK.
• Students need access to information
• National Curriculum,
• Syllabi and Schemes of Work,
• to supplement their subject knowledge.

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• The PGCE
• And to manage documentation
• timetables,
• assessment guidance,
• mark books and registers,
• lesson observations and lesson plans.

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• The Postgraduate Certificate of Education
• Students spend 24 of the 36 weeks of the course
• in a partner school so access to conventional
  information sources relating to the course can be
  difficult.

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• PDAs have the potential to support Science PGCE
  students in
• accessing the course discussion groups and email
• accessing course documentation
• just in time acquisition of knowledge from the
  web
• acquisition of science info from e-
  encyclopaedias
• looking up scientific constants and formulae
• organising commitments, lesson plans and
  timetables
• recording and analysing lab results
• recording pupil attendance and grades and
• photographing experiments for display and
  reinforcing pupil knowledge

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• The objectives of this project are to identify in
  which of these areas the potential can be
  realised within the current generation of PDAs
  and what factors have to be in place in order to
  realise that potential.
• 14 PGCE Science students were loaned internet
  enabled PDAs (8 Pocket PC, 6 Palm OS) for the
  academic year.

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• Hardware
• All PDAs could deliver web browsing via the
  internet, email, SMS texting, word processing,
  spreadsheet management and take pictures /
  videos.
• Tungsten W / Treo 600 / Qtek 2020 / i-mate
• Mobile phone connectivity via GPRS from Vodafone
  
• Protective cases, external keyboards and cameras
  as needed and screen protectors were supplied.

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• Students were participant researchers
• weekly online survey
• a dedicated discussion area on the VLE, for them
  to exchange information and ideas about the PDA
  project.
• a focus group of all PDA users at the end of
  each of their two blocks of teaching practice in
  order to collect impressions and share potential
  uses face to face.

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used throughout the year
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used throughout the year
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used throughout the year
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• Four factors govern level of use
• the socio-cultural context of the school
  environment
• the pressure of work on a PGCE course
• other hardware availability and
• certain killer applications.

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• The Future
• Pocket Blog
• Use of camera and video
• Dedicated software

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• The Future
• Pocket Blog
• Use of camera and video
• Dedicated software

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• The Future
• Pocket Blog
• Use of camera and video
• Dedicated software