Latest news with #handwriting
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Should students go back to learning cursive? Georgia schools say 'Yes'
Remember all the loops, curls, and swirls involved with learning how to write in cursive? Well, movies aren't the only thing that can be rebooted. Georgia Department of Education has revised its standards for English Language Arts to require cursive writing after disappearing from the Common Core State Standards for more than a decade. A packet has been issued to schools providing guidance on how they may frame and implement these lessons. Cursive has been made part of the ELA Standards' "Foundations" for grades 3-5. This involves learning how to read in cursive as well as developing the fine motor skills to form legible letters and words in cursive. Each school is encouraged to establish a uniform cursive writing style or method. The packet gives details on the commonly-used Zaner-Bloser and D'Nealian styles, but there are other styles to choose from as well. Some are more simplistic and almost print-like, while others may look like something off the Declaration of Independence. But before learning to do any style, students must first develop a strong foundation in print handwriting (AKA "normal" writing) including proper spacing of letters and accurate formation of individual letters. Guidance has also been given on how to support left-handed writers in these lessons. These standards have been set for the upcoming 2025-2026 school year. It's unclear when specifically during the school year they will start learning this and will likely vary by school and even by teacher. Learning cursive has become a controversial subject, with the National Education Association laying out pros and cons on both sides in 2022: Those for teaching cursive point to studies that have shown learning cursive improves retention and comprehension, engages the brain on a deep level, enhances fine motor dexterity, and gives kids a better idea of how words work in combination. Georgia's education officials used similar arguments. In a college lecture hall, for example, longhand note-takers may not be able to write everything said, but they will be able to recall more of the information. Those against writing cursive say the curriculum is already packed and is a step backwards as the world becomes more and more digital. In a college lecture hall, those with a laptop will be able to type notes much faster than someone writing them, and would be able to collect more information. So which is better? That debate has been going on for years and will likely continue for years to come. Miguel Legoas is a Deep South Connect Team Reporter for Gannett/USA Today. Find him on Instagram @miguelegoas and email at mlegoas@ This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia Department of Education brings cursive to schools 2025-2026
Geeky Gadgets
03-06-2025
- General
- Geeky Gadgets
Use Your Own Handwriting as an iPhone, iPad & Mac Font
Imagine the satisfaction of seeing your handwriting transformed into a digital font, seamlessly integrated into your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. This process, once reserved for professionals, is now accessible to anyone with the right tools and a bit of creativity. By following a few straightforward steps, you can digitize your handwriting, convert it into a usable font, and apply it across various applications on your Apple devices. The video below from AppleDsign will take you through the process, from creating your font to installing and using it effectively. Watch this video on YouTube. Step 1: Digitize Your Handwriting The journey begins with digitizing your handwriting. Start by visiting a platform like where you can create a free account. Once registered, download a handwriting template, available in both PDF and PNG formats. This template will act as the blueprint for your custom font. You can complete the template using one of two methods: Manual Method: Print the template and fill it out by hand using a pen. Ensure your handwriting is clear and consistent for the best results. Print the template and fill it out by hand using a pen. Ensure your handwriting is clear and consistent for the best results. Digital Method: Use a digital tool like Procreate on an iPad to fill out the template electronically. Procreate offers features such as undo and eraser tools, allowing you to refine your strokes with precision. If you choose the manual method, scan the completed template using a scanner or a high-quality camera. For digital users, simply export the completed template as a file. Upload the finished template back to to proceed to the next step. Step 2: Generate Your Font File Once your template is uploaded, processes the data to generate a font file. You'll have the option to download the file in