The student engagement team at Gold Creek School works with students to ensure the best possible learning outcomes. They want to see that everyone has an equal chance to benefit from the same opportunities, regardless of the unique challenges they may face. Gold Creek School was on the look out for a resource to help their dyslexic learners access curriculum content. That's when they discovered Read&Write.
Following a successful trial of Read&Write, Gold Creek School found that the literacy tool had greatly enhanced the school's learning support offering, better equipping staff to support learners with dyslexia and other literacy difficulties.
Read&WriteBackground
When Gold Creek School first approached Everway for support, they had over 40 senior school students (years 7 - 10) on individual learning plans, as well as a growing number of students who had been identified as dyslexic. For this group of students, effectively accessing the curriculum through reading and writing was difficult without support. To address these literacy difficulties, the school's Learning Resource Centre identified Read&Write as a potential solution. They chose to roll out a free trial of the literacy toolbar to provide optimum support for their students.
They set up a small group trial of Read&Write to see how students would respond. Following some tutorials, a target group of senior school students who were enrolled in the school’s study line elective were asked to complete a pre- and post-trial survey. The main goal was to determine how effective students found the software and how it would impact on their learning and assignments.
The impact of Read&Write
From the results of both surveys it was apparent that Read&Write had great potential to enhance students’ learning experiences.
Understanding website content
With the use of Read&Write’s dictionary tool, students were able to understand more of the words they were reading. One student said that without it they may have just written down random words without understanding their meaning. Yet with the Read&Write toolbar, their comprehension was vastly improved.
Simplifying websites
A number of students mentioned that before using Read&Write, they sometimes found websites difficult to navigate. Read&Write offers students the ability to highlight or hide certain areas of the screen to improve focus and minimise distractions. It also allows students to simplify web pages, supporting comprehension. Plus, they could now customise the size, colours and font of web content to suit their preferences and reduce visual fatigue. All of this enabled students to study longer and get more out of their research.
Lasting impact
The study showed the potential of Read&Write to enhance the learning experience of students at Gold Creek School. The overwhelmingly positive feedback from students found that the software enhanced their experiences of reading, writing and research, supporting independent study and improving their engagement in class.
Since then, the Australian Capital Territory's Education Directorate has adopted Read&Write across all its schools, providing effective literacy and learning support for 43,000 students across 91 schools. Students at Gold Creek School can now enjoy the full benefits of Read&Write to support their learning.
