noteworthy

Wow. January 23^rd was quite a day in the world of handwriting! Not only was it National Handwriting Day and John Hancock’s birthday, but the 23^rd also marked the day of Handwriting in the 21st Century? An Educational Summit.

This sold-out summit brought together 150 professionals and research from a variety of practices, including psychology, occupational therapy, education, and neuroscience, to discuss and learn more about handwriting’s role in students’ physical and cognitive development, learning standards and the classroom.

Livescribe has long been a proponent for preservation of handwritten note-taking in the classroom, and the Summit’s consensus about teaching handwriting was similar, with multiple presentations highlighting the benefits of handwriting instruction in the classroom.

“Research shows that children benefit from teaching handwriting, spelling and composing,” explained presenter Dr. Virginia Berninger from the University of Washington. Learning handwriting has both cognitive and motor benefits, and letter formation is a skill that needs to be taught and practiced.

Dr. Karin Harman James of Indiana University explained that her research indicated that in children, handwriting, not keyboarding, leads to adult-like neural processing in the visual system, part of the brain’s central nervous system. She used fMRI scans taken of children as they wrote and typed and said her findings suggests that “handwriting may have a particular role in setting children up for reading acquisition.”

Similarly, Professor Steve Graham from Vanderbilt University found that when handwriting is not taught, reader comprehension may suffer. He also noted having poor handwriting can negatively impact others evaluation of the message.

The findings above represent just a fraction of what Summit attendees learned about the importance of handwriting. You can find these speakers’ presentations on the Summit’s website. Also check out a recent Forrester study commissioned by Livescribe that focused on the importance of note-taking in education, its use in the workplace, and the need to bring spoken and written information to the digital domain.

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you think handwriting instruction should be incorporated into classroom curriculum?

It’s fitting as we celebrate the Chinese New Year and kick off the Year of the Dragon that the education industry would burst into 2012 with what some would call a fiery breath. We first saw education initiatives take center stage at the record-setting Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas; and last week, Apple devotees flocked to the Guggenheim in New York for the highly anticipated iBooks and iBooks Author event.

During a CES Innovation Power panel session, Ursula Burns, chairman and CEO of Xerox, aptly commented, “We must fundamentally improve our educational system. We need to make science and math a desirable place to be. We need great teachers. We need excited learners. We can’t complain if we don’t have them, if we don’t invest in them.” (Full story on Web Pro News)

In related CES news, One Laptop per Child (OLPC) joined forces with silicon provider Marvell to showcase a new XO 3.0 tablet. The companies are investing in education for children living in poverty across the world with their low-cost, low-power tablet, which is expected to cost around $100 per device to contracted governments. Making high-quality and interactive educational tools will be increasingly important in 2012; and in today’s economy, ensuring innovative technology becomes more affordable will take on an equal or greater weight.

We’ve talked before about the impact of tablets on education, and specifically how Livescribe is a complement to the iPad. We continue to believe that learning should be an engaging process – one where you can create your own digital, searchable notes, and interact with your teachers in a way that makes the textbook jump off the page. That’s why we’re also excited about the recent news from Apple around their iTunes U, iBooks and iBooks Author products.

For its part, Livescribe has also made significant strides in the education market over the past year. At the K-12 level, Livescribe is involved in education reform through the Common Core Challenge, a program led by Council of Teachers and Mathematics members Jon Wray and Bill Barnes.  By using low-cost, smartpen technology, Wray and Barnes aim to create an online resource with interactive instructional guides for each math concept outlined in the Common Core Standards.

Livescribe smartpens are also well-suited to the field of learning disability education. In the fall of 2010, UC Berkeley’s Disabled Students’ Program (DSP) began a pilot program in which they provided a subset of students with a Livescribe smartpen for use in taking class notes. At a time when education budgets continue to face intense scrutiny, Berkeley not only identified cost saving opportunities from the Livescribe pilot program; they were also able to track improved performance in participating students.

If January’s news is any indication of what’s in store, the Year of the Dragon looks promising in the education technology space. What is the one innovation you’d like to see in education tech this year? Let us know in the comments.

