For the past few years, laptop computers have been touted as a way of getting technology into the hands of all students, making "anytime, anywhere learning" possible. But laptops are expensive, their batteries die quickly, and they're not always easy to lug around. That's why some school technology experts are predicting that handheld computers, or personal digital assistants (PDAs), may be a more viable solution.

To be sure, PDAs come with their own set of problems: So far, they've lacked a convenient input device and software that would make them useful in the classroom. But a Baltimore-based company called MindSurf aims to change all that with a pilot program at River Hill High School in Clarksville, Md.

Through this program, MindSurf has seamlessly linked a select group of ninth-grade students with their teacher via PDAs and has integrated its wireless platform with the school's educational applications. The program's goal: improved communication between the students and their teacher and increased productivity in the classroom.

The pilot program, which launched Oct. 3, is expected to be duplicated in additional schools throughout the year.

MindSurf, a $70 million joint venture among Baltimore-based Sylvan Learning Systems Inc., Owings Mills, Md.-based Aether Systems Inc. and San Francisco-based Critical Path, has created an educational tool out of the Palm Pilot, with general internet access and web browsing, a searchable dictionary and encyclopedia, a graphing calculator, games, and financial applications.

The company has equipped a River Hill High School English class of 15 students with Palm Pilot Vx devices. The devices come with cellular modems that enable students to connect to the internet and to each other wirelessly from anywhere—much like the connectivity that a cellular phone provides.

"The kids generally search the internet for text-driven sites. Actually, any site on the web can be accessed, but the graphics on multimedia sites don't display well," said Scott Pfeifer, principal of River Hill High School.

"The kids usually go to a site called OmniSky that features a search engine for text-only web sites," Pfeifer added. "There's actually a button on the Palm that takes them to OmniSky. There is a growing market for writing text-only web pages for these handheld devices. Web designers are now often writing dual sites, one for broadband computing and one for text-only cellular technology."

Students also were given collapsible keyboards from Palm that fold down to about 4 inches by 6 inches by 1 inch. The folding keyboards, which can be used to input information into the handheld computers, "make this program so much more powerful than just using the stylus to input information," said David Long, vice president of product development for MindSurf.