For Dyslexic and Visually Impaired Students, a Free High-Tech Solution

Digital Tools Teaching Strategies Thinkstock By Lillian Mongeau Elizabeth is a college freshman who has severe dyslexia that makes it impossible for her to decipher printed materials. But a few months before starting college, Elizabeth discovered an online library called Bookshare.org, run by a small non-profit called Benetech. “My life changed as I entered the world of accessible literature,” Elizabeth wrote on Bookshare’s blog. For Elizabeth and the millions of students who are “print disabled” — meaning they have trouble reading because of dyslexia or vision impairment — many textbooks are not available in an audio format or in any other format that’s easily accessible. “I would hear about a book and remember thinking, ‘I wish I could read that,’ knowing it might be available in a year and a half. It’s not that Benetech invented accessible literature. “We want books in a format everyone can use,” said Betsy Beaumon, vice president of Benetech. “Now is the opportune moment,” she said.

What Teachers Need to Know about 21st Century Literacy Technology is not only changing the way education is perceived of today but is redefining the overall education scope. It has created new sciences and reorganized the relationships between long-standing disciplines and fields of inquiry. It has also created new cultural representations and industries. The questions worth posing here are: does literacy have the same meaning it had in the last century? These questions and many others are the centre of hot and rigorous debates inside the educational spheres and policy maker salons. Please, don't forget to share with us what you think about literacy in our century.