Envisioning the Handheld-Centric Classroom

Abstract

While appropriate as an initial focus, it is time that the educational community move beyond an emphasis on 1:1 computing (each child having his/her own personal computer) to a vision of a handheld-centric classroom, where each child not only has his/her own personal, handheld computer, but also has access to networked PCs, probeware, digital cameras, etc. Such a classroom digital infrastructure, we argue, uniquely supports project-based learning, where children can engage in multi-week, multi-media, multi-subject, collaborative efforts. With the rapid emergence of low-cost handheld devices, the realization of this vision—and its associated educational affordances—is literally possible tomorrow in our children's classrooms. Thus, it is imperative that the educational community engages in extended conversations, now, about the range of teaching and learning opportunities that the handheld-centric classroom makes possible. Our article is a contribution to that discussion.