BLOG ASSIGNMENT WEEK 6

Personal Digital Assistants are also known as PDAs, which are basically handheld computers. They are very useful, and come in handy when it comes to educational aspects. Most PDAs are capable of connecting to the internet. They have an electronic display, which means it has a web browser. Some of the models released today even have audio capabilites, so they can be used as mobile phones and or media players. They can benefit students because it enables the student to take digital notes, so students will be able to use spell check to carefully clean up their notes. Some PDAs even come with a thesarus and dictionaries to also benefit the student when it comes to learning. I feel the most cool part is when it comes to the electronic books, also known as E-Books, where you can upload textbooks to the PDA, giving the student easy access to textbooks.

Online surveys are used as tools to determine specific interest, needs, or wants, from a particular group of people. They can be useful in education as far as asking students what would benefit them in the classroom, what they don't like, what they do like, etc. It will give the teacher a great idea of where all of his/her students are coming from, and what she needs to do to try in adapt to the students particular needs and wants to better educate the students. With this info they can try and manipulate the lesson plans to the students interest to make it more appealing to the students. A lot of times students are bored with the ordinary teaching style. So with that survey letting them express what they want, it will give them for iniative to learn. Two rules I would personally use when it comes to ma,ing surveys for surveys for students is, number one make sure your questions are clear and not confusing to the student. This is important for clarification of what the students answer is, if the student isnt sure of what you are asking then the survey wont be productive. My second rule would be to keep it short, so the student doesnt get frustrated with a billion meaningless questions. Less questions with more substance.

In conclusion, its amazing what technology is bringing to the world of education. PDAs are a big advancement in my opinion, being able to upload whole textbooks to a small handheld device is incredible, students wont even need book bags any more, it ckind of makes me wish I was born in the mid 90s, because theres no telling what is to come next for these students, these technology advances will in my opinon make the students more eager to learn. The online surveys will enlighten the teacher how how to reach her/his class so the technology is definetly playing a key part in education these days, and I truly believe that it will be mandatory one day to have PDAs as a student, it just makes life as a student much more easier.

REFERENCES; Jonassen, D., Howland, J., Mara, R. M., & Crismond, D. (2008). Meaningful Learning with Technology. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education. Print.