From the Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748704631504575531932754922518-lMyQjAxMTAwMDAwNDEwNDQyWj.html

Maybe the Skritter guys can get in touch with some of the researchers they mention and do some research together.

James

Yup, you learn more when you write rather than just read. An interesting observation in English, but one obvious for anyone who has studied Chinese or Japanese.

It seems like every time we partner with some academics to do research, it gets overly limiting, because they want to take a handful of measurements on a small number of learners and write a paper based on that. We always want to have people use Skritter or an alternative method every day and take a lot of measurements, but it never ends up happening. So I'm hesitant to keep pursuing it.

Although, one Skritter user did do an Econ project using our learning data, which was great because he analyzed tons and tons of it. I like those kind of projects.

The question: does using a bamboo pad count as hand writing? I know it would seem obvious, but when I switch to paper: it feels totally different.

Again I suggest, it'd super great if skritter offered writing exercise sheets with the latest characters in the queue or something :)

I would definitely be up for analyzing loads of data for some research. I have some vague ideas about things to explore.

I could recruit some students over the summer break and try do an A/B comparison for research. This the kind of thing you had in mind Nick?

I'm deadly serious about doing some proper research.

helixness: I think it does in that you're aware of the structure rather than visual recognition. I have fairly atrocious handwriting because I spent too much time on a tablet versus handwriting. However I learned 1,200 characters in 9 months while apparently hours per day of visual flashcards completely failed to teach me how to write at all.

I think writing on paper develops a skill to interpret the knowledge you've acquired using the tablet.

I am going to export my latest queue on excel and print sheets to write, so that I may also practice handwritten. It'll be a lot of work but definitely worth it IMO. Perhaps once a week. It'd be even better if skritter could offer printable exercise sheets that are better elaborated.

I think writing on Skritter in "Raw Squig" mode is a lot like writing on a real piece of paper. As Lurks said, it forces you to remember the structure of the characters, which involves more regions of your brain than just looking at a character. This helps with your memory!

I have a few suggestions to helixness:

Try writing up that list on a BIG blackboard with color Chalk!!! It does wonders for your brain. Also when writing, try to compare similar characters from memory.

I did this this summer at school and those words that I practiced on blackboard stuck with me, and the retention rate is significantly (though not statistically proven yet:) ) higher than the ones that I just practice mainly on Skritter. I ALMOST NEVER FORGOT THEM AGAIN!

I think this has something to do with physically standing up writing on the board, plus the smell of chalk and just how different it is (angle, position, size of characters, size of available space) from writing on paper. It helps. This is how I often solve math HW and how most of my professors like using a blackboard to do math too. There is something special about it!

Remember drawing Connections is important!

I am not joking, please please pleas try it and let me know if it works for you too.

Sincerely!