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BETT 2017 press pack find out more at stand C141
BETT 2017press pack
find out moreat stand C141
Contents
About Texthelp 3
Key Product Milestones 4
Case study : Oswestry School 6
Case study : Barking Abbey School 8
Staff biographies 10
About Texthelp
At Texthelp, we believe that literacy is every student’s passport to academic, social and professional success. Yet many students struggle to achieve their potential, throughout their educational life and need extra support. Perhaps their first language isn’t English or they have dyslexia or other special education needs. Other children simply struggle to engage with everyday reading, writing and comprehension tasks.
It’s our genuine desire to help people communicate and express themselves. This sparks us to create smart, user-friendly literacy and learning solutions that provide the support each student needs; through reading, writing, maths and research features. Our tools can be used at each step of the educational journey, at home, in the classroom and during exams.
Texthelp software continues to be used daily by millions of students and educators throughout schools, colleges and universities worldwide.
© Texthelp texthelp.com
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Texthelp announces keyproduct developmentsat BETT Show 2017
Texthelp announces new additions to key product portfolio in the form of g(Math)and WriQ
Texthelp also announces significant enhancements to key products from their portfolio including Read&Write for Google Chrome and Fluency Tutor for Google.
Texthelp, a leader in assistive and language learning software, will showcase the latest additions to its award-winning family of assistive learning solutions that provide reading, writing and maths support at every stage of the education journey, at stand C141 at BETT UK.
Visitors to this world leading learning technology event can get the first glimpse of two of the company’s newest products - g(Math) and WriQ.
g(Math) is a maths equation and graphing tool which works within Google’s G Suite for Education tools, taking the pain out of creating equations, graphs, and math quizzes. Designed around UDL principles, it’s a natural complement to Texthelp’s other literacy products that help young people and adults read, write and express themselves more confidently in line with their own personal learning need.
Input’s easy: users don’t need to know any complicated math code or programming languages. g(Math) understands what is being typed or handwritten, instantly turning expressions into clear, accurate on-screen formulas. And it works on Windows, Mac and Chromebook, so it’s great forBYOD classrooms.
g(Math) makes it easy to enrich math expressions with sketches, diagrams and other handwritten annotations - so students can show teachers their rough working, just like jotting by hand in a journal.
Much more than a replacement for pen and paper, g(Math) makes math more accessible in today’s classrooms - finally giving them the boost that technology has already given other classroom subjects.
WriQ is a writing assessment tool that helps teachers score and keep track of students’ spelling, punctuation and grammar errors. Writing is such a personal activity for children, helping to develop and express their thoughts and feelings, as well as helping the grammar and sentence structure process. If a student cannot express themselves in the classroom alongside their peers, they can become frustrated and lack confidence.
Many educators use the Lexile Framework for Reading to get an idea of the level and extent of reading fluency among their students, and match appropriate levelled text to the reader. Texthelp’s plan is that WriQ will guide teachers in a similar way, allowing them to track student’s writing progress over time.
New features & Exponential User Growth for ‘Read&Write’
Every child’s different, with their own star qualities, strengths and challenges. In a typical classroom, there will be fluent, capable readers alongside other pupils whose first language isn’t English. Chances are there will be some kids in the group with dyslexia or other special education needs and there will be other children who simply struggle to
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engage with everyday reading, writing and comprehension tasks. That’s a lot of abilities, expectations and engagement levels to accommodate in one 50 minute lesson. In a perfect world, today’s teachers would develop a lesson plan based on each student’s needs. However, Texthelp understands that creating a personalised learning experience for each child sounds great in theory but in reality it’s incredibly challenging - whatever type of classor subject.
Now celebrating its 17th year in continuous development, Read&Write has progressed to become one of the most popular assistive technology solutions for struggling readers and writers.
Read&Write is great for all subjects and lesson plans. It can be used with virtually any kind of schoolroom content: websites, Word files, PDFs, Google docs and more. The software’s simple to install, it’s easy for pupils to use independently, and it works smoothly across all kinds of hardware.
The Google Chrome version of Read&Write has surpassed five million users across 182 countries worldwide, with fast expansion across North America and parts of the Asia Pacific region.
