New Research finds that Digital Writing Improves Attention to Detail and Ability to Learn

WESTBOROUGH, Mass., Aug. 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Anoto, the world leader in digital writing technology, today announced that a new book, The Design of Future Educational Interfaces (Routledge) summarizes recent studies on how different types of computer input tools, can substantially undermine or stimulate people's ability to think accurately. The book, just published in April, was written by an independent nonprofit organization in the Seattle area and evaluates how different computer interfaces influence students' performance.

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Studies highlighted in the book show that using a digital pen interface stimulates people to write more spatial content (diagrams, symbols), compared with either a keyboard or a non-digital pen. This leads to a 9 – 38 percent improvement in students' ability to produce ideas, solve problems correctly, and make accurate inferences about information. The studies involve students of different ages and ability levels, and include math, science and everyday reasoning tasks. The research reveals the advantages of using a digital pen as a "thinking tool" for many computer tasks, compared with traditional keyboard-and-mouse interfaces.

The book was written by Sharon Oviatt, an international authority on computer interface design and human cognition. Oviatt says, "Digital pens are able to support a flow of communication involving all types of representation, including diagrams, symbols, numbers and words - and shifting fluidly among them while we think. With digital pen and paper, the Leonardo da Vinci in all of us is able to construct spatial content, which is the foundation of human cognition and a prerequisite for creative work."

The Anoto Live™ pen looks, feels and writes like a normal ballpoint pen. However, it contains an infrared camera, an advanced image microprocessor and a mobile communications device for wireless connection. Using a digital pen on a surface covered with the Anoto Live™ dot pattern, you can capture, store and then securely send the handwriting, enabling you to easily convert ink to digital data – immediately.

"Oviatt's research points to the 'power of the pen' and the fact that Anoto Live™ digital writing is not only easy to use for capturing and managing all kinds of data, it also is a low-load interface that is performance enhancing" said Stein Revelsby, CEO of Anoto Group AB. "Our solutions are widely implemented across education, field services, healthcare, facilities, oil and gas and many other industries around the world, and have transformed handwriting into the digital age."

About Incaa Designs

Incaa Designs is the independent nonprofit that supports the research described in The Design of Future Educational Interfaces. Ensuring that educational technologies improve the learning opportunities and lives of all people, our studies identify which technologies avoid expanding the achievement gap between student groups that differ in gender, age, race, cultural or language background, physical or cognitive disability status, and related factors. For more information, please visit: (http://www.incaadesigns.org/)

About Anoto Group

Anoto Group AB is a global leader in digital writing solutions, which enables fast and reliable transmission of handwriting into a digital format. Anoto operates worldwide through a global partner network that delivers user-friendly digital writing solutions for efficient capture, transmission, distribution and storage of data. Anoto is currently in use across multiple business segments, e.g. healthcare, banking and finance, transportation and logistics and education. The Anoto Group has over 100 employees and is headquartered in Lund (Sweden). The company also has offices in Basingstoke, Guildford and Wetherby (UK), Amsterdam (NL), Boston (US) and Tokyo (Japan). The Anoto share is traded on the Small Cap list of NASDAQ OMX Stockholm under the ticker ANOT. For more information, please visit: www.anoto.com.

For more information contact:   
Karen Pantinas
Davies Murphy Group
[email protected] 
781-418-2413                                             

SOURCE Anoto