Educational scenarios for cooperative use of Personal Digital Assistants

Based on experience in orchestrating collaborative learning scenarios with ubiquitous computing technology, three approaches for extending co-constructive modelling and discussion environments with Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) connected through a wireless network are described. One application is an annotation tool, the second one replicates a modelling system on the PDA and the third one makes use of a wireless optical reader in addition to the PDA. They all provide ‘lightweight’ synchronisation mechanisms in PC-based environments. General design and implementation strategies for such extensions are discussed in terms of model, view and controller.