The product also has some brand new features including Screen masking, support for Google Slides, accessible maths support plus a new Practice Reading Aloud function.
As a result of its continued growth and enhancements the Read&Write family of software products has been shortlisted as a finalist in this year’s BETT Awards.
Recent features in Fluency Tutor for Google
Fluency Tutor has grown to become a dynamic and vital tool for struggling readers and English language learners, with the software already being utilised by thousands of teachers in the G Suite for Education environment. Based on regular feedback from educators, Texthelp introduced things like comprehension questions, data exporting, more reading levels and most recently, the Fluency Tutor Student Share Extension, which allows students to create and record their own reading passages from almost anything on the web. Students can select content that interests them most. This helps to foster independent and avid reading, and increases interest and engagement by giving students that ability to choose what they read.
A new Online Training Experience
Texthelp has developed a brand new Online Training Portal (www.training.texthelp.com) this year, allowing educators to get to grips with the product portfolio in their own time, while picking up hints and tips on how to build the products into lesson plans.
According to Mark McCusker, CEO of Texthelp,
“As a literacy and learning company we are committed to helping ALL students reach their learning potential through improving their ability to read, write, and communicate with confidence. From expanding the regions we operate in, to adding crucial new features to our range of products, we keep our customers at the heart of our business, thus ensuring all developments are created with students’ and teachers’ needs front and centre.”
Texthelp announces new additions to key product portfolio in the form of g(Math)and WriQ
Texthelp also announces significant enhancements to key products from their portfolio including Read&Write for Google Chrome and Fluency Tutor for Google.
Texthelp, a leader in assistive and language learning software, will showcase the latest additions to its award-winning family of assistive learning solutions that provide reading, writing and maths support at every stage of the education journey, at stand C141 at BETT UK.
Visitors to this world leading learning technology event can get the first glimpse of two of the company’s newest products - g(Math) and WriQ.
g(Math) is a maths equation and graphing tool which works within Google’s G Suite for Education tools, taking the pain out of creating equations, graphs, and math quizzes. Designed around UDL principles, it’s a natural complement to Texthelp’s other literacy products that help young people and adults read, write and express themselves more confidently in line with their own personal learning need.
Input’s easy: users don’t need to know any complicated math code or programming languages. g(Math) understands what is being typed or handwritten, instantly turning expressions into clear, accurate on-screen formulas. And it works on Windows, Mac and Chromebook, so it’s great forBYOD classrooms.
g(Math) makes it easy to enrich math expressions with sketches, diagrams and other handwritten annotations - so students can show teachers their rough working, just like jotting by hand in a journal.
Much more than a replacement for pen and paper, g(Math) makes math more accessible in today’s classrooms - finally giving them the boost that technology has already given other classroom subjects.
WriQ is a writing assessment tool that helps teachers score and keep track of students’ spelling, punctuation and grammar errors. Writing is such a personal activity for children, helping to develop and express their thoughts and feelings, as well as helping the grammar and sentence structure process. If a student cannot express themselves in the classroom alongside their peers, they can become frustrated and lack confidence.
Many educators use the Lexile Framework for Reading to get an idea of the level and extent of reading fluency among their students, and match appropriate levelled text to the reader. Texthelp’s plan is that WriQ will guide teachers in a similar way, allowing them to track student’s writing progress over time.
New features & Exponential User Growth for ‘Read&Write’
Every child’s different, with their own star qualities, strengths and challenges. In a typical classroom, there will be fluent, capable readers alongside other pupils whose first language isn’t English. Chances are there will be some kids in the group with dyslexia or other special education needs and there will be other children who simply struggle to
5
engage with everyday reading, writing and comprehension tasks. That’s a lot of abilities, expectations and engagement levels to accommodate in one 50 minute lesson. In a perfect world, today’s teachers would develop a lesson plan based on each student’s needs. However, Texthelp understands that creating a personalised learning experience for each child sounds great in theory but in reality it’s incredibly challenging - whatever type of classor subject.
Now celebrating its 17th year in continuous development, Read&Write has progressed to become one of the most popular assistive technology solutions for struggling readers and writers.
