literacy in the internet age: dyslexia and online learning in higher education

Final LITERACY Conference: Wien, February 2015

LITERACY in the Internet age: Potentials and limitations to online learning

Colin Harrison, University of Nottingham, UK colin.harrison.ac.uk

Who is dyslexic?

• The term ‘dyslexic’ is problematic….• But let’s agree to use the term in two ways:

1. For a student who has a reading problem related to poor alphabetic and/or phonological coding

2. For any student who is judged to have a major problem with reading, writing and/or spelling

• “It is estimated that between 1.2% and 1.5% of students in Higher Education in the UK are dyslexic” (Singleton, 1999)

What is the root of the dyslexic’s problem?

- Working memory and the phonological loop

Working memory and executive control (Baddeley, 1996)

What is the root of the dyslexic’s problem?

- Working memory and the phonological loop

Working memory and executive control (Baddeley, 1996)

Rapid word recognition and Subvocalisation

Fluent reader

“Word caller”

“Garden variety”

poor reader

Dyslexic reader

Fluent reader?

“Word caller”?

“Garden variety”

poor reader?

L+ Dyslexic reader

L- Dyslexic reader

Poor spellersGood spellers

B Kn/ Vocab

Phono Loop

Word Rec

Comp Local

Text Integ

Comp Final

(sources: Baddeley, 1996; Snowling 1997; Stanovich, 1980; Kintsch, 1998)

High

Low

What are some of the particular problems for dyslexic students in online learning?

- Even if the course is multimedia, the reading level of the course material is likely to be very challenging

- Even if the course is multimedia, the volume of reading in the course material is likely to be very challenging

- Lack of group interaction and learning with and from peers

- Lack of social interaction and emotional support

What are some of the advantages for dyslexic students in online learning?

- Students can learn at their own pace- No humiliating exposure of weaknesses in front of

peers- Access to additional resources:

- Extra tutor support- Asynchronous peer support- Online/offline tools:

- Text-to-speech; speech-to-text- Glossing/summarising/abstracting sources- Podcast/video source material- Text reformatting options


- Students can learn at their own pace - No humiliating exposure of weaknesses in front of




“But the pace is always too fast!”






“Yes there is- I have to post online!”






“But my tutor can’t give me all the help I need!”






“And my classmates have their own anxieties!”






Text-to-speech is difficult to understand if you’re a poor reader.






But poor comprehenders are poor at judging the trustworthiness of sources






But can I trust it?And can I cite it?






Yes- this can help: but it takes time to do, and not all sources that I have to read are editable….

So are there more disadvantages than advantages for dyslexic students in online learning?

“… social computing tools, while supporting different learning paces and cognitive styles in some cases, are at the same time producing close to insurmountable barriers to students with cognitive disabilities in general, and dyslexia in particular.” (Redecker, 2009)

So are there more disadvantages than advantages for dyslexic students in online learning?

What we do know:

• TXT-ing does not damage children’s literacy (Wood, 2011)

• Apart from phone social media, only 6% of us are producers (Crook, 2008)

• Forums can negatively impact motivation and confidence (Timmis, 2004)

Finally- what are the moral issues in supporting higher education students who have a learning difficulty?

• “The purpose of an exam is to find out what a student can do in three hours. If we gave everyone two weeks, every student would get 100%.” (University professor)

Finally- what are the moral issues in supporting higher education students who have a learning difficulty?

We are comfortable helping the L+ student…

… but are there equity ssues a issues in how much help support we we give to the L- student? give to the L- student?

• Dyslexia recognised by University;

• Face-to-face course

• Coloured paper handouts

• General tutor support

• Student gained MA degree

• Dyslexia recognised by University;

• Multimedia blended learning online course

• Student sent tutor independent report: • “IQ=105; • Reading age = 12.5”

• Skype tutor support• Text-to-speech• Severe difficulties in

meeting M-level goals

• Encouraging more reading practice to speed up word recognition and vocabulary

• Better text-to-speech software to support reading while listening

• More guided support to develop Critical Internet Literacy skills (Al Wabil, 2007)• Assessing relevance• Assessing trustworthiness• Generating better search terms• More collaborative/social learning

• More guidance in using intelligent writing support tools such as Ginger and Co-Writer

The Future:What are the most urgent needs of the online HE student?

Final LITERACY Conference: Wien, February 2015

LITERACY in the Internet age: Potentials and limitations to online learning

Colin Harrison, University of Nottingham, UK colin.harrison.ac.uk

literacy in the internet age: dyslexia and online learning in higher education

Education

dyslexic students

speech speech

term dyslexic

dyslexic singleton

reading problem

additional resources

online learning colin

dyslexics problem