Hack 9. Become a Better Student
Use your Palm device to help you keep track of assignments and organize your time to become a better student. Palm Powered handhelds can be extremely helpful for students because they allow you to carry all of your important personal information, as well as electronic references and e-books, in the palm of your hand. But unless you know the right tricks, you may not be using your handheld to its fullest potential. Whether you're a high school, college, or graduate student, you can use your handheld to keep track of all of the information relating to your classes, ensure that you never turn in a late paper, and even get higher grades. First, enter all of the relevant information into your handheld on the first day of class. Many teachers and professors hand out course information sheets or a syllabus on the first day, and many students put them in a folder or notebook immediately and don't pay much attention to them. But this is the time to enter all of that information into your Palm Powered handheld, and you should capture everything you can:
Second, take all of your relevant class notes using your Palm OS handheld and an accessory keyboard, if possible. If you're in high school, computers and handheld devices may not be allowed in the classroom, but college students should definitely be able to do this. This is helpful for several reasons, and can save plenty of time when you need to review and prepare for exams at the end of the semester:
You can use the built in Memo Pad for this, or your device may have come with a word processing program such as Documents to Go or WordSmith. There are replacement programs for Memo Pad available, such as MegaMemo2 (http://www.freewarepalm.com/utilities/megamemo2.shtml), which allow you to have memos of 32K characters instead of 4K. No matter what program you use, the key is to ensure that it synchronizes with your computer so that you can back up and search your notes. You won't need any paper in class, unless the subject you're studying requires a good amount of drawing, charts, or graphs. There are several drawing programs available for Palm OS handhelds, but pen and paper are easier to use in a classroom setting. Third, develop a regular study schedule. You can block out time in the Date Book for regular daily and weekly study, and it's also a good idea to enter in all of the reading assignments that will be covered in each class period. You'll be prepared for every class, and won't have to worry about trying to "hide" in the back of the class so the professor won't call on you. Regular review is also the key to effective test preparation; staying up all night before an exam can leave you too tired to answer the questions and write good essays. You'll likely forget everything you crammed into your brain as soon as the test is over, which won't provide a very good foundation for additional study. Instead, take a look at what each test will cover and break the material down into smaller parts. You can then create To Dos in your Palm Powered handheld that remind you to go over a certain section in your notes or read a chapter in your textbook. And if you have a fear of writing papers and essays, as many students do, you can break that large task down into several incremental goals that are easier to accomplish. If you have to write a ten page paper on the history of the Civil War, for example, you'll need to do some research, develop a thesis, block out some time to write and edit the paper, prepare a bibliography, and so on. Each one of those tasks can either be scheduled for a particular time on your calendar (if you suffer from procrastination, as so many students do!) or as a To Do item that can be checked off of your list when completed. By following a plan for writing your paper that provides plenty of time for preparation, you'll end up with a superior finished product, less stress, and hopefully higher grades. You may also want to consider purchasing more specialized software and resources to get the most use out of your handheld in an educational context. Some of my favorite applications and strategies are listed here. 1.10.1. AgendusAgendus (http://www.iambic.com/agendus/palmos/) is a full featured PIM replacement that integrates the Date Book, Address, To Do, and Memo functions built into your Palm Powered handheld. Besides offering color coding, icons, and a variety of views for your data, it also adds a Contact Linking feature that is very powerful. Create a contact for each of your classes in a special category, such as English, History, Calculus, Physics, Spanish, and so on and then link that contact to each of the relevant pieces of information about that classexams, due dates for papers, reading assignments, and so forth. You can then use the Contact History function to find everything related to that class at a moment's notice. You can also add icons and color and use the monthly calendar to see which weeks are going to be the busiest so that you can plan ahead and perhaps do a few reading assignments early for one class so you'll have time to prepare for an exam in another. 1.10.2. ShadowPlanNotes taken in outline form are generally more organized and easier to review at a later date. One of the most powerful outlining applications available for Palm OS devices is ShadowPlan from Code Jedi (http://www.codejedi.com). You can create any number of outlines and also link individual items on those outlines to the built-in applications. There are a variety of course management applications especially designed for students, such as 4.0 Student, CoursePro, Due Yesterday, and Thought-Manager for Students. You can find more information and links to all of them in the PalmSource How-To Guide for Students, located at: http://www.palmsource.com/interests/education_student/. Jen Edwards |