Digital Ink in the Classroom

Tom Mainelli

Program Vice President, Devices & Displays, IDC

Tom Mainelli has covered the technology industry since 1995. He manages IDC's Devices and Displays group, which covers a wide range of

hardware categories including PCs, tablets, smartphones, thin clients, monitors, and wearables. In his role as program vice president he works

closely with company representatives, industry contacts, and other IDC analysts to provide in-depth insight and analysis on the always-evolving

market of endpoint devices and their related services.

Mainelli is also driving new research around two very important trends: Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), and Technology in Education. A frequent

public speaker, he travels often and enjoys the opportunity to work with colleagues and clients all over the world.

Follow him on twitter: tommainelli

Study Objective

To better understand how Educators are using technology in the classroom – and specifically devices with digital inking capabilities.

Previous studies have shown the impact of writing on student learning outcomes (Mueller and Oppenheimer, Oviatt)

But no data on how digital inking may impact Educators

Definition: Digital inking means a device that supports either an active or passive stylus. An active stylus (also called a Digital Pen) typically ships in the box with the tablet, detachable,

or touch notebook. It often has a button on the side and includes electronics inside the stylus that require a battery that make it work with a digitizer component on the device screen. An example of a device with an active Stylus is a Surface.

A passive stylus is typically sold separately from the device, and doesn’t include any electronics inside. It’s essentially acting like a more precise fingertip. An example of a device that can be used with a passive Stylus is an iPad.

In this study, we examined Digital Ink Educators that used a computer with an active stylus for teaching.

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Digital Pen – mimics real pen: precise, pressure sensitive, palm blocking, smart ink.

Remember, comparing a digital pen to a stylus is like comparing a skateboard to a Ferrari.

Stylus - mimics finger painting

Passive vs. Active Digital Inking

Methodology

IDC conducted this research study using responses from 685 K-12 Educators in the US who are using computers in their classroom.

The study was conducted using an on-line survey drawn from MCH Teacher data.

All responses and verbatim comments have been kept anonymous.

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Panelist Q&A

Robert J. Baker – Director of Technology, Cincinnati Country Day School

Andrew Shelffo – Chief Information Officer, Williston Northampton School

Jason Mocherman – Astronomy Teacher, Riverview High School

Joshua Seamon – Math Department Head, Williston Northampton School

Andrew Fitzgerald – Music Teacher, Long Beach Unified School District

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Audience Questions

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Thank you!