Since being introduced to the Livescribe smartpen range to Australia over 3 years ago, teachers in both Australia and New Zealand have been strong ambassadors – enthusiastically using the product and promoting its role within the education environment.

In recognition of this, Livescribe and Smartpen are pleased to announce a very special offer for teachers across Australia and New Zealand. We have on offer the Livescribe 2GB Pulse smartpen for $50. This is a ‘while stocks last offer’

Teach It Once – Helping Students Learn Anytime, Anywhere

The Pulse smartpen is already used in hundreds of primary schools, high schools, TAFE’s and Universities around Australia and New Zealand. The Pulse smartpen is helping teachers deliver a rich, anytime, anywhere learning experience for students.

Here’s an example:

Do You Qualify?

This special is open for a limited time and is based on stock availability. You qualify if:

• You’re teaching full time or part time within a primary school, high school, TAFE, or University in Australia or New Zealand.
• As a school you can purchase up to 25 pens for your school.
• If you require more than 25 pens for a school please contact Mark Parker to discuss your requirements (reach him here – mparker@smartpen.com.au)

How to Order

You can find details about the product here on our smartpen site. (Note that delivery is not included in the product cost). Please note, Smartpen ANZ accepts school issued purchase orders. Simply raise an order and fax to +61 (7) 3102 6274 or email to sales@smartpen.com.au

Questions?

Feel free to drop a comment below, or use one of these contact methods:

• Phone – (1300) 305 514 or +61 (7) 3117 2584
• Email – sales@smartpen.com.au
• Facebook – our Livescribe superstore
• We tweet here on Twitter
• Follow our company on LinkedIn
• Google+ is our latest hangout

We hope you take advantage of this special offer!

Stock Update – 5 December 2011

Please note, any orders placed on or after 5 December 2011 will be shipped to customers in mid-January. Orders placed before this date will be shipped to customers starting 5 December.

If you own a Pulse Smartpen in either Australia or New Zealand then this will be of interest to you.

We’ve now extended the offer till March 31 2012 – simply spend $25 or more in our online store, you’ll be eligible for a free Pulse smartpen accessory. We’ve got the following Pulse accessories:

Pulse Pro Charging Cradle

This is perfect for your desktop at home or in the office and gives you a convenient extra charger for your Pulse smartpen.

Pulse Premium Leather Case

If you’d like a stylish black leather carry case for your Pulse smartpen then this is perfect. It includes a flip top and a clip.

MyScript for Livescribe

Technically this isn’t a Pulse accessory but we are offering it as a free option. This is a fully licensed version of MyScript – allowing you to convert hand written notes into editable text. This option has a retail value of $29.95

How to Redeem

To take advantage of this offer:

• Spend at least $25 online with Smartpen.com.au (excluding delivery charges)
• When you checkout, includes in the order notes which accessory you would like and we’ll add it to the order

It’s that simple. This offer is available whilst stocks last.

We currently have the following available for immediate dispatch:

• Livescribe Deluxe Carry Case – the demand for this product has been incredible and feedback from users has been overwhelmingly positive.
• Livescribe Smartpen Portfolio -this product has been very popular with business users – it figs snugly into most laptop bags and business satchels.
• Echo 3-D Recording Premium Headset – an excellent accessory that fits into the Deluxe Carry Case and gives users the complete set of accessories.

If you’d like to order these products then you can do so from our site now.

Note also that our February specials on the 2GB Pulse and 4GB Echo Smartpens have been extended into March. Details are as follows:

1. 2GB Pulse Smartpen – $149
   • Bundled solution – 2GB Pulse with MyScript – $188.95
2. 4GB Echo Smartpen – $199
   • Bundled solution – 4GB Echo with MyScript – $238.95
   • Executive Starter Pack – 4GB Echo with Portfolio and MyScript – $278.89

We’re in the process of reviewing two of the growing range of apps from the Livescribe App Store. Stay tuned for more details.

The special pricing is as follows:

• 2GB Pulse Smartpen – RRP $209 – Reduced to $149.
• 4GB Echo Smartpen – RRP $242 – Reduced to $199.

This pricing is available now and will run till Feb 28. The pricing noted above includes Australian GST.

We’ve also reduced our exclusive bundles – the 2GB Pulse Smartpen + MyScript and the 4GB Echo Smartpen + MyScript.

If you’d like more information feel free to contact us via our usual channels – blog, email, phone, or Facebook

1. Capture key learning areas in short Pencasts

Pencasts are an easy way to create, store, and share interactive tutorials. A Tutor can focus on key learning areas and easily create a library of content that can be shared with students. Pencasts used properly can become a significant marketing tool for your business as well. Building a library of Pencasts is an excellent way of differentiating your services from other Tutors.

