Many years ago when I was Senco of a large secondary school and then a SEN advisory teacher, I got my first AlphaSmart. It was a faithful companion for my Acorn Archimedes. It simply was a keyboard with a small screen (some 40 characters by 4 rows), and it could hold eight file of text (128K or approximately 64 pages). Its
simplicity was its key to success. Simple typing, displayed on a clear, uncluttered screen, on a device which plugged into the keyboard port of the computer so that text could be sent to the PC by tapping a single key. Since then I’ve had an AlphaSmart 2000 and AlphaSmart 3000. These have been invaluable in my work and the work of pupils and students.
The AlphaSmart is used when I’m away from my PC, having to take notes, needing to type quickly then putting the text into the computer. In my current work this is when I’m visiting schools, sitting in meetings, writing up notes in the car – and it’s also useful when I’m on holiday. In most cases, a laptop computer would be too intrusive, heavy or valuable to use in those places. For pupils the same is true when taking the computer around school.
Meeting Needs.
The AlphaSmart meets the needs of pupils well. Within lessons, they often simply do not have time to manipulate text. Unless their typing skills are very well developed, then anything other than entering brief notes is probably not likely. Also, the value of any classroom keyboard must be measured in the ease by which the text can then be sent to their PC, whether it is at home or in the SEN workbase. With an AlphaSmart, it is simplicity – whether it is using the keyboard port, serial or USB.
The AlphaSmart Dana has all this simplicity of use – it can be treated as just a keyboard. However, there is more to Dana than this. When it was first introduced in 2002, it was the first Palm-powered laptop – which means, as I’m a Palm user, the interface has the comfort of familiarity. I was disappointed that the Palm area of the Dana is no larger than the same control area of my trusty M130 (so I still need my glasses), but it works in exactly the same way. Like any Palm PDA there is a huge range of applications – my favourites besides Date Book, Memo Pad, Calc and Address are SkyChart and Vexed. And like my Palm, Dana understands the Graffiti handwriting recognition system. The stylus is neatly housed down the side of the device and the screen is most responsive. The synchronisation capabilities of the Palm are fantastic.