SBIR-STTR Award

This project develops computer textbooks for people with learning disabilities (ld) and limited english proficiency (lep). Current text-heavy computer textbooks make it difficult to learn computer subjects. Visibooks develops simple, illustration-based computer books that have been well received by people with dyslexia and those just learning english. By refining and expanding this approach, visibooks is developing computer textbooks tailored to the exact needs of ld/lep learners.

This project determines if textbooks based on a phase i prototype help students with learning disabilities and low-english-proficiency (lep) learn computer subjects better, faster, and easier. The study also determine if these textbooks are suitable for mainstream students, and if the books are effective when used in electronic format. Twenty phase i-type textbooks on common computer subjects are produced and distributed to high school, college, and adult education computer classes containing ld, lep, and mainstream students. One group of classes uses bound copies, another uses electronic copies, and a control group uses textbooks currently on the market. At the beginning of the semester, students in each class take a pre-test to measure existing knowledge. At the end of the semester, they take a post-test to measure what they’ve learned. Test data from two semesters is used to compare the progress of students in the bound, electronic, and current-book test groups.