By CEO Gilles Bouchard and Livescribe Founder Jim Marggraff

Exciting news for Livescribe today with former HP executive Gilles Bouchard joining the company as CEO. Gilles will oversee strategic planning, operations and product management. Company founder Jim Marggraff will remain on the board and serve as an advisor to the company. The official announcement can be found here, but below are a few words from Jim and Gilles as we look back at the journey and what’s next for Livescribe.

As a serial entrepreneur, I love the process of creating something from nothing.  Livescribe is the fifth company I’ve founded or co-founded. During this time, I’ve focused on sparking game-changing ideas that generate significant, positive impact on society.

When we launched Livescribe in January 2007, we were swirling in the final froth of a roiling economy. Our smartpens hit the shelves in one of the worst retail and economic periods in history. In addition, we were an unknown company introducing a totally new category in consumer electronics, with a funky device – a smartpen. And we were in need of growth capital. I remember stepping onto the street in Manhattan, walking to my first meeting for a new round of funding and seeing the words “Lehman Declares Bankruptcy” scroll by overhead.

At a time when consumers were beginning to adopt smartphones and other mobile digital devices with negligible marginal discretionary income, the concept of smartpen and paper didn’t sound revolutionary. The description simply raised eyebrows while invoking frowns.

But then people tried it…and loved it. The concept of capturing written and spoken information and making it readily accessible in a digital format is a simple idea, but one with significant impact for the people who have now tried it. Of the students, educators and professionals using it, roughly 70 percent of our customers say the Livescribe smartpen has “changed their lives”. As our team receives continual praise for the incredible and unique impact that our smartpen has on the lives of students, teachers, writers and journalists for whom note capture, writing, and interviewing are critical to their lives, our inspiration surges. The praise we hear from managers, sales people, lawyers, and doctors about their increased performance, and the adulation we receive from clergy, psychologists, artists and researchers about their improvements in communication, reflection, and expression provides ongoing motivation to improve, innovate and expand.

When I met Gilles, I was impressed with a clear-thinking, driven, seasoned executive who was inspired by our creation and the potential of our business. I know Gilles will carry forward a legacy of impact and innovation, while driving business success in a market about to explode with opportunity around digital writing on all surfaces. Gilles is spectacularly equipped to oversee Livescribe’s expansion as even a broader category leader in digital writing.

Meanwhile, my accumulation of ideas for innovation and businesses that reach beyond Livescribe continue to grow, as does my urge to begin again, kindling a new spark from an idea. I look forward to continuing work with Livescribe’s Board and serving as an advisor to the company, as Livescribe advances and broadens its offerings in the digital writing space. I am energized and humbled by the extraordinary team and community we have created.

-          Jim Marggraff

I’ve spent the past 25 years in the consumer and technology industries as an engineer, manager and senior executive. While I’ve worked at large companies, I have a passion for small companies primed for growth and breakout innovation. Livescribe is a great fit for me personally and professionally and I am excited for this opportunity.

This is an exciting time in consumer electronics with tablet computers, cloud services and apps gaining popularity and mass consumer adoption. With all of these devices and services comes demand for an integrated digital writing solution – an area where Livescribe has a deep understanding and knowledge.

While note-taking applications and styluses are popping up for tablets, they are complimentary – not complete note-taking solutions, especially for those people who prefer to take notes using pen and paper. Livescribe’s unique strength is the ability to capture written and spoken information on paper and make it available through popular services and applications like Evernote, Microsoft OneNote, Google Docs and Google Sites, as well as on a tablet or mobile device. We will continue to build upon these existing partnerships and drive the industry on what’s possible in the digital writing space. If you’re curious what we have in mind, check out this video, which highlights our vision for Livescribe in the coming year.

Livescribe continues to be recognized as an innovative technology. Just a few weeks ago, Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps, wrote about the next five computing form factors beyond tablets. Among which, Livescribe was listed as an example of an embedded device – one of the five form factors which the firm envisions as the “best candidates for what comes next…”

As the leader in digital writing, Livescribe has an extraordinary opportunity to take advantage of our knowledge and consumer demand for a simple, intuitive and integrated solution for digital writing. Our mission has always been to support the capture, access and sharing of written and spoken information. We started with pen and paper and the company will continue to advance the technology to support other devices and surfaces.

I look forward to advancing Livescribe’s technology and providing a simple digital writing solution that makes it easy to capture, access and share written and spoken information anytime, anywhere.

-          Gilles Bouchard