Development of a Multimedia Courseware as a Teaching Aid for Children with Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a language based learning disability resulting in people experiencing difficulties in reading, spelling, writing and speaking. These problems are sometimes compounded by short term memory difficulties, a lack of organisational skills and time management issues which all have an impact on learning. This paper focuses on the planning, analysis and design of an e-learning courseware to teach dyslexics to read using the ‘picture thinking’ model. The development of this e-learning courseware involves transforming the traditional content of printed books from passive prints and illustrations into interactive multimedia content. The interactive multimedia content will focus on clear presentation of materials, good navigational assistance and a variety of multimedia options to tap into visual, auditory and kinaesthetic skills to support dyslexics. The targeted users will be children with dyslexia and pre-schoolers aged 5 to 7 learning to read Bahasa Melayu. A successful implementation of this courseware will be useful to the dyslexic learners as it will use picture thinking model and multisensory approach to the best of their ability instead of approaching them with the same teaching approaches used to teach their non- dyslexic counterparts

An Assistive Multimedia Courseware for Dyslexics

One of the most promising areas of education is the development of computer-based teaching materials, especially interactive multimedia programs. Interactive multimedia allows independent and interactive learning, and yet presents the learning information to the learners in newly engaging and meaningful ways. This paper delivers the theoretical concepts and design of a multimedia courseware called ‘MyLexic’. ‘MyLexic’ is the first learning tool to nurture interest on Malay language basic reading among preschool dyslexic children in Malaysia. The theoretical framework proposed in the study is based on research in dyslexia theory with Dual Coding Theory, Structured Multi-sensory Phonic Teaching and Scaffolding instructional technique. Detail explanations on its learning content are also discussed. The courseware is hoped to contribute a significant idea to the development of technology in Malay language education for dyslexics in Malaysia

E-Learning for Disability: Creation, Assessment, and Implementation

This paper presents the design and delivery of X-leksia: a multimedia courseware to aid basic reading skills in Malay language among the pre-school dyslexics. The courseware has been developed based on multi-sensory teaching approach. It supports the visual, auditory, kinaesthetic elements via multimedia and “learn by doing” exercises that will reinforce each other for optimal learning. The courseware has undergone both formative and summative evaluation with dyslexics and subject matter experts from Dyslexia Association of Wilayah Persekutuan, Kuala Lumpur. The evaluation procedure, criteria and results are presented in this paper. As a result of completing the evaluation procedure, the author found that X-leksia’s approach was well received by the children and teachers alike although there is still room for improvement. The courseware is hoped to contribute a significant idea to the development of technology in Malay language education for preschool dyslexics in Malaysia

Perceptions of graduate students on using wikis in a statistics class: A case study

Wiki is an emerging technology being adopted in higher education. Among the uses of wikis in education are as a substitute for a course website, a communication medium between students and as an environment for writing collaborative assignments. However, there has been little research on the adoption of Wiki technology among Malaysian postgraduates. The participants of this research were pre-service academic staffs of Malaysian Polytechnics and Community Colleges taking their Masters in Technical and Vocational Education course. The purpose of this case study was to explore, understand and explain the various ways in which participants reflect on their very recent experiences in writing collaborative assignments in a Wiki. The Statistics in Technical Education Research for a Masters course for pre-service academic staffs was chosen as literature mentioned that statistics instruction should be similar to the way statistical practice is conducted collaboratively. For the purpose of this study, participants completed a wiki based group assignment. Data was collected from interviews, blog posts, Wiki log history and field notes. It was found that the possible educational advantages of wikis have not been fully utilized because of inadequate participation.This was because students faced problems when using the Wiki made them resort to discussing face-to-face first to divide their tasks. They resorted to the traditional way of completing group assignments but facilitated by technology. Hence, the potential educational benefits of wikis have not been fully exploited because of limited participation. However, several implications for implementing more effective wiki based learning were drawn from the interview data. On a positive note, students found wikis useful for sharing knowledge anytime as long as there was an Internet connection and they could critically assess change during peer editing. A conceptual model was developed based on the constructs from Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1987) and the Wiki Diffusion Model (Hester & Scott, 2008) to illustrate the findings of this study. This study is short-term and small-scale, so generalisable conclusions should not be made. This study was intended to be an initial pilot study to explore, understand and explain the various ways the participants used the Wiki rather than a defined program to use