Palm OS handhelds were designed to have one user per device. Hence, there is
no way to really "partition" the handheld so one student could use one part,
and not have access to another part.
PAAM must treat each handheld as its own account. For example, if five
students share one handheld, they would all have to use the same login and
password. Once in PAAM, just like on the handheld, there is nothing to
prevent student 3 from viewing student 2's work, etc.
Many schools however share handhelds, and while PAAM cannot solve the above
challenge, it does offer certain benefits:
1. Backs up all student work.
2. Allows students to sync from any computer.
3. Allows students (and teachers and parents) to login to PAAM from any
Internet-equipped computer to view, print, and send feedback to student
devices.
4. Filter out assignments so that they can be viewed in a more efficient
manner.
So let us take an example of 5 students sharing a handheld where they are
going to do a creative writing piece. First, we must assume that the teacher
does not mind that students can see another's work. This is an assumption
that applies with or without PAAM in the equation. In fact, maybe it's a
good thing students can see another's work to aid in peer editing and so on.
At any rate, the key lies in what the students name their assignments.
Students from 1st period for example, should probably put a "1" in the
title. This way, when the handhelds are synchronized, it is easy for the
teacher to do a search that will allow him or her to pull up all the
assignments that fit that criterion. Likewise, when the student logs into
PAAM, they will easily be able to locate their work.
In short then, PAAM offers some advantages to a rotational or shared model
of handheld use, facilitating viewing, printing, back up, remote access,
software installation and deletion, and file management. However, PAAM is
not a cure-all for the logistical/management problem of students having
shared access to the same handheld computer.
