Our latest thoughts from the world of technology in education & the workplace

Texthelp Blog - Our latest thoughts from the world of technology in education & the workplace

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The World Health Organization defines health literacy as, “the personal characteristics and social resources needed for individuals and communities to access, understand, appraise and use information and services to make decisions about health.” Whilst most people have reasonable literacy skills, when you add medical terminology to information even the most intelligent people can struggle to understand the message being conveyed. In this sense, people can have good general literacy, but poor health literacy, impacting their ability to make the right decisions to deliver better health outcomes.

If we think of this in a non-health context, many of us consider ourselves reasonably intelligent adults, yet we go to pieces when confronted with pension investment information. We may have good general literacy but poor financial literacy - which can have a detrimental impact on our retirement savings and investment plans for the future.

This same principle applies to health literacy. How many of us visit a doctor and come out not fully understanding what we’ve been told - or unable to repeat it back to a family member? Seemingly complex health terminology can result in us misunderstanding what’s wrong with us and what we need to do to get better - including taking prescription medicines correctly. 

Why is good health literacy so important for the UK?

Poor health literacy is a bigger issue than one may think, affecting many in the UK, especially older people and those with disabilities and long term health conditions. Lower socio-economic groups, and those with English language challenges, are also affected. All these groups are also the biggest users of NHS services each year, accounting for more than 70% of all NHS spend per annum.

So if we don’t understand the health information being given to us, how much money is being wasted each year in ineffectual treatments and wasted medicines? 

More and more we are encouraged to play an active role in managing and protecting our health. If we are to do so, we need to be able to understand the health information being given to us. 

Poor health literacy affects a patient’s ability to: 

Discuss health information/medical concerns with healthcare providers

Engage in self-care and disease management

Navigate their way through the healthcare system

Inaccessible health information online is also a challenge, especially as we move towards a fully digital NHS.  Standards are in place specifically in England to tackle this, but other parts of the UK are lagging behind. In the age of digital health services, there is an enormous risk of leaving some of the population behind - including the older population and those with literacy and language challenges.

We know that funding is a constant challenge for the NHS. But investment in health literacy initiatives can ultimately save money and efficiencies in the long run, whilst ensuring a wider audience can access the health information they need. If patients are better equipped to self-manage their health it means that they’re more likely to become and stay healthy - including following treatment plans and taking medicine correctly - then we as a nation will have much better health outcomes.

In order to fully transform the digital NHS landscape, and particularly the digital NHS landscape, more support needs to be available to those who struggle most with health literacy - as stats show that it will be these people that will rely heavily on NHS services. We can’t risk leaving anyone behind. This may be a fine balancing act between creating services that suit those who would like to interact with the NHS like a bank - as opposed to those unable to access services online at all. 

But there is plenty of technology out there to help make a difference. It can transform processes, speed up referrals, and connect all health departments to streamline services. The NHS has already transitioned itself in the past 70 years to maintain its status as one of the most crucial institutions of our time, and we’re still on that journey to ensure that it remains that one support that we all rely on. 

During health literacy month, we’ll be teaming up with leading experts from the health sector to bring you a webinar focussed on a dual approach to bridging the digital divide in health literacy. Find out more and register here. 

As we approach Health Literacy month, we sat down with our friends from the Patient Information Forum to examine the importance of good health literacy in the UK

Why health literacy matters

In the run up to Health Literacy Month in October, we sat down with our friends from the Patient Information Forum (PIF) to examine why it’s important to shine a light on the area of health literacy.

There are reckoned to be anything around 7,000 languages spoken in the world today. A multilingual speaker – or polyglot – may be able to communicate in half a dozen of them. Linguist Michael Erard extends this with the definition of a ‘hyperpolyglot’, an individual whose language tick-list stretches into double figures.

On September 8th, UNESCO’s International Literacy Day turns the spotlight on the diversity of language and its fundamental importance for individuals and society as a whole. Held annually since 1967, ILD reminds us of the vital importance of literacy as a basic educational right for all, and its role as a cornerstone for individuals’ empowerment and inclusive, sustainable development.

The specific theme of this year’s ILD is ‘Literacy and Multilingualism’, as reflected in one of the United Nations Foundation’s Sustainable Development Goals that aims to ‘ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.’

