Blind students are about to speed up their learning curve thanks to a new "Smart" pen. Did you know, just three characters of braille take up an inch on a page? This new pen can condense that information into just one smart dot.
For most of us, a pen that talk to us would just be a cool new technology. However, for a blind student, this pen may help rewrite their future. These students may now have a better opportunity to find employment and other opportunities after they get out of school.
Instructional technologists have developed the Smartpen, which is going to help blind students learn faster and easier than ever before. It not only records what you write, but it also remembers when you wrote it. Teachers will also be able to swing by a student's desk and draw the same picture in front of them, that she drew on the blackboard. This will help keep all students on the same page.
All the student would have to do is hit the record button on the pen and then let it do the rest. Students hold it in their hand just like a regular pen and it also looks like a real pen too. It works just the same so you can just open up a notebook and start taking notes.
The visually impaired have a 70% unemployment rate. One reason is because training and education is often a great challenge.
The Smartpen only costs about a hundred-fifty bucks and all your notes and recordings can be quickly uploaded to your computer. Some day the pen will be able to store bus maps, books and even recipes.
How Does it Work? The Smartpen is a pen and a computer that allows users to write, record audio, record what is written and access that information in a unique way. Covering paper with a pattern of dots makes each location unique and recognizable by a tiny camera mounted in the pen. If reviewing notes taken during a lecture, students can find diagrams they made and then command the pen to play back what was said while the diagram was drawn. Using special paper, the camera is able to read where it is on the page and find the corresponding spot in the audio, making it easy to play it back.
AN Audio-Tactile Display: Using the Smartpen with a raised line-drawing kit gives visually impaired and blind people a chance to interact with the diagrams and pictures vital to learning science and math concepts. With the Smartpen, students can print dots onto thin plastic sheets used with a pad that creates a raised line when written on with the pen. Teachers can explain a concept while writing the accompanying diagrams on the pad and then hand the pad and Smartpen to the student. The student would then be able to touch the pad, tap the pen in a spot and in an on-demand fashion, listen to the teacher's explanation.
