Placing Reading Power in Students’ Hands
All students deserve an equal education, but sometimes language barriers or learning disabilities leave some students lagging behind and struggling to understand words or concepts.
Fortunately, technology can help level the reading comprehension playing field. Innovative new advances give students tools such as reading pens with built-in dictionaries, translators, and pronunciation applications to help them read on the fly—and reading software that has a built-in assessment component lets educators track student progress and adjust their instruction accordingly. In short, there are many options to help turn struggling students into competent and confident readers.
With the generous support of WizCom Technologies, we’ve compiled this collection of stories from our archives to help you and your staff identify the reading solutions that are best for you and your students.
--The Editors
eSchool News articles
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NCTI funds research on assistive technologies
A handful of research projects now under way will gauge the effectiveness of new learning and assistive technologies for students with disabilities, such as a non-visual web browser and spell-check programs designed for those with dyslexia.[ Read More ] -
What educators can learn from brain research
As technology advances, new discoveries based on brain mapping are helping researchers understand how students learn. And those discoveries, in turn, are enriching and informing classroom practices in a growing number of schools.[ Read More ] -
Technology helps shatter limits of disability
A web site with information on learning disabilities, a national research center for studying advanced technologies, and a web site for those who are dealing with traumatic brain injuries: These were some of the new initiatives highlighted at the National Center for Technology Innovation's 2008 Technology Innovators Conference, which explored ways that assistive technology (AT) can help persons with disabilities not only learn and function, but also achieve their dreams. [ Read More ] -
Reading, math scores show mixed results
United States students are improving in reading across the board and in math at the lower age levels, with low-achieving students making the biggest gains. But high school math scores have remained flat since the 1970s—a trend that has many observers worried. [ Read More ] -
Reading pens help disabled students succeed in class
Thanks to a grant from the Qwest Foundation, Eastmont Middle School special-education teacher Jennifer Heaney has ordered optical scanners that translate the written word into spoken sentences, reports the Salt Lake Tribune. The devices, known as Readingpens, are manufactured by WizCom Technologies in Westford, Mass. Heaney says they should help students with reading impairments understand science and social-studies textbooks. [ Read More ] -
Cell phones tackle reading, language barriers
New technologies that enable cell phones to translate speech on the fly and read documents for the visually impaired could have important implications for both educators and students. [ Read More ] -
Today’s reading programs also strong on science
Researchers have learned a great deal of information in the last 30 years about how humans acquire knowledge, and this understanding provides important insights for using technology to enhance students' reading skills. At the 2008 Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC) in Orlando, Vanderbilt University professor Ted Hasselbring discussed what researchers have discovered about the science of learning—and how software providers are using this information to create reading programs that work. [ Read More ] -
Reading expert: Don't forget fluency
With global competitiveness playing a central role in several education proposals, strengthening math and science instruction has become a primary focal point of these plans. But at least one nationally recognized reading expert has an important message for policy makers and education leaders: Don't forget about reading fluency. [ Read More ]