Grants to Study Palm Use in Classrooms

The just announced Palm Education Pioneers program will award grants of Palm handhelds to K-12 teachers and their students, which will let the teachers incorporate Palms into their lessons and give them to every student in their class. More than 100 classrooms nationally will participate in the program.

Palm Inc. will, obviously, provide the hardware and SRI International will conduct a research program to determine best practices and to assist teachers, hardware and software designers, and policy makers in considering the future widespread use of Palm handhelds in the classroom.

Deadlines and Timelines
Two rounds of awards will be made. Proposals for Round I must be submitted by December 1, 2000. You should register your intent to submit a Round I proposal by November 15, 2000. Round I is intended for teachers who have existing ties with research projects or school of education programs, and who already have plans in place for the use of Palm computers in their classroom. Approximately 10 to 15 awards will be granted under this plan. Round I awardees will be announced in January 2001, and hardware will be delivered in February 2001.

The second set of awards is intended for teachers who need more time to determine how they would employ Palm computers in their classroom. Applications for Round II proposals will be accepted in March 2001, and approximately 50 to 80 awards will be made in June 2001. Intention to submit a Round II proposal should be registered by February 15, 2001.

(See the schedule for a detailed timeline.)

For more information, visit the Palm Education Pioneers program site.