Blog #2 Handheld devices

After reading Chapters 5 in Smaldino and Courtney, talking to my mentor and doing my , own research, I realized in a perfect world with a limitless budget, I would purchase a PDA for every single student. There are so many benefits to using them; they can be used at site of instruction (desks), assist in data collection, help students keep track of grades and assignments, etc. The website I went to gave some great examples on how they could be used in all areas of study. It also gave suggestions for funding, such as offering payment plans for students, affordable leasing programs, education grants, and acquiring corporate sponsors. It is something that I plan on looking into when I become a librarian. But, alas, back to reality, since I do have a limited budget and cannot afford to purchase a PDA for every student , I decided that I could purchase play-aways (audio books) for students to check out, perhaps some kindles for teachers to check out and use in their classroom. There are several uses for kindles, such as previewing books, literature groups, family literacy groups, current events, etc. Kindles allow librarians to quickly preview new books so that they can make new purchases quickly. I would also look into purchasing several flip cameras and have students use them to record themselves giving a book talk; then playing their book talk on the computer for other students to listen to. These are just some things I would look into purchasing for my library.