Read&Write is great for all subjects and lesson plans. It can be used with virtually any kind of schoolroom content: websites, Word files, PDFs, Google docs and more. The software’s simple to install, it’s easy for pupils to use independently, and it works smoothly across all kinds of hardware.
The Google Chrome version of Read&Write has surpassed five million users across 182 countries worldwide, with fast expansion across North America and parts of the Asia Pacific region.
The product also has some brand new features including Screen masking, support for Google Slides, accessible maths support plus a new Practice Reading Aloud function.
As a result of its continued growth and enhancements the Read&Write family of software products has been shortlisted as a finalist in this year’s BETT Awards.
Recent features in Fluency Tutor for Google
Fluency Tutor has grown to become a dynamic and vital tool for struggling readers and English language learners, with the software already being utilised by thousands of teachers in the G Suite for Education environment. Based on regular feedback from educators, Texthelp introduced things like comprehension questions, data exporting, more reading levels and most recently, the Fluency Tutor Student Share Extension, which allows students to create and record their own reading passages from almost anything on the web. Students can select content that interests them most. This helps to foster independent and avid reading, and increases interest and engagement by giving students that ability to choose what they read.
A new Online Training Experience
Texthelp has developed a brand new Online Training Portal (www.training.texthelp.com) this year, allowing educators to get to grips with the product portfolio in their own time, while picking up hints and tips on how to build the products into lesson plans.
According to Mark McCusker, CEO of Texthelp,
“As a literacy and learning company we are committed to helping ALL students reach their learning potential through improving their ability to read, write, and communicate with confidence. From expanding the regions we operate in, to adding crucial new features to our range of products, we keep our customers at the heart of our business, thus ensuring all developments are created with students’ and teachers’ needs front and centre.”
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Case study: Read&Write helps develop literacy strategies in Oswestry School
The leadership team within Oswestry wanted to find a resource that could be universally used by all students, not just those with specific learning needs, to improve their reading, writing and oracy skills. Following a successful trial of Read&Write, the software was implemented and has since become embedded in the whole-school learning approach. Students are confident in their use of the software during lessons, as well as when completing individual assignments at home.
The versatility of the software was a contributing factor in the purchase decision. Read&Write is introduced to younger students in the Oswestry prep department so that by the time they move into secondary school they are using it as part and parcel of their everyday work and have a comprehensive understanding of how it fulfills their individual needs, regardless of how complex or refined they are. The school recognised that this generation of students are comfortable using a wide range of technology from a young age in their everyday lives, so normalising it within their academic lives was anatural progression.
About Oswestry School:
Oswestry School is an independent day and boarding school in Shropshire, England. The school motto is “Non scholae, sed vitae discimus”, which is Latin for “We learn not for school but for life”.
This non-selective school caters for students with a wide range of abilities between the ages of four and 18. There is a strong focus within Oswestry on developing literacy strategies, as these underpin all other areas of the curriculum. In doing this the school enables students of all abilities to perform to the highest level across a broad range of subjects.
Read&Write for windows
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Year 11 student Lucy uses Read&Write to help with researching
“When researching you can highlight sections in different colours and then you can put these highlights into one document, which is really quite helpful. So it means you’re not having to do four lots of reading, you’re only doing one set of reading and picking out the information as you go, which cuts down on time.”
Read&Write helps Ben, Year 7, to work independently
“I use Read&Write, which helps me a lot in lessons and especially when I’m doing homework. At home, I don’t have a teacher who understands the subject on hand to help.”
Daniel, Year 8, notes how easy it is to use the Dictionary tool
“You can just press on the one word and then that goes into Google, so it comes up with a page on that word. So, say, you’ve got ‘volcano’, you can just click on ‘volcano’ and then it searches the word volcano and then it comes up with lots of things.”
Claire Belk, Head of Learning Support at Oswestry School, has seen first hand the positive impact Read&Write has on students’ learning.
Straightaway students could see how they could engage with the text, how it made it easy, and it was really good to
see their ability.
Claire Belk, Head of Learning Support, Oswestry School
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Case study: Barking Abbey School using Read&Write in the classroom, in exams and at home
Lauren Casey, Subject co-ordinator at Barking Abbey School, first saw Read&Write at BETT and thought it was an amazing piece of software. Although the school initially purchased the software for SEN students they soon realised that it’s a really useful resource for pupils right across the school.
