The Educator Magazine U.K. Sept-Dec 2022 - Magazine - Page 56
OrCam Learn transforms learning
experience for dyslexic students
Moon Hall is a specialist dyslexia school
in Reigate in Surrey, educating students
between the ages of 7-16. As a school
dedicated to empowering students with
reading challenges including dyslexia,
dyspraxia, and vision impairment, Moon
Hall decided to provide its students with
access to the OrCam Learn. The artificially
intelligent handheld learning solution
provides students and individuals with
learning challenges a transformative,
independent learning experience,
empowering them to unlock their full
potential.
The portable, hand-held device can read
text aloud from any surface, test user
comprehension and measure and provide
feedback on the user’s learning and
improvement. OrCam Learn supports
students to improve their reading and
learning productivity, parents to provide
additional support to their children, and
teachers to increase equality and
excellence in their classes.
Specifically designed for learning
challenges
Michelle Catterson, Executive Headteacher
at Moon Hall, said: “The OrCam Learn is
fantastic. It’s designed specifically to cater
for the unique needs of individuals with
learning challenges. When students are
using it, it puts them all on a level playing
field. So, no matter what their reading
ability, they can all access their educational
resources in lessons. Using the Orcam Learn
has really helped our pupils. They find it fun,
engaging and really easy to use.
One of my targets for our pupils is that they
are as independent as possible and a key to
that independence is being able to access
assistive technology. If they don’t have
access, or are not confident using it then
they are reliant on an adult - something
our older pupils especially do not feel
comfortable with.”
Michelle explains: “Instead of scanning
line-by-line like other devices we’ve used,
with the OrCam Learn, you can very easily
just take a picture of any book or computer screen and it reads it back to you.
The student can even ask questions about
the text and the school can measure and
give feedback on the pupil’s learning and
improvement.
It has been cleverly designed to avoid any
frustrations sometimes experienced with
other assistive technology. It is very easy to
use and the student can alter the speed of
reading aloud from their desired text from
any surface.”
Evaluating learning progress for
ongoing development
Reading aloud is known to be the best way
to practise reading. OrCam Learn’s
breakthrough Reading Pal feature, gives
students the ability to practise reading
fluency by reading text to the OrCam Learn,
and then receiving live positive feedback
and reporting via a companion app.
The companion app tracks and evaluates
the student’s progress for teachers and
parents to identify areas in need of focus,
and adjust the learning process
accordingly. It monitors the student’s
progress throughout the school year with
in-depth reports, and identifies areas for
improvement.
Michelle explains: “The companion app
enables us to track the progress of pupils’
reading and helps us to see how well they
are improving and whether they need any
specific interventions, which is a really
useful tool for teachers and really helps
to fast track pupils’ learning.”
For children with reading difficulties,
specifically dyslexia, the feedback is
incredibly important. OrCam has worked
hard to make sure that this feedback is
always positive for the user. The OrCam
Learn emulates what we are trying to do
as teachers, which is to make sure that the
learning environment is positive so that our
children can thrive.
The OrCam Learn is a gateway to
independent learning for children with
learning challenges. It gives them the
ability to learn independently and not be
completely reliant on teachers or adults to
read to them aloud. The Orcam Learn has
made a really positive impact for all of our
pupils here at Moon Hall School.”
Students are also able to benefit from the
OrCam Learn in exam settings. As the device
is fully operable offline. This means that
pupils can benefit from help with reading
exam papers and texts while complying
with JCQ examination guidance. Allowing
them to concentrate on demonstrating
knowledge, not reading ability.
Empowering teaching and learning
Both pupils and teachers at Moon Hall are
seeing the benefits that the OrCam Learn
has brought to the school.
“I’ve been incredibly impressed with the
OrCam Learn.” said Kate Eastwood, Head of
English. “It is a completely different solution
compared to the reading pens that we’ve
used in the past. When we’ve used other
reading pens, we found that, unless the text
is spaced in a certain way, or in certain fonts,
students can struggle because the reading
pen doesn’t pick up the text.
But with the OrCam Learn it is just so much
more intuitive for them to use. Our students
are all masters of technology, and with the
OrCam Learn it works much more like a
phone app so for them it’s very much just a
‘pickup and use’ device.
Our pupils love using the Orcam Learn. They
get very excited about its capabilities, the
fact they can by voice control ask it to speed
up or slow down the text, that it can read off
posters, on screens, as well as from books.
It really is a very useful learning aid in the
classroom.
The OrCam Learn gives pupils better
opportunities to study more independently,
revise with past exam papers and work at a
higher level than before. The device gives
our pupils the chance to be much more
independent in their learning. They love
being able to self direct their learning and
by removing the need for specific adult
support, the OrCam Learn gives them back
their independence and self esteem.”
Describing his experience of the OrCam
Learn, Winston, a Year 9 student, explains:
“The OrCam Learn is an amazing device,
I love it. It is the size of a pen and it can fit
easily into your hand and also into your
pocket. The reading is so advanced, it can
read both portrait and landscape which
really helps me in lessons.
The OrCam Learn is like a teacher, I am not
joking! It’s the OrCam Read, plus a teacher.
The reading it can do is amazing. I don’t
usually like reading but the OrCam Learn
helps me in my lessons to do some of the
trickier things.
The OrCam Learn is a small device with a
teacher in it!”