Shiv on Learning

Dyslexic students do not gain as much from classroom teaching as their non-dyslexic peers. The reasons for this and degree to which they are affected vary greatly from student to student. Learning in virtual worlds can offer several advantages to dyslexic students. Some common characteristics of dyslexia, how they manifest and how virtual worlds (like Second Life) can help are discussed below. This draws largely on my own experience of dyslexia and my experience of virtual worlds.

Learning Style

Characteristic 1: Learns best through hands-on experience, demonstrations, experimentation, observation, and visual aids.

This style of learning can be accommodated to some extent in the classroom, but hands-on experience, demonstrations, experimentation, observation and visual aids are what virtual worlds are all about.

Consider English City, students learn English by going to restaurants in an English city, ordering food, paying the bill, doing all the things they would do in real life. This is hands on experience of using the language, the restaurant is staffed by a real person so the interaction is natural and the student can experiment by ordering different things or, if they get it wrong, they can watch another student do it and try again or test a different way of asking right away. Visual aids are abundant, in the restaurant example above students would be able to see the entire virtual restaurant, including the menus and food.

Vision, Reading, and Spelling

Characteristic 2: Confused by letters, numbers, words, sequences, or verbal explanations.

Characteristic 3: Reads and rereads with little comprehension.

Characteristic 4: Spells phonetically and inconsistently

Characteristic 5: Reading or writing shows repetitions, additions, transpositions, omissions, substitutions, and reversals in letters, numbers and/or words.

Characteristic 6: Complains of feeling or seeing non-existent movement while reading, writing, or copying.

The above five characteristics are commonly dealt with using strategies that involve multi-modal learning. Classroom learning and teaching has a heavy dependence on textbooks, writing on whiteboards and written materials in general, this is often the style of learning material dyslexic students are least suited to. The strategy of multi-modal learning involves creating materials suited to the learning style of the student. These are often audio recording, mind maps, pictures, text in multiple colours and diagrams. The problem of poor writing and spelling is commonly addressed by allowing the student to use a computer.

All these coping strategies that can be applied to classroom are inherent to virtual worlds. Using a virtual world caters to many more learning styles than any other medium.  Linguistic, Musical, Logical-mathematical, Spatial, Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal or Naturalistic styles can be addressed   much more effectively than can be done in a classroom. More details on learning styles and virtual worlds here.

Because communication in virtual worlds takes place in multiple forms, with multiple streams of information illustrating each point, each of these is mitigated. The learning by doing model described in the restaurant model above minimizes the importance of explanations. Having the text log to refer to later allows the student to go back and understand meaning in their own time.

Dyslexics often have to read something several times before comprehending it. This is problematic when it is necessary to read a large amount of text, as while doing this the student will fall behind the class.  Where text and voice are used in conjunction and only the important points are written there is a lot less to comprehend. Having a smaller amount to read makes it easier to reread several times in a small space of time.

It may seem counterintuitive to say a dyslexic student with bad spelling should use a virtual world where much of the communication is done though typing. The truth is, when typing in real time everyone makes mistakes, and most mistakes are seen as typos rather than poor spelling, so the problem is less embarrassing. As you can see what everybody else is typing you can see the spelling of words that people have already used and copy it. For students who are particularly conscious about their spelling it is possible to type everything into a word processor and copy and paste it into the text box.

General Behaviour

Characteristic 7: Difficulty sustaining attention; seems “hyper” or “daydreamer.”

This can be a big problem in the classroom; in the classroom if a student drifts away, or loses focus they will miss valuable information. When focus returns, they may not be able to follow what is happening because the information they missed was crucial to understanding the topic. If the material they missed is available in printed form or on the white board the student may be able to catch up, but it is very likely that they can’t.  This could happen several times during a class.

Studying in a virtual world reduces the likelihood of the above scenario. Firstly, communication from the teacher is both in the form of voice and text. Using text to reinforce key points creates a history of the class the student can scroll back through to pick up anything they missed.

Lessons in a virtual world involve moving around in a 3D environment. When sitting in one place for an hour it is much easier to not pay attention; having to move your avatar every few minutes to partake in the activity draws your focus back to the class. Failure to do so also alerts the teacher that a student is not engaged.

Should a student still get lost it is possible to ask the teacher or their peers for help through direct messages without disrupting the group. Likewise, video or audio clips they missed can be replayed without disrupting the group.

Memory and Cognition

Characteristic 8: Excellent long-term memory for experiences, locations, and faces.

Characteristic 9: Poor memory for sequences, facts and information that has not been experienced.

Characteristic 10: Thinks primarily with images and feeling, not sounds or words (little internal dialogue).

A key strength of Virtual worlds is their ability to immerse users in a world and let them have experience in this space. The example of English City shows how a student can learn English by experiencing being in an English city.  Students form relationships in the city and their plot lines.

This experience is not limited to interactions with other people. What can be built in a virtual world is only limited by your imagination. This mean that when teaching physics for example you can build experiments to demonstrate the effect of gravity on different objects, when teaching history you can recreate ancient sites… the possibilities are endless.

Hearing

Characteristic 11: Has extended hearing; hears things not said or apparently said to others; easily distracted by sounds.

Unlike the real world, in a virtual world you have a lot of control over which sounds you want to hear. In Second Life for example you can individually adjust the volume of background sounds, audio, video, voice and the interface. Further, you can adjust the volume of individual speakers so if the rest of the class is a distraction you can mute them and just listen to the teacher. If you are doing group work and being distracted by the nose of another group you can mute them, or make your group louder.

Summary

It is important to note that a dyslexic student will typically only have a few of the discussed characteristics, and that there are other characteristic that are not discussed here.

However the above does illustrate how virtual worlds could be used for the benefit of dyslexic students. The benefits range from the interface design, to modes of communication, to the way information can be presented and the type of interactions that can take place.  Realizing these benefits is of course dependent on lessons and activities being designed to take advantage them. Simply taking existing lessons plans and delivering them in Second Life will bring little advantage.

The research conducted at Languagelab has not focused on dyslexia. The aim has been to creating more effective ways to learn, practice and improve language for all.  The methodologies we have developed, however, use much of the capability discussed here. Just as speed reading, mind-mapping and designing lessons to match learning styles benefit all students not just dyslexic ones, so can learning in virtual worlds.

List of characteristics extracted from from:

37 Common Characteristics of Dyslexia. Retrieved August 29, 2009 from Davis Dyslexia Association International, Dyslexia the Gift Web site: http://www.dyslexia.com/library/symptoms.htm

Recommended Reading:

• The Gift of Dyslexia: Why Some of the Brightest People Can’t Read and How They Can Learn
• Use Your Head: Innovative Learning and Thinking Techniques to Fulfil Your Potential
• Dyslexia: The Miracle Cure

Online Resources:

• The British Dyslexia Association
• Davis Dyslexia Association International
• Dyslexia Action