Technology to Assist Postsecondary Struggling Readers : A Mixed-Methods Research Study

1. Technology to Assist Postsecondary Struggling Readers:A Mixed-Methods Research Study Presented by: Mary Anne Steinberg, Ph.D., Cheryl Morgan, Ph.D., & Victoria Steinberg

2. Learning Outcomes • Participants will review current research on reading at the postsecondary level. • Participants will review research results from a recent study on the use of text to speech technology with postsecondary students with disabilities.

3. Reading Statistics • 85% of all learning comes from independent reading in college. Nist & Simpson, 2000 • Textbooks are central to learning in postsecondary education settings. Alfasi, 2004 • College students who are not metacognitively aware will probably experience academic problems. Baker & Brown, 1984; Kiewra, 2002; Maitland, 2000

4. Reading Research What do think happens to this gap as students go to college? How does this gap impact your students’ performance?

5. Literature Review • Research has shown that only 2% of students who receive remedial education or special education services (for difficulties learning to read) will complete a four-year education. Lyon, 2002 • This may be due to the fact that students with disabilities may be less likely to take general education classes in high school. Carter & Unruh, 2012; Steinberg & Murphy, 2012 • Technology can be an option that can help students with disabilities experience academic success in college. Edyburn, 2007; Gregg, 2007

6. Our Study

7. Purpose The purpose of our study was to investigate the impact of Kurzweil 3000-firefly as a means of improving the reading comprehension of college students with disabilities. • Research Questions: • Will the use of Kurzweil 3000-firefly improve a student’s reading comprehension as measured by idea units? • What are the perceptions of students who use Kurzweil 3000-firefly to improve comprehension?

8. Methodology

9. Participants • 5 college students with disabilities participated in this study.

10. Setting Two postsecondary institutions were included in the study: • The first school was a public university • Over 50,000 students enrolled • More that 100 undergraduate degree programs (majors) • More than 200 graduate degree programs • The second school was a public college • Over 16,000 students enrolled • 90 certificate and associate’s degree programs • 5 bachelor’s degree programs

11. Materials Each student was provided: • The Contexts Reader by Hartmann & Uggen (2012) • A license of Kurzweil 3000-firefly Other materials used during the study: • Idea Unit score sheets • Tape recorder

12. Measurement Procedures • Target Behavior (d.v.): reading comprehension as measured through retelling (idea units) • Retelling= the ability to recall important ideas contained in the passage • Idea Unit= an individual idea in a text • The d.v. was measured by counting the correctly stated idea units for each passage

13. Single Subject Design Multiple baseline across subject design was used. • Baseline • Students read The Contexts Reader in a “traditional” way. • Acceptable baseline was established when 3-4 data points were stable in trend and level. • Intervention • Students were given Kurzweil 3000-firefly. • They then read passages from The Context Reader with Kurzweil 3000-firefly. • Visual analysis of data was completed as well as calculating PND and PEM scores.

14. Qualitative Design • Phenomenological research design was used to obtain perceptions of the use of Kurzweil through first-person accounts in informal interviews with participants. Moustakas, 1994 • All participants were interviewed using open-ended questions. • