Students and teachers at Glenville High School are getting very tech savvy these days. That’s because the school has implemented a Palm Pilot program, which uses the pocket computer organizers for teaching and curriculum.

&uot;We’re just getting started on this,&uot; Mike Kropp, a history teacher at the high school, said. &uot;We think this technology can provide a lot more learning opportunities for our students.&uot;

25 students at the high school were given the Palms in early December and have been getting used to them over the past month. In two weeks the students will start to use the Personal digital assistants (PDAs) in their advanced placement (AP) American history and calculus courses.

Superintendent Todd Chessmore first heard about the idea at a school technology conference. Kropp said, &uot;I picked up on the idea and ran with it.&uot;

The district gave itself a technology grant from its staff development fund to cover the costs for the PDAs for the 25 students.

All of the administrators, teachers, janitors and cooks also received the PDAs. Kropp said the effort is focused on getting the whole high school set up with the computers.

The money for the staff’s PDAs came from staff development funds.

Kropp uses the technology to pass information and notes out to his class. Palms can send information to other Palms through an infrared beam. Beaming can only be done within a four or five foot radius of another PDA so Kropp will beam a chapter, a Web site or notes to the front row of students, who in turn beam it to the next row, and so on.

&uot;It’s kind of like just handing out papers,&uot; he said, laughing.

The Palm program has also helped Jeff Finholm, a calculus teacher, to give his students more learning opportunities.

&uot;Right now I’m using it to hand out notes,&uot; he said. &uot;I can hand out 30 pages without wasting any paper.&uot;

Finholm can grade assignments, download and beam out Web sites that help explain the calculus courses in more general terms.

&uot;It has definitely made the learning more hands on,&uot; he said. &uot;Now they can look things up

a lot easier.&uot;

The students haven’t started using the PDAs in the classroom, but will in a few weeks. Currently they are practicing with them on an individual basis &045; setting schedules, starting their address lists, and learning to use the stylus (the PDA’s writing stick) to write.

&uot;Basically we are just learning how to use them right now,&uot; said Samantha Gordon, 17,

a senior at the high school.

Heidi Hansen, another senior, who is in both the AP history and AP calculus classes, said she has already been using her Palm for writing notes for her calculus class.

&uot;It is nice because you don’t have to go down to the computer lab to type your notes or write a paper anymore,&uot; she said, showing a compact, fold-out keyboard that attaches to her PDA. &uot;You can work on anything at anytime.&uot;

Kropp said one important part of this project is that the PDAs have a lot of technology capability but don’t have a high cost.

The cost for each Palm was about $200, but that cost in comparison to a PC is much less. It allows students who might not be able to afford a new computer an opportunity to take advantage of technology.

The school will begin a school wide Palm program within the next few years. Students can either buy the PDAs or lease them out for a school year.

&uot;We are the first school in the area to try this,&uot; Kropp said. &uot;I think it will work out well.&uot;