Ever use a word processing program that asked if you wanted to "abandon" your work? Neither had the 11 graduate students from the College of Education and Human Services (CEHS) who participated in the beta testing of a new educational product this summer.

The students, all K-12 teachers in northern New Jersey ranging in age from 22 to 50, were enrolled in the Workshop in Contemporary Issues in Reading class. When Susan Amirian of Information Technology (IT), who taught the class, heard about this new product she arranged to have Montclair State be the only group in New Jersey and one of three on the east coast to participate in the beta test. Amirian, who specializes in educational technology, recently joined IT as an instructional technology specialist after serving as director of the Curriculum Resource Center in the CEHS.

The new product produced by AlphaSmart, Inc., called Dana, runs the Palm operating system and is lightweight, low-cost and rugged. Students were provided with Dana to use for the semester in their class and at home. They reported their findings, both good and bad, to AlphaSmart. Dana is expected to be available to the public at the end of the month.

Designed for educators and students, Dana features programs that can be used for writing, reading assignments, quizzes, note taking, organization, appointments and more. The students were charged with putting all its functions to the test, but first Amirian had to assess their technological skills. "They were skilled in basic office applications like word processing and e-mail, but little else," she explained. So when faced with the task of using a high-tech device that did far more, the students were a bit apprehensive.

"They initially had a lot of trouble," Amirian explained. "It was a combination of fear and having to take the time to learn something new. It was a lot of pressure. This product was completely alien to them."

In order to decide whether the product would be useful in their classrooms, the students first had to learn to use it themselves. "They struggled," said Amirian. "There were a lot of software and hardware issues with it, things they wanted to see different. But this gave them the opportunity to say what they did and didn't like."

First-grade teacher Jill Dunst said Dana would not be an asset in her own classroom. "It had too many programs that would not benefit my students," she said. "However, I think it should be used in middle and high schools."

One feature in the word processing application warranted a collective complaint. Originally, Dana's word processing program asked users if they wanted to "abandon" the work in progress, a term the students found strange and unclear. So they spoke up and AlphaSmart changed it to the more commonly used command: "Quit."

Learning the ins and outs of Dana wasn't the only educational experience students garnered. "Adults get anxious when faced with new technology," said Amirian. "It was interesting to watch how they went through the process, learning about it and themselves."

She even noticed a transformation in thinking among some students. "Their first reaction if technology doesn't work is often that it is their fault or a result of their lack of ability or knowledge," she said. "But beta testing put them in the more powerful position of saying that something doesn't work and needs to be redesigned to be more intuitive or more functional."

Dunst said she is a proponent of using new technology in the classroom as long as there is sufficient training for the teachers and students. "Training is a huge part of being able to use and apply the technology in a classroom where you have 20 plus students," she said.

"It's valuable for teachers to learn something new and see that they can actually make a difference in the way a product is made," Amirian said of the teachers' participation in the beta test. "I think the next time they're facing new technology they will not have as much anxiety over it. They struggled, but sometimes, that's what education is all about."

Theresa Bocchino, a special education teacher at a private school in Chatham, agreed. "This class was revolutionary for me," she said. "Working on the beta test forced me to troubleshoot an instrument I hope will become useful for adolescents so they can become more sophisticated in using revolutionary computer products in their academics."

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