UNESCO notes in its commentary on ILD that people and societies are more connected and interdependent than they’ve been at any time in the past. And as UNESCO observes, the combination of instantaneous digital communication and greater human mobility has extended multilingualism far beyond its traditional geographical boundaries.

We all know that technology has made our world a much smaller place. Radio, TV and the Internet have connected us as never before, giving instant access to a dizzying breadth of different voices, opinions and cultural perspectives. Tech has also created a truly global workforce, as companies routinely off-shore jobs ranging from software development and financial services to customer care and support functions.

Putting digital technology aside for a moment, modern society is far more socially, culturally and linguistically diverse than at any time in the past. Freedom of movement – at least in countries where it’s permitted to a greater or lesser extent – has changed labor patterns profoundly. Here in the UK for example, some 140,000 of 1.2 million National Health Service employees are foreign nationals: that’s one in eight of the total NHS workforce.

In this increasingly diverse world, technology plays an important role in overcoming language differences. How many of us bother to pack a phrase book for our holidays when the translation for ‘what time’s the next bus?’ is a quick Google search away? Impressive advances in AI and machine learning have made the long-held dream of word-perfect real time conversation between two or more different language speakers achievable in the very near future. Imagine a surgeon, pilot or emergency worker being able to converse fluently and accurately with colleagues when they can’t speak a word of each other’s respective languages.

There’s a lot to excite us about technology’s role in lowering language barriers. But on the eve of International Literacy Day let’s acknowledge the challenges we face as a linguistically diverse society – and the role that technology can play in unlocking the full potential of those who are marginalized and excluded by language differences.

At school and in the workplace, lack of fluency in your fellow students’ or co-workers’ native language is a profound obstacle to educational, personal and professional development. Over the last 20 years at Texthelp we’ve been committed to use technology creatively to level the literacy playing field for everybody. And that’s why we’ve always baked multilingual features into our products that help people read, write and express themselves with clarity and confidence - even when they’re using a language that’s not their first (or their second, or third).

As we celebrate this year’s International Literacy Day, it’s an ideal moment to reflect on how far technology has already brought us in supporting literacy and multilingualism, in both education and the workplace. At the same time, however, we must not be complacent when there’s still so much more to do.

Where do you think technology’s heading next? I’d love to hear your own thoughts about the future of literacy, and tech’s constantly evolving role in lowering language barriers still further.

In this increasingly diverse world, technology plays an important role in overcoming language differences.

No language barriers: ILD celebrates literacy and multilingualism

There’s something wonderful about the word ‘polyglot’, isn’t there? You might think it’s an exotic skill that few of us possess – but over half of all Europeans speak at least one language other than their mother tongue.

One of the secrets for school success...the humble pencil case. Yes, the pencil case. Twenty years ago, a researcher at University College London suggested just this. At first glance, it’s hard to see the potential impact of something so simple. Think deeper though and the humble pencil case starts to make sense. 

Fast forward twenty years, and the pencil case is still critically important, but so is the support offered in this digital age. 

The widespread use of digital technology is making a huge impact across our schools, colleges and universities. Yet despite this shift, the trusty pencil case with its range of tools is still an essential part of every student’s life. 

So whilst we all focus on ‘moving to the cloud’, enabling 21st century skills, personalized learning and building new opportunities for learning, we shouldn’t forget that students need the digital equivalent of the pencil case - essential tools for learning in our digital world.

Take Read&Write, for example. It provides all the tools students need for support and for learning in one location. At first glance, you’ll discover Text-to-Speech. That’s great for dyslexic students, right? Absolutely - it’s essential. But it’s also useful for the A Level student working towards a History exam who prefers to listen to questions to increase understanding and then listen to their answers to proof and improve. 

While Read&Write may be an obvious tool for English classrooms, it can actually be a huge support across the curriculum. So, we want to take a couple of other subjects and highlight how Read&Write can be used within those classrooms as well. 

The Screenshot Reader helps students to read inaccessible text (i.e. Ordnance Survey maps) on-screen. 

The Highlighters feature helps students to differentiate between economic and social impacts of a natural hazard.

Students can use the Vocabulary List to compile quick reference lists for a new area of study.

With EquatIO, (our Math and STEM tool) students can create mathematical and scientific expressions by handwriting on a touchscreen or speaking into a computer’s microphone.

Students can use Read&Write to hear their math problems (created with EquatIO) read aloud.

