The Use and Effectiveness of Palmtop Computers in Education

This paper reports how palmtop computers were used in an English secondary school over the course of a year. In particular, it concentrates on the perceived effectiveness of such computers in an educational setting, and on how teachers’ and students’ knowledge and use of “content‐free” applications increased over that time. The benefits and potential problems with this new technology are discussed along with the consequences it has for classroom and school organisation.