As the owner of all those devices in the picture you mention, I have to say that I don’t agree at all with the idea that all they will do is gather dust. In fact the reason we have just bought another 120 of the little buggers is that we lend them out, and have way more demand than we can possibly supply.

The reason is I guess partially that we mostly use them for short, sharp interventions (instead of mixing with existing provision). Also, they are phones as well as PDAs, so all sorts of web-based and camera+MMS based activities are possible.

That said, I totally agree with your other points about the emerging standards for mobile web, and the significance of an evolving protocol that means that I can see the same web page from just about any connected device. Fantastic.

I suppose our experience is that there is space for lots of different devices, because they are good at different things. Think of mp3 players. No connectivity there, but great for learning.

PDAs (and PDA-phones) score really well for multimedia, and touch-screen type activities.

You are quite right that if an institution is NOT already buying laptops, or other kit for their learners, the shift to buying PDAs is a heavy commitment. But in our experience there are many other, sometimes non-traditional learning places that are also quite willing to buy a PDA-esque device. Not thinking “classroom” here, but rather “workplace”, or “outreach program” or other similar places. We have found the larger touch-screen and rich-media aspects fantastic in helping bring reluctant learners on board, and it has also been a springboard to draw them into other less mobile IT.

But I guess that is the wonder of all that is mobile. It embraces so many different types of devices, as well as so many different approaches to using them for learning.

I will do a double check 6 months from now, but I am not expecting to see them collecting dust!

Pretty much every student has one already, the students bear the responsibility and cost for their security, maintenance and upgrade, and they automatically get upgraded every 12 to 18 months anyway.

All of those PDAs in the photo on your next entry will end up in a box somewhere covering dust, probably within 12 months (I’ve seen it already). Considering the cost of buying and maintaining (and taking security precautions) these high end PDAs we are talking about a serious waste of public money.

I know educational resource creators love the hackability and programmability of PDAs, but I think their time has passed.

Aren’t we beyond those types of resources anyway? Aren’t we into the Web 2.0/Mobile 2.0 era of user/generated content? Mobile web browsers and widgets are getting so advanced that much learning content can be accessed online.

As far as standards go… if it’s accessible via a mobile web browser or widget then it’s a standard in my book.

I know the technology isn’t completely there yet, and is still out of the grasp of some, but it is moving very fast, and the prices are going to continue to come down.

It seems to me that a strategy based on this approach is a much better investment in the long term.