School is back in session and the digital age of learning is in full swing. Children of today are becoming increasingly digital at a younger age and a faster pace. Schools are promoting digital learning, as seen with the incorporation of laptops in the classroom, meanwhile students are flooding their learning and social environments with digital devices, like smartphones and iPads. As a result, less time is being spent on children learning basic handwriting and cursive.  Just recently, the state of Indiana dropped the requirement for students to learn cursive writing because education officials said it I was more important to learn typing skills.

Is this going to become the trend throughout the rest of the US?  We hope not, because research shows that handwriting is incredibly important to mental development and educational success.

A few proof points:

• A book by neurologist Frank Wilson argues that handwriting is crucial to building language fluency and critical thinking.

• A Science Magazine report claims that students who handwrite in diaries before tests get a half-grade better scores than their peers.

• And, in this era of technology-laden classrooms, a recent Forrest Research survey showed that 39 percent of information workers identified handwritten note-taking skills as a top priority, superseding art (9 percent), music (19 percent) and physical education (34 percent).

As handwriting and cursive are de-emphasized in favor of typing on computers, a counter-consensus is emerging on the importance of this age-old skill, but it doesn’t need to be an either/or proposition.

We at Livescribe are excited to be bridging the analog and digital worlds with Echo smartpens. With this technology, users can record and synchronize penstrokes, in sync with surrounding audio, enabling the ultimate note-taking tool for today’s complex digital age.

Looking at the big picture, Echo smartpen technology is helping children preserve crucial skills for their core development and critical thinking skills, with a solid understanding of handwriting. Here’s to another step forward, leading the youth for success!