Interactive pentop computer gives voice to K-8 students: FLY pentop computer brings life to paper-based media this fall.

LEAPFROG'S JIM MARGGRAFF THINKS BIG. "The potential of paper-based computing combined with the portability and affordability of the FLY pentop computer creates a situation where I project one billion FLY pentop computers will enter the world over the next decade," he predicts. "Why not? Who wouldn't want an intelligent, affordable, portable pen? It's too powerful, intuitive, and low-cost not to be broadly adopted."

Marggraff has been called the "Steve Jobs of LeapFrog" for good reason. The visionary behind the FLY pentop computer and the father of the LeapPad personal learning tool (PLT) and the Odyssey interactive globe, Marggraff was the founding president of LeapFrog's Internet division, defining and managing the company's product line of Web-connected devices, content, and associated online services. Now, Marggraff is the executive director of LeapFrog's Educational Advisory Board and a member of its Learning Institute.

Following is an edited transcript of a recent interview he gave exploring the potential of "smart-paper" computing:

Before we get into the heart of this conversation, LeapFrog has always been about one-to-one technology for learning. How would you define that concept?

MARGGRAFF: One-to-one learning can be realized by providing students with PLTs to deliver individualized learning anywhere, anytime, on any topic. In the best case, these tools are inexpensive and portable and deliver highly engaging content. That's a complete win for students, educators, parents, and our society.

Achieving all three is obviously a challenge for educators.

True. A PC can be an excellent learning tool, but it has limited portability, it's relatively expensive, and it's costly to maintain. Our challenge has been to create low-cost, portable, effective, and engaging learning tools.

In fact, the "engaging" component is one of the toughest standards to meet, isn't it?

They are all hard to achieve, to be honest. But yes, our goal is to create products that include an engaging intellectual component and emotional component. Engagement plays a critical role in learning. The "fun factor" for kids is very important, but we take seriously the concept that effective learning devices and exercises must be difficult enough to be challenging but not so difficult as to be discouraging.

Getting the right balance, achieving the perfect tension between the two apparently opposing goals, has always been a challenge.

Yes and no. We don't think learning and fun are in opposition to each other. We put an emphasis on students' mastery of the work and we engage them with interactive paper, rewards, fun, and excitement.

Interactive paper? That's not a concept that most educators are familiar with.

Yet it's a natural progression. Pen and paper provide a comfort zone for teachers and students. They offer a completely familiar medium that beckons for advancement with well-crafted technology targeted at solving real-world classroom challenges and extending the teacher's influence and impact, rather than diminishing it.

When educators talk about technology, they don't often talk about paper-and-pen tools.

True, the technology industry has been driving toward placing a PC or laptop in the hands of each student. This is loaded with both promise and peril. But it doesn't take into account the incredible power of convergence between the paper world and the digital world. I think [technologists] missed an obvious solution.

Can you explain that nexus between paper and computers?

Typically, you start with a computer and end up with paper. With the FLY pentop computer, we started with paper and ended up with a computer. This is the direct integration of technology with pen and paper. At a broader level is the convergence of the paper world of books, notebooks, quizzes, maps, and so on with the digital world, including PCs and the Internet. Looking to the future of paper computing, information will flow seamlessly back and forth between a user's mind, via pen and paper, and the online digital world.

Tell me about the FLY pentop computer. What is it? How does it work?

The FLY pentop computer is an electronic personal learning tool that gives users real-time audio feedback as they touch, write, and draw on special FLY interactive paper, making what they write really work.

What will users be able to do with it?

For example, a FLY pentop computer user can draw a calculator on a piece of paper, touch the handwritten digits and functions to perform an operation--then hear the answer announced from the FLY pentop computer. A student can write a word in English and hear it translated into Spanish with the FLY translation software, do math calculations, or draw a piano keyboard and play it. A student can write a long division problem, and the FLY pentop computer will help solve it, step-by-step, but will never give the answer--it only confirms when the task is complete. A student can write this week's spelling words and play games to learn them. With interactive textbooks, the FLY pentop computer can teach a student the metacognitive skills of previewing, reading, and reviewing a chapter; then it will quiz the student on the chapter, prompting him to touch words, graphs, and pictures to answer questions. To develop critical thinking skills and reading comprehension, the pentop computer will guide the student to write a page of notes with words and pictures in his own handwriting. Once the page of notes is complete, it becomes fully interactive, and the FIX pentop computer will test the student on his own notes.

This also represents a whole new use of paper, and applications that weren't even considered a couple of years ago. How did you come up with the idea?

I wondered, "What if all the paper in a classroom--and the world--could be interactive? What if, when a student is engaged in the personal dialogue of thought and writing, an intelligent tutor could provide assistance with his thinking?" From there we merged the lowest-cost display technology--paper--with the lowest-cost communication technology--a pen, and created paper-based computing.

This was an idea that is really brand new, possibly the "Next Big Idea."

We think so. This new platform is designed to bring computer interactivity to the most prolific and easy-to-use display interface of all--pen and paper. The key point here is teachers and publishers can inexpensively add value to pens and paper. And I'll add that learning materials in a classroom--maps, books, tests, quizzes and so on--will be paper-based for the foreseeable future.

The FLY pentop computer and its interactive medium--so-called "smart paper"--are heading for the market this fall. How is the software shaping up?

We're releasing the FLY pentop computer this fall with two titles for grades 3 -5--Enter-Your-Own (EYO) Spelling and EYO Math. These programs permit students using FLY pentop computers to learn how to spell words and solve math problems. Our English-Spanish Dictionary, for all ages, includes 20,000 words--10,000 English and 10,000 Spanish entries. A student can write the word "cat," for example, and hear "cat; el gato; e-l g-a-t-o; el gato. "We also have a test-prep package for math, science, and social studies for grades 6-8 that is directly correlated to over 90 percent of all grade 6-8 math, science, and social studies textbooks in the country. You pick your text and chapter, and then play games answering questions focused on the key concepts for your chapter.

We're blending the power of research-based curriculum with engaging multi-sensory technology to advance student achievement. It's all about engaging and motivating students to participate more fully in the interactive learning experience and enhancing the teacher's reach and impact.