either TTF (TrueType Font) or OTF (OpenType Font) format. Both formats are widely supported and compatible with Apple devices and applications. Download the generated font file to your computer or device. This file is the key to installing and using your handwriting as a custom font. Keep it stored securely, as you may need it for future installations or updates. Step 3: Transfer and Install the Font To use your custom font on Apple devices, you'll need to transfer the font file. AirDrop is a convenient method for wireless file sharing between Apple devices. Ensure AirDrop is enabled on both the sending and receiving devices, then send the TTF or OTF file. For iPhones and iPads, you'll need a font management app like iFont. Open the app, import the font file, and follow the on-screen instructions to install it. On a Mac, the process is even simpler: double-click the font file and select 'Install Font' to add it to your system's font library. Once installed, the font will be available for use in compatible applications. Step 4: Use Your Custom Font After installation, your custom font is ready to use. On iPhones and iPads, apps like GoodNotes, Canva, and Pages support custom fonts, allowing you to personalize notes, designs, and documents. On a Mac, you can use the font in professional tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Word, or Keynote. This personalized touch can enhance your creative projects. For example, you can design unique invitations, create branded materials, or add a personal flair to journaling templates. Your handwriting font brings individuality to your digital content, making it stand out in a meaningful way. Tips for a Smooth Process To ensure a seamless experience, consider these practical tips: Print Extra Templates: If you're using physical paper, print multiple copies of the template. This allows you to start fresh if mistakes occur. If you're using physical paper, print multiple copies of the template. This allows you to start fresh if mistakes occur. Use Digital Tools: iPad users can take advantage of Procreate's editing features to perfect their handwriting before uploading the template. iPad users can take advantage of Procreate's editing features to perfect their handwriting before uploading the template. Restart Devices: If the font doesn't appear immediately after installation, restart your device to refresh the system and ensure the font is properly loaded. Additionally, test your font in various applications to confirm compatibility and functionality. If adjustments are needed, you can revisit to refine your template and regenerate the font file. This iterative process ensures your custom font meets your expectations. Bring Your Handwriting to Life Turning your handwriting into a custom iPhone font is a creative and rewarding endeavor that adds a personal touch to your Apple devices. By following these steps, you can design a unique font, install it on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and use it across a variety of applications. Whether for professional projects or personal expression, your custom font allows you to infuse your digital content with individuality and charm. With just a bit of effort, you can bring your handwriting to life in the digital world. Explore further guides and articles from our vast library that you may find relevant to your interests in Handwriting digitization. Source & Image Credit: AppleDsign Filed Under: Apple, Apple iPhone, Guides Latest Geeky Gadgets Deals Disclosure: Some of our articles include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, Geeky Gadgets may earn an affiliate commission. Learn about our Disclosure Policy.
BBC News
01-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Why doctors get bad handwriting?
Di writing of many healthcare professionals dey hard to understand sotay dem don even push plenti Brazilian states to pass law wey go require doctors to type prescriptions for computer or, at least, write am make e dey clear wit no abbreviations. But wetin explain di shape of our handwriting? And why some pipo get a perfect handwriting, while odas own be like say dem no fit write wetin pesin fit read at all? Anthropologist Monika Saini, professor for di Department of Social Sciences for India National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, tok say handwriting require coordination between di eyes and motor skills. "I go tok say handwriting na one of di most complex skills wey human beings don develop" she tell di BBC World Service CrowdScience programme. Saini main academic interest na to understand di factors wey make each of us unique for our handwriting. "Writing depend on utensils and our hands. And wen we tink of hands, we dey tok about somtin wey dey veri delicate, made up of 27 bones, wey dey controlled by more dan 40 muscles, most of dem