Current Web Tools Focused on the Education

This chapter covers the field of e-learning. The authors explain what e-learning is and what tools are currently available. The chapter will contain examples of said tools with information about whether the tools are useful for people with dyslexia. The MOOC (massive open online courses) is the most widely used and will be covered in detail. At the end of the chapter, the authors will also provide examples of emerging trends in the area of e-learning.

Current Approaches to the Development of Learning and Improving Reading Attractiveness for the Readers of Different Levels

The chapter covers the notions of illiteracy, literacy, and their development to the current moment. The authors present the notion of functional literacy specified by the UNESCO experts. A more detailed definition of functional literacy is to be found in the study Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). It is possible to perceive the reader's literacy based on age or different planes. The chapter contains information about research focused on the age: PIRLS handled by IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) and the PISA research organized by The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Both kinds of research focus on the reader's literacy and their authors provide their own definitions that differ based on age. There are various different approaches to increase the attractiveness of reading. The authors introduce at least some of them as an inspiration. One part is dedicated to the development of reader literacy in individuals with dyslexia.

Literacy as a Bridge to Quality of Life

Information technology spreads through the life of the whole society in the educational, professional, and personal lives. It heightens the requirements for the reader's competence and defines key competencies for the 21st century. The requirement for the successful entry to the job market is increasingly about the competency to handle information technology. The problems in reading are a major source of challenges in the inclusion. Strengthening of the reader's skills and extending the offer for lifelong learning is therefore key for overcoming these challenges. This chapter explores literacy as a bridge to quality of life.

The Topics and Improvements for the Functioning Strategies

Throughout the research, the literacy portal offered an individualized way towards education. It allowed testing of self-skills and competencies relevant for reading capability. The testing outcome was a cognitive profile of the user and the individualized offer for education based on it. In this chapter, the authors acquaint the reader with the parameters forming the cognitive profile and the types of training available in the portal at the time of creation. The authors focus on the results of the content validation of e-learning based on convenience, intelligibility, and time spent on the portal at the time of portal validation. The readers will find out what was evaluated with respect to the content of e-learning and what the results proved to be.

Aspects and the Context for the Research

The literacy portal was created by the international and interdisciplinary team with the financial support of the European Union in the context of ICT Program, 7th framework – ICT-2011.5.5 (288596). The project aimed at the creation of a modern online portal for training of the reading technique and understanding, the effective usage of the internet environment in daily life, and the creation of the social communities of the users. The researchers used the mixed strategy of the research side by side with the triangulation methods from the analysis of documents, web pages content through the focus groups, user testing to the surveys. The portal was created using the rules of the human-centered design (HCD) approach. The initial steps in the HCD process specify that you need to start with the analysis of future users through article research, analysis of the current web application for the same target audience, and through personal interviews with people with dyslexia. The authors extracted and described the possible tasks for the literacy portal based on the information.

The User as the Source of the Inspiration for the Future

The chapter is the summary of the reflection of the respondents, the users of the portal. It is based on their feedback, comments, and the outcomes of the evaluation questionnaires. It reflects the interpretation of the attitudes and views of respondents to the areas/topics, their importance, and their necessity. The authors based it on the analysis of the statements and evaluation of the portal by respondents. The authors will also present the summary and recommendations they arrived at based on this analysis.

3P Principles for Improvement of E-Accessibility

The accessibility of the sources, materials, and activities on the internet are part of the functioning interaction in the 21st century. There are plenty of barriers in the internet environment for people with dyslexia. The literacy portal alleviates the problems that people with reading disabilities face. Its tools and materials support discovery, understanding, and usage of the internet, as well as ICT resources to improve their effective usage in everyday life. The experiences gathered while creating the portal are recorded here for their usage in the methods proposed in further chapters.

How Does Dyslexia Influence Literacy?

The approaches to dyslexia and reader skills were modelled hand in hand with the development of the knowledge in medicinal and pedagogical disciplines alike. The authors bring a short overview of them. The current knowledge is reflected in the support and intervention regarding reader skills. The recognition of the processes in the different phases of reader skill development is important mainly to prevent side effects of the experience of failure for child and adolescent and also to support strategy for improving reader competencies. In time, recognition of the barriers in the process of reading and the following intervention is the requirement for successful management of the school work and education. The variability and complexity of the reader's problems are supported by the life stories of the individuals with dyslexia published in the Community Zone of the Literacy Portal. These stories are analyzed based on the barriers creating reading problems in life and based on the strategies helping to overcome these barriers.

Summary of the Current State of Modern Research Related to Dyslexia

This chapter focuses on the integration of dyslexia research with research on web accessibility. It describes some examples of studies focused on the usage of multiple sources in the context of dyslexia readers. The authors also focus on the usage of multiple sources in the digital context and potential challenges for dyslexia readers. While conventional print contains just text combined with different illustrations, the web tools regularly combine different presentations such as text, illustrations, animations, sounds, and videos. This combination then moves the boundaries of understanding.

Methodology for the Evaluation of the Accessibility of the Web Pages

In the previous chapters, the authors focused on the description of common problems that people with dyslexia encounter while using the internet. The authors also tried to describe ways to simplify the usage of the internet for people with dyslexia. In this chapter, the authors focus on creating a relevant methodology for evaluation of web pages based on their accessibility for people with dyslexia. It will serve as a manual for researchers on how to adapt their tools for wider accessibility.