Vanderbilt Peabody College in Nashville, Tenn., is using a smartpen and paper technology developed by the company Livescribe to benefit students with low vision. "Mainstream approaches to teaching (these) courses all rely strongly on diagrams, graphs, charts and other figures, putting students with visual disabilities at a significant disadvantage," says Andy Van Schaack, assistant professor of human and organizational development at Vanderbilt and senior science adviser for Livescribe. "Our goal is to enable students and teachers to produce and explore diagrams and figures through touch and sound using technology that is low-cost, portable and easy to use." The smartpen contains a tiny camera that recognizes marks handwritten on special paper. It also includes an audio recorder to capture a lecture or demonstration. All the data can be uploaded to the student's computer for later access and review.
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