In order to encourage its use they initially delivered training to selected teachers who were then able to train other staff. As more departments came on board teachers could see how easy it was to prepare lessons using the software and how to best adapt these to suit all students’ needs.
An important factor in the decision to purchase was the fact that the software could also be used at home. Although homework clubs do run in school it’s not always ‘cool’ to attend. When teachers know that Read&Write can be used at home and that students will continue to benefit from all the support features they are happier to allow work to be completed at home which solved a tricky problem for the school.
About Barking Abbey School
Located in East London, “Barking Abbey School is a place where everyone gives and expects the best” and where everyone can say, “I belong”. It’s a mixed school of approximately 2,000 pupils and operates across two sites. The school was finding that more and more students, including SEN students and those with dyslexia, needed a reader in exams.
Success with Read & Write
They purchased a Read&Write licence with home use and have found that this software has had a really positive impact with a clear indication that it is helping students to improve their English grades.
Read&Write for windows
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Lauren details how Read&Write is being used at Barking Abbey:
Boosting student achievement
“Since implementing the software, teachers at Barking Abbey have noted a marked improvement in students’ English grades when an extended piece of writing is being done. This is partly due to the fact students are able to listen back to the work they have produced and decide whether it makes sense or if there is some punctuation missing.“
Pupil Performance
“When choosing between an electronic exam reader and a human one, the software wins hands down. Students can work at their own pace, making sure that they fully understand what is being asked in each question before starting to write an answer. It also takes away the embarrassment factor that quite a few students face if they have to ask for a question to be read several times.”
24/7 support
“The independence that Read&Write offers students can be experienced in all working environments, the classroom, exams and studying independently at home. The user friendly nature of the software means students can easily navigate the software and make full use of its many tools to ensure they receive round the clock support.”
Pupils who would benefit from using Read&Write were identified and received their training after school where they found it easy to pick up.
It really helps me in English and to overcome my dyslexia. Without using it, I know there
would be information I would have missed if I had to read it myself.
Year 10 student
Staff biographies
Jason Carroll, Global Product ManagerJason is global product manager at Texthelp. He has trained thousands on the effective use of Assistive and Instructional Technology throughout the United States and beyond since his start with Educational Technology over a decade ago. His focus is on bridging the gap between the operation of technology and actual implementation and he is a popular speaker nationally and internationally on these topics.
Jason is a graduate of the Assistive Technology Applications Certificate Program (ATACP) from California State University at Northridge, holds an MBA, is a Google Educator, and Authorized Google Education Trainer. He is a published author, has taught at the University level, and served as an independent consultant prior to his position at Texthelp.
Mark McCusker, CEOWith the company since September 1998, Mark is charged with overseeing Texthelp and guiding the direction of the company. Working with the Senior Management team, he has driven the growth of Texthelp from a fledgling company to a world leader in the field of assistive technology.
He has also been involved with the development of a number of not-for-profit organisations and is currently a director of Camara Education (NI) and is immediate past Chairman of the British Assistive Technology Association.
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Martin McKay, CTOMartin is CTO and a founder of Texthelp. He directs all R&D at Texthelp with a focus on developing new technologies to assist people who struggle with reading and writing. Martin served on the board of ATIA (Assistive Technology Industry Association) and sits on the steering committee of the AIA (Accessibility Interoperability Alliance). He also sits on the NIMAS board (National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard) and the Architecture Committee of the GPII (Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure).
Greg O’Connor, Tech Innovation and Implementation ManagerGreg has been actively involved in supporting the learning of students with diverse learning needs for over 30 years. During this time he has worked as a classroom teacher, school executive, district consultant, regional manager with the New South Wales Department of Education, and was previously the Professional and Consultancy Services Manager at Spectronics. He is currently employed by Texthelp to support technology innovation and implementation across the Asia Pacific region.
Contacts
Shauna [email protected]+44(0)28 9442 8105
Jai JethwaFleishmanHillard [email protected]+44 (0)20 8618 2977
texthelp.com
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