The Smartpen Blog

Over the past few months we’ve spent a fair bit of time talking to schools, TAFE’s, Universities and various Education Departments about how the Livescribe Pulse Smartpen can be used to help students with disabilities.

A lot of what we know is based on feedback from student users as well as the many dedicated disability support officers who do a wonderful job.

Livescribe Adding Real Value

What we’re hearing is that the Livescribe Pulse Smartpen is having a really positive impact. Students, parents, and teachers have found the Smartpen is helping the learning experience and is now an integral part of the student’s life.

Here are 5 key points:

1. Livescribe has changed how they take notes – this was an almost universal piece of feedback. Because Livescribe captures the audio, students are now less worried about taking detailed notes or keeping up with the teacher as they are able to take brief notes on key points during a lesson and then fill in content afterwards by replaying the audio.
2. Recall is much better – this is a point I wish more able bodied students would pick up on. For those students using Livescribe they are experiencing greater retention of learning’s as they are replaying key parts of lessons and recalling the knowledge both verbally and through their own additional notes.
3. Students don’t feel so alienated – Livescribe not only gives them some peer credibility in the classroom (they’ve got the cool talking pen) but it also means they feel less ‘odd man out’ in the classroom as they can often participate like other students rather than requiring (as much) special attention.
4. Parents can take more of a mentor/tutor role – Livescribe is helping parents help their children. This was really nice feedback to get. On many occasions we’ve spoken to parents and even grandparents about how Livescribe has helped them focus homework and recall efforts on critical parts of the lesson.
5. Greater interaction between teachers, students, and parents – following on from my last point we’ve seen on a number of occasions teachers, support staff, students, and parents working interactively to ensure students have clear content to review or learn. For teachers, it’s often as simple as a short 2-3 minute one on one dialogue with the student where either will make written and verbal notes regarding what material to review as homework or additional learning.

Interestingly, we’re now starting to see Livescribe used in more and more lower grades – primarily by teachers as they seek to capture and share content inside and outside of the classroom.

One key barrier that I’m hearing about all too often is schools and teachers denying these students the opportunity to use Livescribe in the classroom. Whilst the concerns of teachers, and administrators are real and valid, there is nothing stopping these concerns being addressed.

This is something we plan to focus on in the coming months.

In the meantime, if you have a story to share please feel free to use comments or drop us a line – we’d love to hear how you’re using the Livescribe pen