MP3 players as learning tools for dyslexic pupils

Web address of the case:

http://www.numerique64.fr

Country of the case:

France

City/region:

PyrÃ©nÃ©es-Atlantiques

Posting Date:

20 November 2007

Last Edited Date:

07 January 2010

Author:

bidegain antoine (Mairie de Bordeaux)

dyslexia | MP3 | Peer-learning

Type of initiative

Project or service

Case Abstract

The initiative was born after the assessment of the specific difficulties encountered by dyslexic pupils and the obstacles they face when doing the basic homework tasks. Since the lesson written by a dyslexic child in his handbook is most of the time unreadable, he is prevented from repeating the work and cannot always rely on the constant attention of the parents helping to review the lesson. Giving a printed copy of the lesson does not help when it comes to children suffering from a reading handicap. Therefore, with this initiative an audio â€˜copyâ€™ of the lesson is created in order to allow an easier autonomous work of the student at the end of the day. To do so, peers of the disabled child are involved in recording on an MP3 player the audio version of the lesson in a dedicated moment every day. The dyslexic child is then provided with the MP3 player with all the necessary contents. He therefore receives an â€˜oral portable peer helpâ€™ to clean up and fulfil quietly his own version of the lesson. The same device is used also to give oral instructions during some tests in order to avoid any early obstacle in understanding the instructions.

Description of the case

Domain

eInclusion

Topic

(public) e-services for disadvantaged people | Digital literacy and competences | eAccessibility

Sector

Education, Science and Research

Date

September 2005 to November 2007

Date operational

February 2006

Target Users

People with disability | Young people at risk of marginalisation

Target Users Description

The target group is composed of children suffering from reading/writing dyslexic-like disabilities, in the 48 secondary schools of the area.

Scope

Local (city or municipality) | Regional (sub-national)

Status

Pilot

Language(s)

French

Policy Context and Legal Framework

Regional policy of IT support in schools

Project Size and Implementation

Type of initiative

Training and education

Overall Implementation approach

Public administration

Technology choice

Open source software

Funding source

Public funding local

Project size

Implementation: €1-5,000

Yearly cost:

€1-49,000

Implementation and Management Approach

The implementation has been following a progressive trend, starting from pilot experiments, and expanding thanks to best practices shows followed by call for proposals.

Technology solution

The technology used is a role-based access control Learning Management System to foster secure exchange of audio files and a set of classic portable MP3 devices for recording and listening.

The whole system is relying on an Open Source PHP/My SQL learning management system, "ILIAS Open Source", and on low-cost mp3 portable players.

Impact, innovation and results

Impact

The added value lies in the creation of autonomous working moments for audiences who were until then prevented from accessing to any kind of personal homework tools. The impact, which is still currently assessed by an advisory group of experts, is especially sensible in pedagogical and psychological fields:

- The pupils are much more confident when starting a new task since the audio record of the lesson is acting as a â€˜security netâ€™ that can be referred to as many times as necessary.

- Pedagogically, the access to the contents allows the child to undertake the activities with the same chances as his peers and to go through the whole learning process.

Track record of sharing

Four public meetings and explanation web pages have been developed

Lessons learnt

Lesson 1 - The project is quickly efficient;

Lesson 2 - it is not pedagogical-context sensitive, since it deals with universal needs;

Lesson 3 - It does not ask for previous state the art expertise and can be developed with tiny budgets.

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Christophe Strobbe

Using DAISY instead of/in addition to MP3

14 April 2010 | 2472 Visits | Rating: 4 (maximum:5)

Dear Antoine Bidegain,

MP3 is a format that many people can use, but it has an important disadvantage: it lacks structure and navigation aids, which is important when you convert longer files into audio. Digital talking books in the DAISY format overcome this problem by providig both text and audio, synchronising the text with the audio (useful for using digital talking books in a software-based player on a PC) and enabling searching and navigation. Converting word processing documents to DAISY books has become much easier since the release of (1) the Open XML to DAISY XML Translator for Microsoft Office and (2) odt2daisy for OpenOffice.org Writer. The audio format in DAISY is MP3, so the output of these converters can be used in MP3 players. Moreover, the latest version of odt2daisy also generates playlists.

Best regards,