While I really like reading experiences through blogs and find some useful information others have posted, I find that discussion forums are a great meeting ground where expertise is readily shared.

There is a new forum for educators to discuss handhelds in education. Visit Handheld Learning in the UK to find more about what educators are doing with handhelds in education and to provide your valuable expertise to those searching for answers.

I have been working with teachers and administrators for the past 10 years to embed technology into effective learning practices. With two colleagues, Kellie and Meg, I am currently working with over one hundred 5th and 9th grade teachers in Illinois. Bridging the Disconnects, a federally funded NCLB grant focuses on using handhelds to increasing reading achievement in the content areas of science and social science. As the lead design team for the three-year grant implementation, we designed a framework for science and social science teachers to embed reading strategies in their content area instruction. The teachers are happy that we aren't trying to turn them into "reading specialists", but rather that we help them use researched-based reading strategies to increase student comprehension of content area material. The simplified framework, called AVID2go, focuses learning activities on activating schema to make connections, using words and pictures to learn vocabulary, strategies for students to interact with text, and multiple ways for the students to demonstrate and communicate what they have learned. We are currently in the third year of the grant and our results so far have shown statistically significant gains in student achievement in reading, science and social science. View some lessons created by teachers in the project gallery. For more information about our use of handhelds for learning please email me.