UO CIS team wins NSF grant turning tablets to tools
UO Computer and Information Science team wins NSF interdisciplinary grant to turn electronic tablets into reading comprehension support tools.
A CIS research and development team will work with College of Education faculty to tackle adult reading and comprehension difficulties.
With the help of a five-year, $2.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation, Stephen Fickas, professor of computer science, and Stuart Faulk, research professor of computer science, will join with McKay Sohlberg, professor of communication disorders and sciences, and others from the College of Education, to launch the CampusReader project.
The CampusReader software, which will be developed in stages over five years, will target a wide range of current college students, including veterans who have suffered mild brain injuries, and adults struggling with developmental barriers such as attention deficit disorders and learning disabilities, Fickas said.
In collaboration with two Department of Defense facilities and an urban university's student disability services program, the UO researchers will develop an evidence-based assessment and strategy process that matches reading profiles and impairments to reading strategies that can be delivered on electronic reading tablets. The project will build on software models already developed in previous projects led by Fickas, Faulk and Sohlberg.
The end result will be an educational package that uses open source software and hardware to deliver a demonstration tool that has potential uptake by companies designing commercialized reading tablets.
Fickas notes that the growing popularity of the iPad and other emerging computer-based reading platforms offer a means to deliver quality supports to improve reading comprehension and retention, especially for college students. "Our aim is to integrate reading strategies with online textbooks, which is where we believe the publishing industry is headed," he said. "Ideally, as a student sits down with their computer to begin their online reading assignment, the CampusReader software will work in the background to extend the textbook content with strategies that fit with the student's reading profile. Each student gets a personalized reader to fit their needs."
More information can be found at www.campusreader.org.