2. Embed Pencast content into blogs, and key social networks

Once a Tutor has created content, it’s then quite easy to repurpose the content and use it in different ways. Briefly, I’d suggest at least the following:

(a)    Embed the Pencasts into blog posts on key topic areas. This is great if you’re communicating with your students on a regular basis.

(b)    Share into Moodle – Moodle’s huge in the APAC education space so being able to share specific tutorials or even longer content pieces that Moodle users can access repeatedly over time.

(c)    Push into Facebook – For Tutors working in the K-12 space, Facebook is a great channel for ongoing dialogue with students and parents.

3. Use the student’s pen to create revision content or penmail’s

If you’re working with a student who has a Livescribe Smartpen it’s logical that you can use their pen to create revision content that they can refer to later. In addition, it’s simple to create short penmail content for a parent with instructions as to what a student needs to focus on or what homework/revision should be completed.

What’s important with these ideas is that Pencasts are a highly interactive form of communication. A student doesn’t need to rely on just notes or just audio. The combination of the two is the real value that a Tutor can deliver.

How are you using Livescribe Pencasts? Have you thought about using your Livescribe Smartpen to share interactive content?

Pulse Smartpen Special Offer #1

If you already own a Pulse Smartpen we’ve reduced the price of the Premium Black Leather case from $44.95 to $22.95.

This is a near 50% reduction in the cost of this very popular leather case.

Pulse Smartpen Special Offer #2

Our second special offer is for anyone on thinking of getting a Smartpen. We now offer the 2GB Pulse Smartpen with a FREE Pro Charging Cradle. This is a great offer and saves you $39.95 on the combined RRP.

This special offer is limited to 50 units, so see our website for more details.

Early last week PC World has included the Livescribe Smartpen range in its annual Best Products of 2010 report.

It’s great to see Livescribe continuing to achieve  industry recognition. Recent announcements like the Apple applications and the Livescribe Paper Tablet app are clear demonstration of how Livescribe’s mobile computing platform is coming of age.

This is a US example of a teacher creating a Pencast around content that is going to be included in a future exam.

This is a point I make to a lot of teachers – use Pencasts to share knowledge once. If a key part of the curriculum can be turned into Livescribe content then create a 5-10 minute tutorial and then share this as a Pencast. Keep in mind Pencasts can be shared easily into Facebook, Moodle, WordPress etc – or simply to another computer that has Livescribe Desktop installed.

As such, I’m pleased to announce that I’m going to give this pen away to a school in Queensland so that it can be put to good use and help students who have learning difficulties.

This is the Pulse Smartpen:

We're giving away a 4GB Pulse Smartpen

Here’s the criteria you need to meet in order to qualify:

• You must work at a primary school or high school in Queensland, Australia
• Your school can be public or private
• The pen is for the school to use and determine what happens with it.
• You need to have a program that supports students who have learning difficulties or you have programs to support students from a non-English speaking background

In relation to the pen, please note:

1. It will be supplied with a single A5 spiral notebook
2. It will be updated, charged up, and ready for registration and use.
3. It includes a premium leather case and USB charging cradle.
4. No warranty is offered on the pen.

Ideally, we’d like some feedback from the school that gets the pen so that we can share this with our community. The feedback doesn’t need to be overly formal – just around how it was used, student feedback, user experiences etc.

Would You Like a Free Pulse Smartpen For Your School

Drop me an email to md@smartpen.com.au or add a comment to this post and give me some details as to your school and how you’d use the pen. I wish I had more pens to give away but alas I only have one.

The pen will be offered to a school that meets the criteria above on a first in basis. If you are the first to respond/qualify – I’ll need you to confirm the school will use the pen as per my notes above.

There is no cost to your school other than time to learn how to use the pen and encouraging students to try it.

The release of the free Pencast player enables you to access a digital copy of your synchronized notes and audio as pencasts from anywhere. Now notes and audio from critical meetings or lectures are portable and playable when you need them.

This is a major step forward for Livescribe’s mobile computing platform – we first got wind of this earlier this year when Jim Marggraff visited Australia. Since that visit we’ve had many hundreds of customers asking us about when, what, and how.

Instant Access to Synchronised Notes and Audio Any time, Anywhere with Livescribe

“Pencast Player lets consumers access their written and spoken information on the go with their favourite Apple products.”

Byron Connell, Livescribe chief marketing officer

Pricing and Availability

Pencast Player is available immediately, free-of-charge via the iTunes App store. The application works with all iPad devices with iOS 3.2 or higher and all iPhone and iTouch devices with iOS 4.0 or higher and requires iTunes 9.2 or higher.

We’ll be road testing this new application this week in Sydney – stay tuned for our reviews.

This is shaping up as yet another major development for Livescribe in 2010 – the breakthrough year