To look into developing a system that can help people with text processing problems

Abstract

Learning progress is an important process within all stages of education. The majority of students do not have learning issues throughout their time in education. However, there is a small population of students whose learning progress may be influenced by language processing issues. These students may need to devote more time in their learning. There is a lot of technology which can assist learning in general, but the same is not as true for learning through text processing difficulties. And when lectures theatres are filled with hundreds of students, this means that students have fewer opportunities to ask questions if they do not understand, and especially those with text processing issues. This means that students with text processing issues could require extra support in their learning. This Project explores ways to help students with text processing issues and in particular dyslexia and English as a second language. This work explores literature on dyslexia and also being taught in an overseas environment (Chinese students were selected as an example). It then explores the technologies available to both these groups of learners and looks at the development of a prototype application to alter Microsoft PowerPoint lecture notes in various ways to assist these two groups of learners. The methodology used to gather product requirements is based on a qualitative approach in the form of interviews. The Project concludes with an evaluation of the aims and objectives and a discussion on future improvements.