Introduction

This site is designed to present information associated with the use of personal electronic devices to enhance learning in a college or university environment. These devices, sometimes referred to as gadgets, are incredibly diverse. Of course not all of these devices are able to play a direct role in education, but many can. In this site, I have highlighted some of the common roles gadgets can play. In addition, I provide street price and review information on specific models where possible. This information is current as of December, 2004.

Scope

This site attempts to limit gadgets to primarily single-function devices. All manner of computers are excluded, as their expense and wide functionality are an order of magnitude higher than gadgets. Similarly, I have excluded PDA's from this analysis, except for their use in some very specific, hardware-related activities. The variety of software that modern PDA's can run includes educational titles. PDA's running educational software can clearly be beneficial to learning, but that particular type of use is too self-evident.

About the Author

The author of this site is Mike Oetting, who will be receiving a Master's Degree in Library and Information Science in December, 2004. It is the result of a semester-long project for a course at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The class, LIS 491, is entitled Literacy in the Information Age.