marbel Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 My son had a neuropsychological eval last fall and one of the suggestions for him, moving toward college, was a livescribe pen or similar device for note-taking. He is not able to listen and take notes at the same time. Does anyone have any comments on these devices? Reviews on Amazon are pretty mixed. I did come across a thread from January 2013 which also had mixed reviews, but I wondered if anyone has more recent experience, since technology might have changed a good bit in two years. He could ask for a notetaker at the community college, but my more immediate concern is the class at the county Fire Academy he's starting later this month. (He has signed up as a junior volunteer firefighter and they are sending him to classes.) I don't even know if notetaking will be an issue but I'd like him to be prepared. (I may already be too late in investigating this as the class starts in 2 weeks, but maybe there is not a long learning curve on the device.) He has a pretty good auditory memory for facts and will probably do OK without taking notes, but of course I can't be sure. I do have a concern about details not related to the actual instruction, such as "for next week read pages xx to xx in the manual" or "next week class won't be here, it will be at [address] at [time]. Bring lunch." Anyone? Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timberly Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyHandsAreFull Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 I bought myself the LiveScribe 3 pen about a year ago for note taking while studying for an important board exam. I gave up after about a month. It's a really great concept but IMHO just not ready for prime time, so to speak. It did a pretty good job of turning my written notes into PDFs (of my handwriting) but the function that was supposed to turn it into text (ie typed) had lots of errors. Finally, the audio portion (the pen cast) I could never quite get to work reliably because it would randomly stop recording. This happened almost every lecture. I would notice the red light had gone off and it would not be recording. Possibly if I spent more time with it I could have made it work but I struggled for a month or so and just gave up because I felt like it was more trouble than it was worth. HTH 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 I haven't used them, but if you are on or subscribe to the homeschool2college hs2coll yahoo group, there are several people on there with kids in college using these with enormous success. If you join that mail list and search you will find several threads that were extensive. Some prefer to use iPads with note taking software - also capable of recording and attaching the recordings to the notes. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teri H.; Oregon Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Do you happen to know which software program it was? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Ds uses notability on the iPad and really likes it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 I bought myself the LiveScribe 3 pen about a year ago for note taking while studying for an important board exam. I gave up after about a month. It's a really great concept but IMHO just not ready for prime time, so to speak. It did a pretty good job of turning my written notes into PDFs (of my handwriting) but the function that was supposed to turn it into text (ie typed) had lots of errors. Finally, the audio portion (the pen cast) I could never quite get to work reliably because it would randomly stop recording. This happened almost every lecture. I would notice the red light had gone off and it would not be recording. Possibly if I spent more time with it I could have made it work but I struggled for a month or so and just gave up because I felt like it was more trouble than it was worth. HTH This was my son's experience as well (and he's a tech guy who can make anything work). 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbel Posted January 15, 2015 Author Share Posted January 15, 2015 Thanks for the feedback. This matches with reviews I've read on Amazon. I will check into the discussions on hs2coll group. I do get mail from that group but don't remember seeing anything about this pen. Sometimes there is so much traffic that I can't keep up. I'll go to the archives! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Thanks for the feedback. This matches with reviews I've read on Amazon. I will check into the discussions on hs2coll group. I do get mail from that group but don't remember seeing anything about this pen. Sometimes there is so much traffic that I can't keep up. I'll go to the archives! I saved some of the discussion. Look for a thread titled Sky wifi pen. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heathermomster Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Mercy, these types of threads KILL my wallet. :svengo: DH told me yesterday that he was receiving a bonus so guess what I purchased today? A 2GB Echo should be here by Saturday from Amazon. Can't wait for DS to try it out and update. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plink Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 We chose to go with an "older" version of Livescribe, and it has been a HUGE blessing. Sync is seamless, there are no audio glitches, it has plenty of storage, and it is super easy to use. DD doesn't ever attend classes without it. Here is the reasoning behind our choice: http://www.libertyhillhouse.com/2014/09/25/which-livescribe-for-dyslexic-students/ 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heathermomster Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 OK..I purchased the 2Gb Echo for DS. It arrived last weekend, so we explored its use and loaded a program called Echo Desktop and a free trial version of MyScript for Livescribe onto our Win 7 PC. The documentation that arrived with the Livescribe isn't very good. We figured everything out though, and DS used the product today. I just downloaded the audio and pencast to the Echo Desktop software. I can click on the notes with a mouse and plainly hear son's instructor. Livescribe is AWESOME. MyScript converts the handwritten notes. The MyScript software seems OK. Son's handwriting is bad, so the software figured out a little over half of his handwriting. The transcribed notes are easily corrected once inside a Word document. ETA: Son tells me that MyScript is a waste, and that by the time he corrects the notes in Word, he could have simply typed them from scratch. MyScript comes with a free 30 trial period. The Livescribe Echo is a nifty device. So far, DS is pleased with it, but only time will tell. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Heathermomster - do you have an update on Livescribe? How are you liking it now? Still useful? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heathermomster Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 (edited) Here are my son's paraphrased comments about the pen. He carries it to class twice per week for chem and Spanish. "The device comes in handy when a topic is missed in class. I simply right a side note like "missed point at 30 seconds back" allowing me to later return and re-listen to that particular bit of information. I am also missing fewer assignments by using the pen." Edited January 13, 2016 by Heathermomster 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Here are my son's paraphrased comments about the pen. He carries it to class twice per week for chem and Spanish. "The device comes in handy when a topic is missed in class. I simply right a side note like "missed point at 30 seconds back" allowing me to later return and re-listen to that particular bit of information. I am also missing fewer assignments by using the pen." Sounds like this is exactly what we need. I was hoping the response would be something like that. Ds just needs to review the bits he's missing in class due to processing issues. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.