UW develops Alexa skill to improve Wyoming educators’ dyslexia knowledge

LARAMIE, Wyo. (PRESS RELEASE) – A College of Wyoming lecturer and a graduate scholar not too long ago revealed a brand new Amazon Alexa talent designed particularly to assist the skilled growth of educators to higher perceive dyslexia.

Tiffany Hunt, an affiliate lecturer within the UW Faculty of Counseling, Management, Advocacy and Design (CLAD), and Andey Robins, a graduate scholar from Laramie within the UW Division of Laptop Science, are utilizing Amazon Alexa abilities to create succinct and focused skilled growth that’s extensively accessible for not solely Wyoming educators, however Okay-12 schooling nationwide.

The 2, together with their colleagues Richard Carter, an assistant professor in CLAD, and Dana Robertson, an affiliate professor of studying and literacy within the Faculty of Training at Virginia Tech College, not too long ago revealed their Alexa talent, Dyslexia Consciousness, on Amazon. The talent supplies research-based and expert-vetted content material that helps educators higher perceive and assist kids by exploring the basics of dyslexia and different studying challenges. Dyslexia Consciousness affords an revolutionary approach for pre-service and in-service educators to interact in skilled growth by means of elevated on-line instruction.

The power to develop the Amazon Alexa talent was initiated by a beneficiant endowment from Ann Pickard and Dan Smith to the UW Faculty of Training Literacy Analysis Middle and Clinic.

Dyslexia Consciousness not solely impacts Okay-12 educators, however the talent can also encourage dad and mom, instructional directors, caregivers and others to develop an understanding of dyslexia and studying challenges. Dyslexia is a studying dysfunction that entails issue studying on account of issues figuring out speech sounds and studying how they relate to letters and phrases.

“It’s our hope that the Dyslexia Consciousness talent will enhance educators’ understanding of dyslexia and studying challenges each in Wyoming and throughout the nation,” Hunt says. “Though we acknowledge that this talent serves solely as a foundational underpinning of dyslexia, we hope that it encourages instructional professionals and relations to hunt extra assets and assist particular to this subject.”

By collaborating on this talent, people will develop a foundational understanding of dyslexia. The talent supplies an outline of tutorial practices and lodging that could be used to assist struggling readers. The data gained by means of this talent additionally permits educators and oldsters to higher acknowledge indicators of dyslexia and perceive why figuring out studying disabilities is so essential.

The talent is meant to broaden instructional instruments for people to be taught on the go. With the flexibility to pay attention and interact with course content material by means of Amazon know-how, Dyslexia Consciousness and future Alexa abilities permit for course content material to be extensively accessible and free to these concerned with increasing their data on corresponding subjects.

Since these abilities could be accessed on many digital units, learners will not be required to visually interact with the content material, enabling them to be taught whereas driving, cooking, exercising or touring.

“This distinctive modality will increase the accessibility {of professional} growth and creates an area the place contributors direct their studying to suit the supply of content material into their private schedules,” Hunt says.

After ending the talent, people obtain a certificates of completion, which can be stacked with subsequent accomplished abilities and submitted to the Wyoming Skilled Instructing Requirements Board for relicensure credit score. Educators not in Wyoming are inspired to contact their state licensing companies to find out if this skilled growth could rely towards relicensure necessities.

This venture is in response to modifications in know-how and schooling that allow studying to happen anyplace at any time. A corresponding talent is below overview and will probably be revealed quickly, whereas a 3rd talent on this collection is at present below growth. These two extra abilities are designed to broaden and additional develop contributors’ understanding of dsyslexia and studying challenges.

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