The Usability of Handwriting Recognition for Writing in the Primary Classroom

This paper describes an empirical study with children that compared the three methods of writing — using pencil and paper, using the QWERTY keyboard at a computer, and using a pen and graphics tablet. The children wrote short stories. Where the graphics tablet was used, the text was recognized and presented to the children as ASCII text. Measures of user satisfaction, quantity of writing produced, and quality of writing produced were taken. In addition, the recognition process was evaluated by comparing what the child wrote with the resulting ASCII text. The results show that for the age group considered, writing at the tablet was as efficient as, and produced comparable writing to, the pencil and paper. The keyboard was less efficient. Key usability problems with the handwriting recognition interface are identified and classified, and we propose some solutions in the form of design guidelines for both recognition-based and pen-based computer writing interfaces.