dey for di arm and dey connected to di fingers by a complex network of tendons", she explain. Dis mean say our handwriting dey partly influenced by our anatomy and di genetic characteristics we inherit from our parents. In oda words: your height, di way you sidon, di angle of your notebook or paper, di firmness of your hand, weda you dey right- or left-handed... All dis dey influence di shape of di letters and words we dey produce. But small cultural influence dey wey dem no fit ignored. Abi na for house, for early childhood, wey we dey learn to hold pencil or pen, wit di help of our elders. Di way dem use dis utensils, dem dey pass am on wen di pikin take im first strokes wit pencil. Den school kon join - and a new wave of influence from teachers and classmates enta di mata. As di years go by, our writing go kontinu to change. One of di reason na becos, afta years of training and learning, many of us start to write less on a daily basis. And lack of habit, combined wit di rush of evriday life, fit make us less attentive to di way we write letters, syllables, words, sentences, paragraphs... We no fit also ignore di role of new technologies, wey dey make us type more dan we write wit hand. As part of one of her research projects, Ms Saini bin wan get beta understanding of di most important factors for pesin handwriting. To do am, she prepare a simple text on climate change and ask a group of volunteers to copy di sentences and make dem use di writing style wey dem sabi well-well. Afta dem collect di papers, di anthropologist fit assess elements like di size of di letters, shape of each symbol, di space between words or di pesin ability to follow straight lines in paragraphs. Using image recognition programmes, e dey possible to compare di writing wit di model wey i tok about bifor " di researcher explain. Wen a parent teach dia pikin to write, e dey highly likely say we go find similarities between di two scripts. But pesin handwriting dey also influenced by di time dem bin spend for school or by di style of a particular teacher." Di brain during writing Neuroscientist Marieke Longcamp, from di University of Aix-Marseille for France, dey studying how we take sabi how to write. To do am, she use magnetic resonance imaging machines, wey dey allow pesin brain to be view in real time as dem dey perform certain activities. For one of di study, dem give di volunteers tablet (writing material) wey fit record dia writing movements while dem dey examine dem. Ms Longcamp report say e dey possible to observe di activation of different parts of di brain, wey dey work togeda to make di complex act of writing possible. Regions like di premotor cortex, primary motor cortex and parietal cortex dey involved for di planning and control of hand gestures," she tells CrowdScience. Structures wey dey for di base of di brain, like di frontal gyrus, wey dey involved in certain aspects of language, and di fusiform gyrus, wey dey process written language dey influence writing." 'Anoda fundamental structure na di cerebellum, wey dey coordinate movements and corrects our gestures', Marieke Longcamp add. Di neuroscientist point out say writing depend essentially on two senses: vision and proprioception. "Proprioception dey takes into account information from di muscles, di skin and di whole body. All dis dey encoded wen we write", she explain. How writing influence learning? For dis context, e dey curious to see how di development of technology fit influence di way we understand information. For many centuries, good old-fashioned writing na di only way to take notes, study, memorise and learn different tins. But dis don change radically in recent years wit di arrival of computers, tablets and smartphones. Today, many young pipo dey learning to write wit keys and screens, instead of pencil, pen and paper. Dis transition get any impact on learning? Professor of psychology and neuroscience Karin Harman James, from Indiana University for di United States, dey seek to answer dis question. She dey study how our hands, and di way we hold and manipulate objects, influence brain development and di way we learn. According to dis specialist, difference dey in terms of brain function between to look a letter or words and to uss di body motor systems to interact wit dis pieces of written information. 