Pencasts Support Science Instruction

OAKLAND, Calif. —Oct. 28, 2011 – Livescribe Inc., maker of the award-winning Echo and Pulse smartpens, announced today the fulfillment of the Livescribe Educator Ambassador Program (LEAP), filling all spaces in just two weeks. In addition to a free Livescribe smartpen, LEAP participants will also receive online training, a book of ideas for using the smartpen in the classroom, a monthly education newsletter, as well as access to fellow Ambassadors’ classroom examples featured regularly on the Livescribe K12 blog.

“Larger classroom sizes, decreased budgets and looming education standards requirements are just some of the challenges facing teachers today,” said Holly De Leon, Livescribe vice president for education. “Livescribe launched LEAP because we believe our technology can alleviate some of these pressures and improve academic achievement. By equipping thousands of some of the best and brightest educators across the nation with smartpens, we hope to spur innovation in the classroom and foster sharing among these great educators.”

About the Ambassadors

The Livescribe Ambassadors represent 46 of the 50 states, with Texas, Arizona, Florida and Maryland securing the most slots in the program. Participants span all grade levels from pre-Kindergarten to high school and represent a variety of subjects, including math, science, art, music, reading, foreign language and special education.

Here’s a sampling of the some of the innovative smartpen uses already shared by Livescribe Ambassadors:

• Teachers create pencasts of daily discussions and lessons to make available to absentee students to avoid re-teaching the same lesson multiple times. Pencasts are the digital version of notes and audio, which allow the student to hear, see and relive the notes exactly as they were produced.
• Librarians record audio book reviews, so students can play back the review and select the book that best matches their interests.
• For early readers, educators use smartpens to record students reading passages out loud in order to review with each student later and provide more accurate feedback, as well as allow the student to hear himself, which will help the student quickly recognize words and phrases which require more practice.

• Math instructors are using pencasts to produce lessons to support the new Common Core Standards for mathematics.  These pencast lessons will be available to other teachers, students and parents.

What Ambassadors are Saying

“I am a strong proponent of using technology in the classroom to propel our school into and beyond the 21^st Century. Livescribe will be an excellent companion to my already growing arsenal of tools that I use to accomplish this task.”

-          Rebecca Woodcock, teacher at Sullivan Middle School, Sullivan, Mo.

“The Livescribe smartpens are easy to use and engaging for both students and teachers. These tools are sure to inspire students and lead to increases in student achievement – regardless of ability level.

-          Vonda Beavers, teacher at Bristol Tennessee City Schools

All educators participating in LEAP will have the opportunity to become a Livescribe Innovative Teacher of Excellence (LITE), a program that recognizes those ambassadors whose innovative use of smartpens results in improvements in teaching and learning.

To learn more about the LEAP and LITE programs, visit www.LivescribeLite.com.