Evaluation of impact of professional development training in the area of technology enhanced learning

Michael Mc MahonOctober 2011

Evaluation of impact of professional

development training in the area of

technology enhanced learning

What is this about ?

The purpose of the exercise is to develop an online module to aid lecturers and presenters in the development of materials (principally documents and PowerPoint presentations) which are more accessible to dyslexic students.

Structure

The online module is broken up into six distinct learning blocks.

Block 1Introduction

Block 2 Information on dyslexia

Block 3 Dyslexia &

the studentBlock 4

Supporting Dyslexic students

Block 5 Best practice in presentations

Block 6 Framework for

evaluation

What is Dyslexia ?

“Dyslexia can be described as a continuum of difficulties in learning to read, write and/or spell, which persist despite the provision of appropriate learning opportunities. These difficulties often do not reflect an individual's cognitive abilities and may not be typical of performance in other areas.” (The Scottish Government-Riaghaltas na hAlba, 2009)

What is Dyslexia ?

What are the associated learning difficulties ?

organisational ability

organisational abilityCommon difficulties writing and copying words and numbers following sequential instructions working under pressure keeping workspace tidy organising daily life structuring essays taking succinct notes organising work and revision schedules presenting an argument logically. dealing with library catalogues / finding books

Module 2

Dyslexia and higher education

A student suffering from dyslexia is disadvantaged in third level education.

Dyslexia and higher education

Percentage of dyslexia and comparison groups reporting difficulties in Higher Education

%Dyslexia

%Comparison

Chi-square dyslexia vs. comparison

% DyslexiaOld

Universities

% DyslexiaNew

UniversitiesReading 47 6 29.73*** 54 40Reading speed 64 7 47.47*** 64 67Spelling 62 7 45.20*** 54 70Note taking 78 18 46.07*** 71 83Organising Essays 76 8 61.89*** 71 80General Organisation 67 36 12.45*** 64 70Time keeping 55 31 8.02** 57 53Expressing ideas orally 24 10 4.93* 25 23Expressing ideas in writing

72 11 51.00*** 64 80

Handwriting 64 18 28.39*** 64 63Concentration 52 25 9.85** 43 60Remembering facts 57 14 26.84*** 54 60Listening 40 12 13.29*** 36 43

*r<0.05 **r<0.01 ***r<0.001 Source: Mortimore and Crozier. Dyslexia and difficulties with study skills in higher education. (p. 240)

Dyslexia and higher education

1.Note taking 78%

Comparison 18%

Module 2

percentage hav-ing difficulty

0

20

40

60

80

dyslexicnon dyslexic

How can we help ?

Clearly if there is an issue with note taking the obvious solution is to eliminate the need for note taking. The provision of notes in the form of handouts or PowerPoint presentations which can be printed in advance by the student is recommended

How can we help ?

It is not just enough to provide notes, handouts and presentations . It is also important to ensure that such material is designed to make reading easier and to lessen the visual stress experienced by some dyslexic people.

The project

This project intends to assess the quality of presentations and enhance them by the provision of a fully online academic professional development module. The project is a case study of a group of lecturers taking that module.

Outcome

On completion of this module the learner will be able to design & construct presentations and written class materials which take into account the visual stress experienced by some dyslexic people, thus enhancing their learning experience.

issues

issues

Dyslexia friendly Text

Media

Headings and

Emphasis

Checking Readability

Font

Writing Style

Layout

Using best practice for dyslexic readers make documents

easier on the eye for everyone.

Written material which takes into

account the visual stress experienced by some dyslexic

people makes reading easier

Module 1-Assessment To take the quiz click on the question

mark Home

Module 1 mainpage

Module 1 Assessment

Next Page

Where to now