What Praesto is
Praesto is a study tool that runs on a student's iPad during lectures. It captures the audio of the class, transcribes it on-device or via the student's own account, and turns the material into spaced-repetition flashcards, practice problems, and a searchable timeline of the session — slides, handwritten notes, and the spoken words side by side.
It is not a replacement for attending class. It is a replacement for the forty-page Word document of typed notes that the student never re-reads. The product's job is to do the boring work of organizing and resurfacing the material so the student can spend their attention on listening and asking questions.
Why it's pedagogically defensible
Two findings from cognitive science sit underneath the design. First, learners remember more when they pull information out of memory than when they re-read it (the 'retrieval practice' effect). Second, those retrievals stick better when they're spaced out over days rather than crammed (the 'spacing effect'). Praesto bakes both into the daily flow: instead of reviewing a lecture once at exam time, the student answers two or three questions about it on the bus, every day, for a few weeks. References are in the Pedagogy Notes page.
Capture is the means, not the end. We default to producing fewer, higher-quality questions per lecture rather than dumping every sentence into a flashcard pile.
Academic integrity
Praesto is a study tool, not a homework engine. It will not write a student's essay, complete a problem set the student hasn't engaged with, or submit work on a student's behalf. Generated practice problems are clearly labeled as practice, are not graded, and are not designed to mimic specific assignments.
If your institution forbids audio recording of lectures, students using Praesto on their own devices remain responsible for following their syllabus's recording policy. We recommend instructors include a one-line statement in their syllabus about whether personal lecture recording is permitted; we are happy to suggest language.
What we do with student data
Students own the recordings and notes they make in Praesto. We do not sell student data, we do not share it with third parties for advertising, and we do not use it to train models that benefit other users.
Audio is turned into text on the student's device and is not uploaded; only the text transcript is retained. Students can delete a session at any time, and the deletion sweeps the study material derived from it — flashcards, practice problems, OCR'd slides — from their account.
If you want to bring it to your course
We run small pilots each term. A typical pilot lasts one semester, involves one or two course sections, and produces a short outcomes memo at the end (engagement, self-reported study-time changes, midterm-to-final delta where measurable). Email [email protected] to ask about the next cohort.