GoKnow's Handheld Learning Environment, or HLE, is based on over 10 years of classroom research at the University of Michigan. The Handheld Learning Environment is designed to support inquiry-based use of handheld computers in K-12 classrooms. HLE is comprised of five pieces, and these five classroom-tested components enable successful integration of handheld computers into classrooms. HLE works well with existing lessons and curriculum, and simplifies the management and assessment of student materials.

There are many benefits to using HLE:

• Teachers appreciate how HLE maintains an electronic portfolio of student work, and provides them with convenient access to student work from any Internet-connected computer. In addition, HLE motivates and engages students -- even the hard-to-reach.
• Administrators use HLE to track what students are doing on their handhelds, and HLE enables a closer school-home connection by allowing parental access to student portfolios.
• HLE offers IT staff the ability to monitor and delete unapproved or unlicensed software, and efficiency is greatly improved by centralizing software installation and upgrading.
• With HLE, students don't lose their work, and they have multiple opportunities for self-expression and communication.

Before looking at each of the five components of HLE in greater detail, let's start with a brief overview.

• PAAM is the Classroom Synchronization Manager which allows teachers to easily manage, assess, and back-up student handheld work. It is a management tool, and place where student work is backed-up. Student work is viewable and stored as a digital portfolio.
• The HLE Tools are a collection of productivity applications integrated for learning and expressly designed for K-12. The HLE Tools enable students to do everything from reading Web-pages, creating concept maps and animations to writing papers and more.
• With each purchase of HLE, GoKnow provides 50 single and multi-day interdisciplinary, standards-based lessons for middle grades. These lessons were written by teachers with extensive experience using handhelds in their classroom, and they help ease the transition for teachers new to handhelds.
• GoKnow has received excellent reviews for their professional development abilities. Teachers appreciate that it's grounded in practicality and backed by years of experience.
• Lastly, we all know that technology can bring with it technical "bumps" along the way. GoKnow strives to provide speedy answers to problems you might have someday.

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