Research – Smartpens & pencasts + New Livescribe Wiki
Charting the Cs
This past Monday and Tuesday I had the great privilege of co-presenting on the smartpen with Greg Sumner, an extraordinary OT from Northfield Public Schools, at the 2011 Charting the Cs Cross Categorical Conference in Alexandria, MN. This reminds me – I’m going to ask Greg if he’d be willing to post about his work as an OT with the smartpen because he’s got so many great ideas and stories to share (plus great handouts too). He’s amazing!
Research on smartpens and pencasts!
While at Charting the Cs I was asked to share the research on the benefits of smartpens and pencasts in education. It was such a great question that I thought I’d spend time compiling it and add it to new wiki page on a new Livescribe wiki I just started.
Research page on new wiki: http://k12livescribe.wikispaces.com/Research
New wiki: Wikispaces Livescribe Education Wiki
From the wiki page:
Research
Research Support
- “Livescribe in K-12 Education: Research Support”: 28 page pdf or Blog post with outline
Access Rates
- A comparison of Information Access Rates Between the Apple iPod and the Livescribe Pulse Smartpen - 1 page pdf
Assistive Technology
Blind/visually impaired
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Audio-Tactile applications
- “Smartpen” earns Peabody researcher NSF grant“
- Audio-tactile applications – Videos: Scientific calculator Periodic Table- From TouchGraphics
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Use with Sewell Raised Line Drawing Kit
- Smartpen aids blind engineering students
- Also see pages 15-17 in Research Support (above).
Chemistry Pencasts
Chemistry Pencasts + A Comparison of Pencasts With Other Forms of Lecture Capture
- Blog post by Dr. Daniel Stasko
- Paper by Dr. Stasko: “Digital notes and lecture capture: pencasts as electronic copies of live STEM lectures and student access to digital lectures“
- Abstract: Shifting physical science classes into an online environment poses a number of special challenges due to the presentation of STEM content. In an attempt to improve student access and immersion in challenging science topics, lecture capture and sharing was utilized through the use of pencasts. Students in two separate chemistry courses were given access to digitally captured, in-class lecture session (incorporating both audio and text). Student utilization of these recorded class session was monitored using readily available tools. How and when students interacted with the digital capture of the classes was examined in an attempt to better understand student utilization of supplemental materials and to examine the use of pencasts as a medium for physical science course delivery.
Differentiating with Pencasts
- TechBits – Differentiating with Pencasts (page 38/39)
Mathematics
Online Math Learning Resource and Support Center
Notetaking
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Notetaking research
- Adapted from Livescribe in K-12 Research (above): 7 page pdf
- Adapted from Livescribe in K-12 Research (above): 7 page pdf
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Cognitive effort during Note Taking
Piolat, Olive & Kellogg - pdf – 12 page article + 7 pages of references
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Notetaking at RIT
- Livescribe //Smartpen// Pilot Program- Winter Quarter 2008-09
- Results: Overall, participants were happy with the Livescribe Smartpen. 10 of the 11 participants elected to continue using the pen in place of a note-taker in at least once course each quarter while they remain at RIT. The one student who did not wish to continue using the pen without a back-up note-taker stated that he wanted to use both the pen and a note-taker and we were offering one or the other, so he would probably buy his own pen and continue with using both. The students provided the following feedback [See article].
Pharmaceutical calculations course
- Article: “A brief report on the use of paper-based computing to supplement a pharmaceutical calculations course“
- Objective: To describe changes in the delivery of the pharmaceutical calculations course associated with incorporation of synchronized audio/visual recordings (pencasts) using the Livescribe Pulse™ pen.
- Conclusion: Nearly half (46%) of students surveyed reported using pencasts, and 92.6% of students who reported using pencasts believed that pencasts enhanced learning. Students also responded that pencasts may be beneficial for other pharmacy courses, including pharmaceutics, medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, chemistry, physical chemistry, and pharmacology

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