The EDA network

Today was an exciting day for the EDA network - EDA being like a PDA only with the E replacing the P and standing for Education. Though at a price tag of around 400 pounds the E could stand for expensive.



The three schools involved in the network all want a set to use in a classroom in their school. we know that they will bring a good deal of excitement (and some frustration) within those schools, but how do we decide which schools get a set, when we can only afford 3 sets?



We came up with the idea of a bidding system, where each school writes two sides of A4, outlining how they will use the EDAs over a one year period. This should include a research and pedagogical focus and would need a pair of very strong and innovative teachers.



So what is so good about the EDA?

Well unlike some cheap handheld you could pick up from PC world or DEll this has been designed by Handheld Learning and has had input from Wolverhampton LA. It has been designed with an educational use in mind. It comes with:

• A rubberised casing


• A distinctive (unstylish) blue colour scheme- making it clear to the police that it may have been stolen


• A 2 mega pixel camera


• A poly carbide over screen cover


• A stylus attached via a string


• Ruggedised pins in both power and connecting ports


• Windows mobile 5

Photo Simple

You may have noticed the image of the EDA above is both cropped and framed. I could have done this in Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop, instead I used the new Photo Simple from 2Simple, a very easy to use Photo editor for children. It includes some simple filters, cropping and framing. More on this software at another time, as I only got it yesterday!