30 Smartpens donated to CVHS, allow students to take audio notes in class

Students in certain classes will have the opportunity to take audio notes using one of the thirty Echo Smartpens pens donated to CVHS by Livescribe in order to gather educational data. All of the pens were given to the math department, half of them given to Marie Smith, who will be using them to help her students take notes in a more efficient and high-tech way.

“We are really excited about getting the pens, and I think they will be very effective in helping students outside the classroom,” said Smith.

According to the Livescribe website, the pens “revolutionize the act of writing by recording and linking audio to handwriting, so users never miss a word.”

The pens can record up to four hours of audio, and with the notebooks can be used as a calculator as well. After taking notes and recording the lecture, users can tap a word in their notes with the pen, and the pen will play back the part of the lecture that the word was in. This is very helpful for going back and understanding and completing hurried notes.

“I think that all students should have one because they are really helpful because if you get stuck on the homework it’s like having a teacher there to help you,” said sophomore Felicianna Marquez.

Each class has its own pen and a student scribe who writes down the notes everyday. The notes are then posted online and are available to all students. Students are chosen to be scribes based on their notebook grades. The special focus classes are using the pens more often than the regular classes.

“I would love to get more, but they are $200 each and I don’t think we can get more donated,” said Smith.