Livescribe Releases Firmware Update that Adds Sound Stickers

If you are a Livescribe SKY WiFi Smartpen user you will be happy to learn that Livescribe pushed out a firmware update that adds the Sound Stickers app to the mix. So now if you have some Sound Stickers around give it a try and you will see how wonderfully they work. Sound Stickers are a great tool for the classroom and now its even simpler to use. Updating your Livescribe SKY WiFi is extremely simple-you can go to the Inside Cover of your Starter Notebook and tap your pen on the Software Update icon. You will also find that your black ink looks smoother and bolder when it is viewed in the Livescribe Player. Similarly, the audio that is depicted by green ink looks bolder and seems to render much more smoothly. So if you have a chance update your  Livescribe SKY WiFi pen and begin to experience the difference!

Supporting Students with Special Needs in the Mainstream with the Livescribe Sky WiFi Smartpen

All of us are living in a time when technology is moving at a lightning speed, at times far out stripping our capacity to see how we can harness the power of the tools that are set before us. I have been working in the field of special education and assistive technology  for the better part of thirty years and have always felt that technology would be the one factor that would alter the way we instruct and the way we would reach students with special learning needs. To this day, I continue to educate and teach and believe more than ever that assistive technology tied with the right strategies can help students learn and help teachers differentiate their instruction. In many ways, the tools of the trade have gotten more robust, more plentiful and more multi-dimensional which causes us to have to reflect on how they can be best used. It wasn't that long ago that when we bought an application or piece of hardware it did one thing and did it well. You see many of the devices that we use today are multi-purpose which are only limited by time and our imagination. Such is the case with the Livescribe Sky Wifi Smartpen.

I have been using the Livescribe Smartpens since it was released and have recommended it to countless teachers and students to help support their learning. The ability to link audio to the ink on the page is really ingenious and is a wonderful tool for students who have difficulty listening to lectures and taking notes at the same time. With a simple tap of the pen on the paper the notes can be listened to which is a real game changer for students. With the introduction of the  Livescribe Sky WiFi Smartpen, archiving and syncing has changed; all accomplished via WiFi and a Evernote account. Now without having to think about it you can  do your work and your notes are archived in the cloud and accessible via any device connected to the internet. A dream come true for many us who want to have access to our notes. While there are other services that let you save notes in the cloud, the Livescribe Sky Wifi Smartpen gives you the ability to store your notes and audio in one place- which is fantastic. While there are lots of ways to use the Livescribe Sky WiFi Smartpen in schools, let me suggest one which could have powerful learning ramifications.

With the move to the least restrictive environment it is not unusual when looking at a child's I.E.P. to find that many students who are in the mainstream are being supported by a special education teacher or instructional aide in their general education classroom.  Having an extra pair of hands and eyes is a great accommodation for students who may need the extra support in the mainstream. Now what would happen if that special education teacher used the Livescribe Sky Wifi Smartpen to take notes for those students that have it in their I.E.P. as an accommodation? Now we are talking! The Livescribe Sky Wifi Smartpen can be used to share just the notes (ink) or the ink and audio- it all depends on how it is going to be utilized. Now that the  Livescribe Sky Wifi Smartpen syncs with Evernote-sharing the notes just got a whole lot easier! You see from within Evernote, with a click of the mouse you can make the note shareable via a URL. Once you have the URL you can post it on your website or portal and now every student that needs access to the note can access it from any browser connected to the web. Supporting students with notes just got a whole lot easier and enable you to provide the notes or the notes and associated audio. With you in control of the  Livescribe Sky Wifi Smartpen you can decide which makes the most sense and provide your students with a great digital support. Providing students with classroom notes just got a lot easier and one that I know your students will love to access. So if you are a special education teacher who is doing in-class support think about how you can use the  Livescribe Sky Wifi Smartpen to take note taking to whole new level- you will be glad you did!

