Using Handhelds in a Jigsaw Cooperative Learning Environment

The premise for this article is that technology is changing rapidly, and educators need to assess their teaching strategies to adapt to these new technologies. Huge strides have been made in the hand held devices that most of us know as palm pilots or PDA’s. These small devices, that were originally supposed to be a personal organizer, now have the capability of laptop, or even tower computers. These devices provide an amazing opportunity to enhance cooperative learning both inside and outside the classroom. The article ‘Using Handhelds in a Jigsaw Cooperative Learning Environment’ followed an experiment that was conducted to study the effects of adult learners using hand held technology. The authors, C.-Y. Lai and C.-C. Wu conducted the study using two classes of nursing students in their fourth year, of a five year program. They followed these students in their learning process. They also address their attitudes and their interaction with other students and their professors.

Through this study they concluded the use of handheld devices has many benefits, but there are also many obstacles to overcome. They also concluded that at the present time hand held technology is not fully mature enough for educational uses. They decided that, at the time the article was written, this implementation would require a lot more work for the instructor and they would need a lot of support from a technology specialist. They also mentioned that students would have to be trained in this technology as well as the teacher. But they also said that with the advancement of technology these problems will be greatly reduced and then the benefits will be more obvious (Lai, C., & Wu, C., 2006).