'I bin want to understand how di interaction of objects wit our hands dey enable us to activate di brain motor systems', she explain to CrowdScience. For one study, Ms James bin recruit four-year-old wey no sabi how to write. For di laboratory, dem bin teach dis young volunteers one of three tins: how to complete strokes to form a letter, how to type a letter and how to write a letter. Wen dem complete di first part of di activity, dem go do MRI scan for dem. "We bin show di children different letters while we bin dey scan dia brains. E reach one point, all dem need to do na to look di letters wey dem bin learn to make for di laboratory", di neuroscientist describe. "We observe say di children wey bin learn di letters by hand show brain activation for di areas wey dey linked to dis skills. No be so e be for di oda two groups, wey complete di strokes or type am", she compare dem. But di relationship between writing and learning no stop for dere. Ms James bin also assess students. Dia task na to attend a lecture for subject wey dem no sabi anytin about. Dem kon fill one questionnaire on how well dem bin take taken note of wetin di teacher bin teach dem. Di next day, all di volunteers bin take di test based on di content wey dem don teach dem. 'We bin compare di results of students wey bin take notes by hand, and wit computer or on tablet', she explain. Di neuroscientist explain say na common practice for American universities for lecturers to share slides wit students. And some of dem don get di habit of opening dis file on tablets and taking notes by hand, using digital pens, for di slides demsefs. 'For our work, di students wey bin use di tablet to write for di screen get beta results for di tests', di professor of psychology and neuroscience explains. "We fit explainam by di fact say di students no only get di original material, for di slides, but dem fit also write dia own notes by hand. But writing wit pen and paper also prove beneficial. Di volunteers wey bin use dis method bin get beta results pass di pipo wey type dia notes for computer", Karin Harman James add. In oda words, according to di latest available data, if you really want to learn somtin, di best tin to do na to write by hand, weda on paper or tablet. You fit improve your writing? But all dis debate bring us back to di discussion for di beginning of di article: Pipo wey dey write fit write beta so day pesin fit read am to understand and learn? As part of di CrowdScience programme, Cherrell Avery, one handwriting trainer for London (UK), bin give some advice wey fit prove useful. Her first piece of advice na to 'go slowly'. We dey write too fast and we no dey pay attention to di shape of letters and words. Ms Avery also add say di need to understand each pesin style, including di best writing utensil, na how to hold di pen/pencil, di right posture and di type of paper, among oda factors. For her opinion, e dey possible to improve your handwriting through exercise. 'Of course, one single training session no go reach to make significant changes,' she tok. But wit a little insistence, e dey possible to create a "muscle memory" wey dey encourage a new writing style. "At first, na a conscious effort. But little by little, e go become a habit and you no go even think about dis new way of writing", Cherrell Avery tok. Finally, Ms Avery say writing dey important to us, evritime becos e represent an 'extension of our personality'. "E be like say we dey leave a bit of oursef for di page".
Free Malaysia Today
23-05-2025
- Health
- Free Malaysia Today
How AI can help detect dyslexia in children
Examples of behaviours common to dyslexia and dysgraphia that can be found in a child's handwriting. (University at Buffalo pic) PARIS : A team of researchers from the State University of New York at Buffalo has presented an innovative study on the use of artificial intelligence in the early detection of dyslexia and dysgraphia in children. This study proposes a method for analysing handwriting, on paper or tablet, in order to identify early signs of this type of disorder. Its aim is to complement current screening tools, which are often costly, time-consuming and focused on a single disorder at a time. To achieve this, the researchers developed an AI system capable of analysing various aspects of children's handwriting, from letter formation to general writing organisation, including spelling mistakes, syntax and even the use of margins. For the time being, the team has only been able to collect handwriting samples from pupils up to fifth grade in an elementary school in Reno, Nevada. Still, initial results are encouraging, with nearly 90% of handwriting irregularities detected. By considerably expanding the data provided to train the AI model, this approach could very well revolutionise early detection of disorders such as dyslexia and dysgraphia, enabling rapid intervention to support the educational development of the children concerned. The model has been designed for use by teachers as a screening tool in the classroom, by speech and language therapists to facilitate rapid intervention, and for parents to monitor their children's progress at home. Currently, two AI tools are under development: one to identify children requiring a formal needs assessment; and the other to serve as a personalised virtual assistant based on each child's abilities.
