George Fox University tests hand-held computers in teaching

NEWBERG -- George Fox University this fall is the first college in the nation to promote faculty use of hand-held computer technology for classroom teaching.

The “Palm Professor” project starting this month will explore instructional use of hand-held computers, known as personal digital assistants, or PDAs.

While individual faculty members at other institutions might use them in their classrooms, George Fox is the first to do so on an organized trial basis, according to the manufacturer of a new module that attaches to the PDA.

The one-year pilot project starts at George Fox this month through a $10,000 grant from the Northwest Academic Com-puting Consortium. The project is one of 10 funded this year through grants from the four-state technology consortium. It is the only one of the 10 projects to use the hand-held computer technology as a presentation tool.

Eleven George Fox faculty members will use the devices to strengthen their lectures and improve course productivity. Each will be provided with a Handspring Visor PDA, made by California-based Hand-spring. These are similar to the well-known “Palm Pilot” PDAs made by Palm Inc. Through new attachment equipment, the Handspring devices can be used to show PowerPoint presentations or other electronic documents directly from their PDAs.

The grant to George Fox resulted from an application to the consortium by Matt Dolphin, the university’s director of academic technologies.

According to Dolphin, PDAs are less powerful than personal computers and are meant to be “a companion to - or extension of - a normal computer. The use of specially designed modules that can be attached to the Handspring adds a new range of capabilities. They can, for instance, turn a PDA into a cell phone, or digital camera, or part of a system for displaying material onto a larger screen.

Participating faculty will attend a two-day workshop this month for an orientation to the Handspring PDA and its basic functions. The workshop also will provide hands-on training in creating PowerPoint presentations and “syncing” electronic documents between their desktop computer, course Web site and PDA.

The faculty will choose at least one course in which they will use this technology during the fall 2001 and spring 2002 semesters. They will create a course Web site with syllabus, handouts, and PowerPoint presentations. The participating professors will meet monthly to share teaching strategies, discuss obstacles and successes, and learn about new uses of PDA tech

nologies. “That’s exciting to me that we’ve got a good mix of faculty from different disciplines,” said Dolphin. “The cross-discipline interaction in these kinds of projects is critical for using technology at the university.”

Taking part in the George Fox program are Paul Anderson, associate professor of biblical and Quaker studies; George Byrtek, assistant professor of management; David Church, assistant professor of music; Caitlin Corning, assistant professor of history; Jim Foster, dean of graduate and adult programs and professor of psychology; Scot Headley, associate professor of education; Ed Higgins, professor of English; and Harold Hagglund, adjunct instructor of religion.

The Presenter-to-Go module, which allows the user to connect directly to digital projectors or other display devices, is manufactured by Margi Systems of California. Michelle Lewis, a public relations spokesman at Margi Systems, said the new module was released earlier this year. She said George Fox’s program is the first to use the module in the classroom in an organized test run.

Dolphin notes that the new program is in line with George Fox’s history of innovation in academic uses of technology. The university was one of the first liberal arts colleges in the nation to provide all of its undergraduate students with computers through its Computers Across the Curriculum program.

“The Palm Professor is a first step toward possible future university-wide uses of hand-helds by faculty, staff and students,” Dolphin said.

Dolphin expects to have at least one demonstration of the PDA technology take place each semester during the school year for all who are interested at George Fox.

More information on the project is available at www.georgefox.edu/palmprof.