If I could build my own app it would be something that would work with pen computing in mind (see example smart pen). Although I haven't had a chance to use a smart pen myself, I have interacted with many students over the years that could benefit from such a device.
My favorite part about teaching at a community college is getting to meet and be inspired by non-traditional students. To me non-traditional students demonstrate the courage it takes to keep learning even when you don't quite fit in.
Many non-traditional students are not only intimidated by technology, but discount the powerful writing practices they bring with them to 'digital' classrooms. This is where smart pens and my dream application would come in.
Smart pens like Livescribe already offer the capability for students to record their handwriting and with the help of a computer change the recorded writing into typed text. These capabilities let students participate in a writing course while not being slowed by keyboarding skills.
What my dream app would do is offer the kinds of interactive mark up abilities on paper that word processing programs offer via computer.
Without going to much into how a smart pen like Livescribe works, I would like to provide a bit of background in an attempt to describe my dream app. For the smart pen to work special paper is used that has tiny dots on it. These dots help the smart pen record (photograph) handwriting.
My dream app would let the writer lay a second piece of the special paper under the original writing (or be a larger format) so that a student could circle, underline, or other wise add comments / revisions to their written text.
I think such an app would be great because it takes advantages of things students already do in handwriting. It is important for all students, non-traditional students even more so, to acclimate to the technology used in the classroom. However, having to depend on a word processing program during the semester for all stages of writing - especially when such a program might not be easily accessible from home - seems unrealistic at points. I think my dream app could help address this situation for many non-traditional students and offer a flexible tool for all students.
Given that my handwriting is so crazy that I would challenge any device to try to interpret it-- I never even dreamed of such a thing. :-) I usually try to transition the non-traditional students to the computer as soon as possible. They can never keep up the pace that is needed for writing in higher education unless they feel comfortable at a computer.
ReplyDeleteThere are two ways we can look at this issue-
1) Those who were brought up writing with a pen are more comfortable using this tool and they can focus on the writing (or learning process) itself. Forcing them to go to a computer impairs their creative flow. Technology is changing and soon they can use a pen to input their data into the computer
2) Those who don't learn how to write on a computer will be left behind in the dust. The sooner they learn how to use the tools, the better. It is like still using a quill and inkwell after the invention of the ball point pen. It is a beautiful, but archaic artifacts of the past.
I guess I am one of those who think that we need to give even the non-standard students the training so they can keep up with the changes going on around them. Usually once I help a returning adult student to use Word to write their papers they really appreciate the ability to edit, modify, move around paragraphs, find synonyms, etc.
Even though I am a strong believer in encouraging our students to learn the technology they will need to succeed, personally I have a Wacom tablet, and digital pen. I love to draw on computers and diagram things that can't be typed.
I think there is definitely room for your dream app!! I am just waiting for the fingertip sensors that we can "type" just by moving our fingers in the air...or SIRI can take our dictation for us.
I agree with you as far as the need for helping students learn to use the tools such as Word as soon as they can. One of the challenges I encountered right away relates to the policy discussion that BDWM covers. The computer skills courses are often taken concurrently with developmental writing courses at the community college I teach. The keyboarding course for example is not required for developmental writing, bit is for the college writing sequence (first year writing).
ReplyDeleteI would add, one among a variety of perspectives I'm sure I haven't thought of, to the two ways you've mentioned that the ubiquity of hand written text can happen while a student is learning how to use Word. As keyboarding skills improve being able to import written text so quickly helps students bootstrap their established practices to these newer (more flexible?) forms of composition.
At the core I want to see technology being used in teaching to support a range of writing practices, rather than only being able to support a few approaches (composing / revising text compositions onscreen).