October 30, 2001
At Educause 2001 Handmark(TM) announced significant enhancements to their 4.0 Student product family.
Handmark demonstrated totally wireless synchronization between the Palm OS(R) based 4.0 Student application and the web based fourostudent.net online service. Handmark 4.0 Student is the leading student-based PDA coursework management solution.
Enhancements include the ability to sync between the handheld application, 4.0 Student, and the web-based online version hosted at http://www.fourostudent.com by Handmark. Handmark demonstrated this wireless synchronization via an 802.11b add-on to a Palm Powered(TM) device.
In addition to wireless synchronization with the 4.0 Student application, online users can also view and update data direct through a browser interface to their fourostudent.com online account. Users of Palm, Inc.'s Palm.Net(R) wireless service also have an option to view and update their online account through a web clipping application on their wireless enabled Palm Powered handhelds.
In-hand and online
4.0Student provides Palm Powered device users with a single interface to enter, store and manage coursework details, including instructors, grade policy, and contact information. It makes it easy to track assignments and other details for up to fifteen classes. Students can visibly track individual course grades or overall GPA (grade point average).
The application makes it easy to perform "what if" scenarios to predict final grades.
With fourostudent.net, users can review their 4.0Student data from any web connected PC, anywhere, at any time. As students accumulate multiple semesters of course details they can archive that data for future reference. They will also have the option of sharing course data with other students, or parents, who will be able to view selected data but not make any changes.
Four principal benefits of the fourostudenet.net web-based service:
1. The ability to access and sync mobile data using any web-connected PC.
2. Secure Internet based (remote storage) back-up of valuable, complex personal data.
3. The ability to use a standard PC keyboard to input information used on the handheld device.
4. Automatic updates to the handheld version, downloaded and installed on the Palm Powered device whenever the device is synchronized.
Introducing Open API to campus course and curriculum data systems Handmark also announced details of a new open API that will allow any back-end coursework management system to integrate with the fourostudent.net service. By providing institutions with access to the online host, existing data can be posted and accessed by students from anywhere they have an Internet connection.
Because the data can then be downloaded to the handheld version of 4.0 Student, the data is more useful than systems that only capture the official course data.
According to Douglas Edwards, Handmark vice president of marketing, "fourostudent.net greatly extends the power of individual students to manage coursework. A student can sync from anywhere they have an Internet connection, and they can update or view their data from any web-connected computer. Now with an open API institutions can empower their students with data in a format that the student has chosen to use. This freedom to choose how they access the data greatly increases the likelihood that students will actually use the system, as opposed to top-down systems that dictate the format and limit the usability of the data."
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