Taxpayers in Olathe, Kan. are no doubt thrilled that the Olathe Unified School District is providing 2,300 Palm TX handhelds and an equal number of keyboards to its high school students, teachers and administrators.

The handhelds - which retail for about $205 a piece - are already integral part of the district’s high school curriculum. According to a press release, the district is already using about 1,200 Palm handhelds as communications and learning devices.

The PDAs give staff and students access to the Internet, email and school networks, as well as providing connections to other devices, such as phones, PCs and printers. The devices essentially serve as a lower cost alternative to providing students and staff with laptops.

According to the release, some of the handhelds will be used by students 24/7, while others will be classroom-only sets. One of the most common uses for the devices among students is writing compositions using word processing applications. Students can also use the devices to work on spreadsheets; create presentations for school projects or assignments; and access books and other documents which the school has converted into the eBook format. This enables the students to highlight text, bookmark pages, make notes and look up words in the dictionary. The handhelds also have many applications in math and science.

The school district - which boasts being one of the most technologically-advanced in the U.S. - has apparently adopted the philosophy that giving students and staff the freedom to access information anywhere, anytime will open up new learning opportunities.

“Olathe Unified School District is a perfect example of a district that continues to successfully integrate Palm handhelds into mainstream teaching and learning,” said Eric Johnson, director of public sector sales for Palm. “This district is determined to give all students easy access to information and provide engaging learning opportunities. The Palm TX is the perfect choice because it offers traditional Palm handheld ease of use along with integrated WiFi (News - Alert) and Bluetooth wireless technologies, which gives teachers and students greater flexibility to access and manage information inside or outside of the classroom.”

The press release does not mention whether the district’s wireless network filters content or whether students have restricted access to certain networks or Web sites. It also does not indicate whether the students and staff can use the devices as mobile phones outside of the classroom. In addition, the release does not mention whether some or all of the devices have GPS tracking capabilities or other security measures to guard against theft or loss.

“Olathe Northwest was a brand-new school when we started our handheld program, and we wanted to provide some kind of one-to-one access to technology,” said Rita Lyon, executive director of technology for the district. “The cost of laptops was out of our reach, but Palm’s handhelds justified the cost. We will continue to expand the program in order to provide either one-to-one access or classroom sets of handhelds to all four high schools in the district.”

Lyon added that the district is planning to provide WiFi access at all of its high school campuses.

“Most other WiFi enabled products are out of our price range, but the Palm TX plus the keyboards purchased under Palm's Education Purchase Plan offer us an affordable solution and a way to place the technology into more classrooms and into the hands of many more students,” she said.

Lyons said the school district’s staff has undergone training on how to use the devices as learning tools in the classroom environment.

“Each teacher has 15 hours of training on handhelds and how to use them effectively in classroom instruction,” she said. “In addition, we have instructional technology resource teachers in each building on a daily basis to assist teachers, model lessons, find applications and troubleshoot. Our goal is to have 100 percent of the staff well prepared.”

For more information about the Palm Education Purchase Program, visit http://www.palm.com/education.

For more information about Palm Inc., visit http://www.palm.com.

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Patrick Barnard is Associate Editor for TMCnet and a columnist covering the telecom industry. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page.