Using the 3-D Recording Headset with the Livescribe Sky Wifi Smartpen

Last week I used the Livescribe SKY WiFi to create some eLearning materials for one of the graduate courses that I teach at the college. After I had created the materials I noticed that when using the pen to record it does pick up a bit of the pen moving across the paper which adds some scratchy audio to the materials.  So this weekend I decided to see what would happen if I recorded a session with the Livescribe SKY WiFi but this time compared the audio with the built-in microphone as compared to the 3-D Recording Headset. It is quite evident that when using the 3-D Recording Headset that you can get a much cleaner audio recording which removes a lot of the scratchiness you hear when using the Livescribe SKY WiFi pen with its built-in microphone. You can hear it for yourself by clicking on the image of the Sticky note. The first sentence was recorded using the Livescribe SKY WiFi with its built-in microphone and the second sentence was recorded using the 3-D Recording Headset. I think you will agree that the second recording has much better sound quality. I know that in the future, I will use the 3-D Recording Headset with my Livescribe SKY WiFi pen when creating eLearning materials for my classes. Click on the note to hear the difference

Livescribe Sky WiFi- Totally Liberating

Over the last couple of years I had the opportunity to demonstrate the Livescribe Pulse and Echo Smartpens to lots of educators who are interested in learning about new technological for the classroom. Today I had the opportunity to demo the Livescribe Sky WiFi pen for the first time to students who are majoring in education. It was really exciting to be able to demonstrate the Livescribe Sky WiFi smartpen and watch how it magically synced to my Evernote account. The students were really amazed how easy it was to use and the pen's ability to record a lecture. They were also amazed that you could and listen to the recording via the paper replay or on the web in Evernote. If you haven't taken a look at the Livescribe Sky WiFi pen, I suggest you do and find out how liberating it is to sync and archive your notes over WiFi. You will be glad you did!

Evernote 5 Released for iOS Devices

I have been using Evernote for some time now and really enjoy being able to have access to all my important stuff on any device that I may be using. As I use more and more devices that are linked to Evernote ( ie. Boogie Board RIP and the Livescribe SKY WiFi pen) it is great to see that the company continues to develop their apps to make the process that much easier to use on iOsS devices. Just yesterday, Evernote released a new version of their software for iOS devices which really streamlines the process of accessing your notes on the iPhone and iPad. The user interface is much improved in this version and makes great use of the limited real estate on the iPhone. Evernote now uses 5 dividers that run across the screen that give you access to: Premium Features, Places, Tags, Notebooks, and All Notes. By simply clicking on a divider the screen springs open to reveal the contents. By far this is the cleanest and most refreshing interface so far that we have seen for Evernote running on an iOS device. It is a lot easier to find information and navigate through your notebooks using the new interface. You can tell once you start using the new version of Evernote that a lot of thought went into the redesign. So if you haven't upgraded yet take the plunge you will be glad you did.

Livescribe SKY WiFi Pen Comes to the Rescue

It has been a long and tough week since our power went out last week due to Hurricane Sandy. My wife and I have been staying with family members who have had their power restored which can be a little disorienting- especially when your routine has been drastically altered. The college where I teach will be closed through Tuesday and hopefully I will get back the power before that- but who knows. Sandy has been devastating to our New Jersey towns! Trees are down all of the place and power lines are mangled and  strewn about.

Being displayed in the season of the general elections is a real problem for many people and recently our Governor announced that we would be able to vote via email or fax as long as we can get the Vote by Mail Ballot to the County Clerk's Office. With this in mind I set off to download the Vote by Mail Ballot from the website which I was able to save as a PDF file. Now how would I get a good looking signature on the ballot? Actually it was quite simple, since I had brought along my Livescribe SKY Wifi Pen with me to my sister's home. Now all I needed to do was to have my wife and I sign a page in the Livescribe notebook with the Sky WiFi pen and have it automatically uploaded to Evernote. Once the syncing was done, I was able to open up the page on my Evernote account and using the Snipping tool on my laptop, I saved each signature as a JPEG file. Now I was able to go back to the ballot which was saved in a PDF format and using the Signature Tool from within Adobe Acrobat X, I was able to import the image file and use it to digitally sign the ballot. The process took me less then 5 minutes and when I was done I used my eFax account to fax the ballots to the county clerk's office. The process was very quick and straightforward. I will give you an update when I hear back from the Clerk's Office. So remember to vote this Tuesday in the General Election!

Open Letter to Readers

Created with Livescribe SKY WiFi Smartpen