The Guardian
23-05-2025
- The Guardian
I am writing this with a pencil – it could be an author's last line of defence against AI
When I was very young, three or four, before I learned to write, I'd search out empty pages in my father's thin, hardbound ledgers and out-of-date diaries, and scribble from left to right. I would sit them on an angled louvre, the humid Brisbane air drifting in, and play at writing. I think I derive some pleasure in the friction of pencil on paper itself, surfing the feint-ruled lines. There is electricity – lightning, back through memoir – that links to my early tactile sense of the world. Perhaps, eventually, we'll be able to see AI for what it is and take solace in human traces – an interest in process and practice will deepen. This is happening already, but there'll be more focus on the open studio or the singular, lifelong accumulation of skill and intelligence of any artist, musician or writer – something AI lacks. A painter slowly perfecting a subtle un-mimicable line via studies or works-in-progress. I'm writing this sentence in pencil. I write most of my first drafts by hand; it's something I've done for nearly 15 years. What prompted me was a fancy exercise book I was once given as a gift: almost waxy, caramel-coloured paper with fine, milky feint-ruled lines. It whispered to be pencilled on. I'm happy to escape the computer and travel lightly – in a cafe, gallery or wilderness. I can hand-write faster, too – well, probably slower than I can type, but it's a fast-blur sort of writing; being left-handed, this scribbly sentence vanishes below my hand and wrist, out of mind. I concentrate on a calm centre where the graphite sizzles against the paper, resisting the urge to edit. Japanese pencils and notebooks, German sharpeners. Sun-bitten Australian hands. My habit is quaint, I know, and there are downsides – deciphering my scribbly handwriting is like trying to communicate with the dead. And I'm accumulating piles of smudgy notebooks and stubs of pencils that I can't bring myself to throw away. But I'm beginning to think all this is more important than I first anticipated. A writer friend recently posted that after updating her version of Microsoft Word, it invited itself to collaborate on her novel in progress, offering to work on 2,000 words at a time. Instead she workshopped her panic with fellow writers who helped her unplug the tech. But this is where we're at. The question blooms by the day – how are we to know if any creative text, novel, essay, poem or short story is AI assisted, or even authored? In time, will it be impossible to tell? At present, the best we seem to have is an honesty system where authors put their hand up if they've used AI. I recently submitted some poems to an Australian literary journal – something I've been doing for more than a couple of decades – but for the first time I noticed a checkbox with the line 'I haven't used AI' next to it. It's easy to tick, but how are we to trust that work is genuine, especially given several well-documented cases of plagiarism in Australian literature? This has me realise – for those who value non-AI-generated literature, the focus will shift to this: how do we prove we didn't use AI? My first thought is: practice with a 'c'. It's what sets us aside from AI-generated content, right? Artists' practice. As someone working in the literary realm with a pencil, I struggle to trust AI as anything but a numb wrecker – docile, tonally one-dimensional, static, fattened with stolen literature. I almost liken it to an empty hoax, but it has nothing on Ern Malley. In 1943, conservative poets Harold Stewart and James McAuley invented a poet called Ernest Lalor Malley, made ornate mock-wacky poems and presented them to the young editor of the modernist magazine Angry Penguins. We also know that the hoax worked very well – Ern was the centrepiece of a 1944 Angry Penguins edition, with Malley-inspired cover art by Sidney Nolan, no less. But the hoaxers were a little too good – the poems became some of the strangest and best and most influential in Australian literary history. This is not to suggest we need another hoax, only to compare this complex richness against the generative-AI world which is so much less knotty or interesting – there is no cascading human archive in it. Can AI fragilely misstep like Stewart and McAuley? It was the charm and vulnerability and improvisational flair in their – let's face it – beautiful failure. In AI, are we to find this allure or scribbly imaginative interstice? For me, and perhaps many writers, it's this unravelling illegible sentence here on this off-white paper between the vein-blue lines that is, hopefully, an authenticity stamp. The drafts of art making will take on a significance – they are where the work begins, and a good guide to how it came from the body and mind, building up a physical archive. Librarians may be pleased to hear that just as the book object won't be diminished, the archive may become more significant than ever. An artist with an object-led, mapped, pencilled, human-drafted trail will go well. It's not sexy – well, pencils are a little bit sexy, aren't they? – but the archive might shield the artist against the threat to literature itself: the dumb cunning of the robot. Luke Beesley is a poet and singer-songwriter. His latest book is In the Photograph
