PDAs and Use-Centered Analysis

Peterson, D. (2002). “Implementing PDAs in a College Course: One Professor’s Perspective,” Campus Technology.

Unit Three: Classroom Application and Software Evaluations

Summary
This article introduces the idea of “use-centered design” (Flach & Dominguez, 1995). Use-centered design replaces the traditional focus that centers either on the user or product with a concentration on the goals and tasks associated with the use of the technology. The central ideas of use-centered design include understanding the user’s tasks and the technologies capabilities to find a marriage between the two. Professor Doug Peterson of the University of South Dakota examines the effectiveness of use-centered approach to implementing PDAs in a college classroom. On the University of South Dakota campus, PDA kiosks appear throughout the common areas. In classrooms, students “beam” documents to one another for quick collaboration, facilitating the sharing of ideas. Syllabi, course calendars and practice exams can be recalled and reviewed with the touch of a button. Further, settings on some PDAs can be customized to create practice quizzes and academic games geared to help the students study for their courses. In summation, the resulting study showed that PDAs played a much larger role outside the classroom than within it, suggesting PDAs pose a nice potential as supportive technology, rather than a replacing classroom education. Dr. Peterson predicts PDAs will take a front-seat in future college courses, especially as the trend toward wireless campuses grows.

Reaction
It was interesting to read about PDAs in the context of education. Sure, there are a number of my peers and classmates who use their Blackberries as a calendar and phone, but I have seldom heard of PDAs used as a classroom tool outside of the field of special education. Though they permeate America’s business front, they have yet to make a “big wave” in classrooms.

While I certainly agree with the benefits Dr. Peterson suggests PDAs can bring to a classroom, and I even think his analysis falls short (perhaps because the article is already outdated), I am not so naïve as to ignore the disadvantages of such technology. Cellular phones, iPods and other electronic devices already pose a problem in schools. Locally, many schools have banned the use of personal electronic devices within school hours due to problems of theft and classroom distraction. As a teacher of English, I can see how students would easily plagiarize with the “beaming” technology of shared papers. But do the disadvantages outweigh the benefits? That really isn’t the point. The article begins by introducing this idea of use-centered design that unites the needs of users with the capabilities of technology. It’s a good way to think about teaching—as a means to meet the needs of students with the current and available technology, texts, experts and experiences. I’m not sure I can picture Bellingham School District opting to purchase a PDA for each of its students anytime soon, but I have high hopes that perhaps someone will come up with a PDA specifically designed for classroom use. In the meantime, I will try to implement use-centered analysis into my own classroom and pedagogical decisions as a way to consider all the variables: texts, technology, standards, assessments, time and especially my students.