Being a writer and educator, I´ve been experiencing first hand the variety of benefits from technology partners this year in different fields. Through Thinc, we collaborated with the fabulous Tagtool with art education workshops for over 60 kids. Earlier in the year I wrote enthusiastically about Symptoma for the medical field. Now I am collaborating with Lernstift. Let it put a spell on you! By supporting Lernstift you will be helping the first pens developed and out to the public. It is raising funding now through angel list .
I find myself being doubly excited about seeing Lernstift being
developed. Not only does it point out spelling errors, it supports
handwriting as well, that in turn supports cognition and memory. This is
quickly becoming a lost skill in an over-saturated environment of touch
screen and typing. Furthermore, this is a great tool for children learning to write, people with dyslexia and those learning a second language. It offers an alternative to touch screen and typing, whilst at the same time, offering your the opportunity to link-up to smart phones and other touch screen devices. So in fact handwriting, doesn`t become a lost skill at all. This makes the pen really exciting for learning as it can link up with other Lernstift pens and have games centered around learning and writing with the apps that are being developed in combination with the hardware. As Mike Butcher said in Techcrunch "it could also be capable of spawning its own App ecosystem".
The pen has two main functions. Orthography Mode, that is used to recognise misspellings. The pen vibrates alerting you to re-think what you are writing, so that you can correct yourself. Calligraphy mode that is being developed to recognise forms of handwriting that are legible, so that when you write illegibly the pen vibrates, so that you can re-do your handwriting and improve over time, making it better yourself (with a little help) Read all about it on Facebook, Twitter and on the lernstift website and see what others are already saying about it. Lernstift has been covered by:
time.com
news.yahoo.com
springwise.com
news.cnet.com
corriere.it
20min.ch
and selected at Europas Award in Berlin. Lernstift won Wayra in Munich and the "ECRM most innovative product award" in Rome and was covered by Howard Stern in (New York) as well!
....and here is what a fellow educator said about it: "I am an educator (post-secondary) in rural America. My job is to assist students with disabilities (visual disabilities, hearing loss, learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, etc.) to achieve academic success and eventually get jobs in the community. I'm not a "tech y"; so not so much concerned about form, but function. This is a great (repeat GREAT) tool for teaching, yes even at the college level. I'll add this device to our assistive
technology department tools. EXCELLENT thinking guys!"
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