Students who would previously struggle to engage with math and STEM materials can now easily access course content.

Use the Translator and Text-To-Speech tools to have passages in French, Spanish, etc. read aloud to help students with pronunciation.

Use the Vocabulary List, Translator and Voice Notes feature to enable students to create personalized vocabulary lists.

Encourage students to prep for oral exams by recording their answers using the Voice Notes feature.

If you find these blogs useful, check out our dedicated Back to School resource page for other handy hints and tips to help you get the most out of Read&Write. 

We’re also running live webinars for each of our Back to School blog series themes. If you would like to learn more about how Read&Write can help provide support across the curriculum, sign up to Alison's ‘A day in the life of a student using Read&Write’ webinar taking place on Wednesday 9th October 2019 from 3:45pm- 4:30pm. 

Lastly, if you would like to share how you use Read&Write or EquatIO in your classroom, feel free to add your ideas to the comments section below. 

In this Back to School blog, we’re discussing how Read&Write can be the digital pencil case for all students - across the curriculum, to help you think differently about your lesson planning, and the technology that your school has invested in.

A pencil case of digital tools - for all subjects

Back to School: A pencil case of digital tools - for all subjects

In this sixth blog in our Back to School series, we’re discussing how Read&Write can be the digital pencil case for all students - across the curriculum, to help you think differently about your lesson planning and the technology that your school has invested in.

Are you a Read&Write and/ or EquatIO customer? 

Have you embraced educational technology in the classroom, but unsure how to encourage your students to use it on their own time or for revision? 

Throughout our Back To School blog series, we will explore various themes that matter most to you (the teacher), and demonstrate how our technology can help you think differently about your lesson planning, through the software that your school has invested in. 

We’re firm believers in developing technology that fosters independence for all students. We’re sure you would agree that students have to play their own role in their learning - both in and outside of the classroom. 

But if students have the tech support they need in the classroom, they should also have the same support for their own independent study, including revision activities. 

We have a few ideas on how Read&Write and EquatIO can be used during your students’ own study… 

Read&Write: The highlighter tools on the Read&Write toolbar allow information to be highlighted using any colour/s of choice, which can be collected at a touch of a button in a separate document. This feature can be used to create useful resources like vocabulary lists or research documents, or even as a tool to complete fun, independent activities.

For the teacher, you can create useful resources for extended reading by highlighting information on the web and collecting the content in a document, which you can share with students. The highlight and collect feature automatically pulls in the source link (in addition to the other information highlighted), so students can view the original webpage for further reading.

You can also have your students use this feature to put a new, colourful spin on existing activities. For example, ask students to read a piece of text and highlight all verbs in green and adjectives in yellow. Or, in a book reading exercise, ask students to highlight what character said which quotes or to sort the statements into relevant themes. Finally, ask students to highlight points in their written work that strengthen their argument or sympathise with the opposition.

EquatIO: Using EquatIO mathspace to create visuals for maths comprehension

EquatIO mathspace is more than a feature, it’s a central storage space that allows you to create and save maths activities that you can share directly with your students. Think of it as a giant digital whiteboard where you can present a mathematical problem to every student at once, and have them work through it at their own pace before submitting their answers - just like a virtual classroom. 

Using EquatIO mathspace, there are a number of ways to create engaging maths tasks for independent learning.

Use the Shapes Input to create maths manipulatives instantly on your mathspace board. Choose from ready-made visuals such as fraction bars, coins or cars to ask your students to solve anything from simple division to working through economic scenarios or physics concepts.

Create interactive activities using EquatIO’s Smart Shapes, which include grids, fraction circles, number lines and digital protractors. These could be shared for homework or revision exercises. 

If you find these activity examples useful, check out our dedicated Back to School resource page for other handy hints and tips to help you get the most out of Read&Write and/ or EquatIO. 

We’re also running live webinars for each of our Back to School blog series themes. If you would like to learn more about how our technology can help support independent study and revision, sign up to Richard & Anna’s ‘How Read&Write can improve research, study skills and organisation for all students’ webinar taking place on Wednesday 2nd October 2019 from 3:45- 4:15pm. 

Have you embraced educational technology in the classroom, but are unsure how to encourage your students to use it on their own time, and for revision? In this blog, we’ve pulled together some ideas that can help improve technology use for independent study and revision.

