Welcome to Warner College of Natural Resources PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) Initiative website.
Student at Pingree Park equipped with his PDA.
During the summer of 2003, students attending summer field camp at Pingree Park were equipped with PDAs containing an electronic field guide of Pingree Park's flora and fauna and electronic flashcards to help them study the material in the guide. They used the PDAs as reference and study tools as well as data collection and note taking devices.
The PDA initiative is part of an effort by the Warner CNR faculty and administration to educate students in the application of state-of-the-art field technologies. The initiative was motivated by an idea from Dr. Brett Johnson in the Fishery and Wildlife Biology department who developed an application on the PDA for keying out fish. After discussing the project with other faculty and the IT support staff, it was decided to search for funding to expand the concept, specifically targeting the Pingree Park summer field camp requirement for Warner CNR undergraduates.
Snapshot of the Pingree PDA welcome screen (Actual Size)
With the aid of funding from the Academic Enrichment Program, Dr. Johnson's prototype electronic fish field guide was expanded to include birds, mammals, plants and ecosystems (communities) found at Pingree Park. An eFlashcards application was also developed which allows students to quiz themselves on anything in the field guide. The electronic field guide and eflashcards were loaded on the PDAs and checked out to students attending Pingree Park summer field camp. Students also had access to various other software applications on the PDA to facilitate electronic note taking, data collection and voice notes.
All in all, the electronic field guides and PDAs were well received by students attending Pingree during the summer of 2003. 91% of the students surveyed at the end of the session said the PDAs should be used again the following year. Learn more about the initiative by following the links on the right.