Assistive technologies(The SmartPen)

Have you ever taken notes for a long lecture and then looked back at them and had no idea what you were writing? Or do you wish you could write everything the teacher was saying down on paper? Just like you, students all over the world have difficulties keeping up, more so those who have learning disabilities. In school, teachers provide students that can't keep up with PowerPoint slides or notes. However, nothing can really compare to hand written notes and the teacher's lecture. For several years now, students lucky enough to discover smartpens have been able to take handwritten notes and record the teachers lecture. Now teacher's are using this technology to allow students to playback their lecture over and over again.

What is a smartpen? A smartpen is produced by several companies, the most widely known being Livescribe. A smartpen, in conjunction with special paper, records notes and the lecture at the same time.The lecture at a specific point can be accessed by touching the pen to that point in the notes. So instead of searching through a teacher’s hour long lecture or simply not having it the smart pen finds the section you want based on your own notes. The notes taken on the special paper can then be uploaded onto the computer and turned into computer text. To learn more about Livescribe and smartpens check out their website here.

This technology has huge ramifications for students with learning disabilities and even regular students. In the video below Wichita Collegiate School adopts smartpens as a record-able lecture tool for all their students. As an educator, and a student, I am excited by this technology. If I had the ability to record my lectures in concentrated bits with student’s notes I'd jump on the opportunity. In a math class these tools are especially helpful. Teachers often add little tidbits in with their lecture that students may not write down. I know as a student that I often write down the teacher’s example and not the little tricks he says. As a math teacher I would use the smartpen to record my lecture as I gave them to the class and upload my notes and lecture online so my students could refer back to it for homework help anywhere or anytime.