Back to School: Tools for independent study & revision

Back to School: Are you improving independent study and revision with our technology?

In this fourth blog in our Back to School series, we’ve pulled together some ideas that can help improve technology use for independent study and revision.

Read&Write is more than an accessibility tool and a purple puzzle piece that sits on your network computers! Its features can revolutionise literacy within your classroom - and we want you and your students to make the most of the features on offer. 

Throughout our Back To School blog series, we will explore various themes that matter most to you (the teacher) and demonstrate how the software that your school has invested in can help you think differently about your lesson planning. 

Think back to when you were in school. How was your writing encouraged in English lessons? From the days of joined-up handwriting in Primary School to creative storytelling and writing in Secondary School, we didn’t have the same tech support offered in today’s digital age. However, tech support can be a huge help when it comes to writing. 

In a recent independent study, students using Read&Write showed an average increase in writing scores.

Prediction and dictionaries are essential for writing progression. Prediction, in particular, aids with sentence structure and writing fluency. And with a dictionary as an additional support, vocabulary knowledge can be expanded and called upon. 

Let's take a look into the Read&Write features that can specifically support writing in more detail. 

Talk&Type turns the spoken word into text by enabling students to dictate into a microphone. Speech to text empowers students to get their thoughts down in writing, which can then be reviewed and proof-read by other features of Read&Write, like Text-to-Speech and Check It, to help catch errors.

Prediction suggests word options, helping students craft longer, more complex sentences to enrich their written work. It’s really helpful for EAL students and reluctant learners.

Our advanced spell checker, Check It, helps students refine their own work by reviewing writing for spelling, grammar, and homophone errors. Students can even use Text-to-Speech within Check It to hear the word and its definition read aloud to help them identify an alternative.

Finally, the Dictionary and Picture Dictionary can be great for students getting to grips with new words, especially if they’re learning English.

Here are a few examples of how you can incorporate these Read&Write features into your day-to-day writing activities.

Use a number of our Read&Write features in an English Literacy Lesson Plan 

Select a book (in a digital format) and have Read&Write read out a chapter of focus. 

Instruct learners to provide written answers to a number of associated questions. They can type their answers with the help of our written tools: 

Highlighters to collect information from the digital book and the internet 

Dictionaries for words they don’t understand  

By using the highlighters, encourage students to highlight words that they struggle with and create a Vocabulary list for better understanding

Ask them to create their own unique sentence for each word in the vocabulary list using Voice Note, Prediction or Talk&Type.

If you find these Read&Write activity examples useful, check out our dedicated Back to School resource page for other handy hints and tips to help you get the most out of Read&Write. 

We’re also running live webinars for each of our Back to School blog series themes. If you would like to learn more about how Read&Write can help boost writing support in your class, sign up to Richard & Anna’s ‘Using Read&Write to Support Writing’ webinar taking place on Monday 30th September 2019 from 3:45pm- 4:30pm. 

Lastly, if you would like to share how you use Read&Write in your classroom, feel free to add your ideas to the comments section below. 

In this blog, we’ve pulled together some of the main features within Read&Write that can help with writing support in your classroom.

Improve student writing with Read&Write

Back to School: Are you improving student writing with Read&Write?

In this second blog of our Back to School series, we’ve highlighted the main features of Read&Write that can help with student writing.

The list may include ‘Quality of Leadership and Management’; vision; passionate teachers and perhaps effective learning spaces. For others they’ll mention access to technology, creativity and collaboration, quality resources or parental engagement. It’s a long list and proof that there is no one ‘magic bullet’ to whole school success. 

It’s a combination of these, together with many other factors and dynamics that contribute to whole school success.

There’s one thing though that you’ll rarely hear on this list. The humble pencil case. Yes, the pencil case. Twenty years ago, a researcher at University College London suggested just this. At first glance, it’s hard to see the potential impact of something so simple. Think deeper though and it starts to make sense. 

Building the right tools into that case can make a real difference - the tools that every student needs to enable and support their learning every day across every subject. The pencil - picking the right one is essential to help with handwriting development, selecting the correct grading is key for art and design class. 

Add to that the ballpoint pen and students end up with essential tools for writing, drawing and annotation. For literacy, for creativity and across any subject. Open up any pencil case though and you’ll find a wealth of tools - highlighters for study and research, eraser, colored pens and correction fluid. Then of course there’s subject specific tools like the compass and protractor. Everything needed in one place.

