Tegrity Inc., an Israeli company based in Yehud, has come up with a system to record their notes onto the Internet while writing them in class. At the same time, the professor’s lecture is recorded on video for review in the archives of the university’s website.
Tegrity Campus uses a sensor-enhanced digital pen and special paper that links with the university’s existing course management system, where lectures are recorded for uploading to the Internet.
“The Tegrity Notes system is where we address how the students access class recordings,” says the company’s President and CEO, Isaac Segal. Students take handwritten notes with the special pen and a regular paper notebook, and later plug the pen into a loading dock, which uploads the notes. The software then links them up with that day’s class recording.
Universities can buy the software for an annual fee and then license the synchronization software, Tegrity Campus, which delivers the system to the students through the internet.
Tulane University, Carnegie Mellon, Georgia Tech and other educational institutions are now using the system, which the company says is surprisingly simple.
The technology has the potential to seriously impact on the way students learn. It was created by a company that began as a tiny startup eleven years ago with a team of five engineers.
“We started as a small team, working with some fancy hardware equipment – all of which is completely irrelevant these days,” says Segal. Creating the new technology took three years and 15 engineers, he says.
Fortunately, the company was well equipped for the job, with 20 employees in Israel and 25 more at the U.S. offices in Santa Clara, California. Duties are split up between the two locations: Israeli engineers do research and development, while the U.S. team focuses on marketing and product placement.
Based on an article which appeared on the Israel21c.com website.