I'm an educator (physicist) who has migrated to Maple because of the lower "activation barrier" to get something of interest produced by the student. The students in my courses are exposed to several language (Python, C++, Java) and mathematical systems (Mathematica, Maple, MATLAB.) Many claim that unless forced to used a particular language or system, their first choice is Python and Maple for the reason I cite. 

As a consequence, it is my experience that students truly perfer the math-like appearance of the 2-D Math notation as opposed to the Maple notation. They see it as more natural - again with a lower activation barrier. Hence I see no reason to change. However, I would be interested in reasons why it might be beneficial.

My ultimate question is: do I start them with worksheet mode or documents mode? I'm use to worksheet mode and have found the call and response method easy for them to understand. But document mode has many valuable benefits. Is it worth the increase in learning (and frustration) for the benefits if the students use the software only a few times per semester? Or for some, every week?

I would be interested in hearing about the experiences of other educators.