The point of course is that students have a set of tools plus the independence to use the right tool for them at the right time. Sure, they’ll need guidance, but at the heart of learning they're able to make decisions to suit their particular needs - across ages, subjects and the entirety of the curriculum. 

It’s true of course that at times there are more tools than are needed - the protractor is a case in point. That’s not going to come out in English class, and even in maths it won’t be out all the time. The fact though - it’s there, in the case, ready for when it’s appropriate and useful for learning.  

Fast forward 20 years from this study and education has changed. The widespread use of digital technology is making a huge impact across our schools, colleges and universities. Yet still, despite this shift the trusty pencil case with its range of tools is an essential part of every students life. 

That’s where Texthelp has the solution for every student, school wide. Take Read&Write - in one location it provides all the tools students need for support and for learning. At first glance, you’ll discover text to speech. That’s great for Dyslexic students, right? Absolutely - it’s essential. But it’s also useful for the A Level student working towards a History exam, listening to questions to help understanding then listening to complex answers to proof and improve. Either of these students can take this one step further and use the Audiomaker tool - downloading an MP3 file of their notes - any subject, any content. Add our writing tools like prediction and Check It for help and support anywhere they are needed. The dictionary is right there too. Highlighter tools are great for study for summarizing notes, for researching or for simply drawing out key terms. 

Drama students can use these digital tools to identify lines, or even combine it with audiomaker for rehearsing dialog. An incredibly powerful tool is the vocab builder. EAL students use this across subjects to prep for classes in advance with new words, and we’ve seen students who study technology use this to identify and note lab equipment or signage. Chemists use it for chemical symbols to link them visually. All useful tools at any age, or across any subject.

Thinking back to the protractor and our EquatIO product that adds a dedicated set of maths tools to our ‘digital pencil case’. Specialist maths ‘pencils’ allow students to type, dictate or write on a touchscreen. Draw graphs without graph paper with Desmos and access manipulatives digitally. Physicists can easily draw and create circuit diagrams, lens or forces and chemists have access to express complex maths content easily. 

It doesn’t stop there of course - making a presentation for Business Studies? An essay for economics? Definitions sheet for geography? Equipped with Read&Write and EquatIO, students have the tools they need to succeed digitally.

Good practice and practical examples aside, Texthelp products are grounded in the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), providing every student with multiple means to express and engage with content - on their terms, and in a way that suits them. It’s a framework that promotes and enables inclusion. 

You see, we don’t think of the traditional pencil case as something that’s there for students with individual needs - it has inclusion built in as standard. So why not think of amazing digital tools like Read&Write or EquatIO in the same way? They may be necessary for some, but they are useful for all. We know that the pencil case and our tools can be and are used by every student including those with high ability, those studying for exams, those that are creative, or those that rarely ask for help in the middle of your classrooms.

It’s vital that digital tools are used in a meaningful and relevant way to be effective, and at Texthelp we want to help educators and students explore our tools, and be empowered to use them every day across every subject. 

So let’s equip students with the tools and skills they need to be more independent, to find new and creative ways to learn and study more effectively. Our range of resources and support can help you achieve this and build Read&Write and EquatIO into your own recipe for success - for every student, regardless of age, level or ability and across every subject.   

At Texthelp we provide all the digital essentials, in one place and on any platform, giving everyone the opportunity to achieve more.   

Discover the digital tools/ features offered in Read&Write and EquatIO. We have made both FREE for teachers! This means you can get premium subscriptions to one or both of these products at no cost. If you’re interested in getting set up with a free teacher account for either product, click through to our dedicated Free for Teachers page.

There’s one thing though that you’ll rarely hear on this list. The humble pencil case.  Discover why there should be the digital equivalent to increase independence for all learners.

What is the recipe for success in schools?

Ask this question to any number of educators and my guess is you’ll receive some fairly consistent answers. Read on to discover why the humble pencil case may not, but should feature in the list of answers.

Blog

Why health literacy matters

No language barriers: ILD celebrates literacy and multilingualism

Back to School: A pencil case of digital tools - for all subjects

Back to School: Are you improving independent study and revision with our technology?

Back to School: Are you improving student writing with Read&Write?

What is the recipe for success in schools?

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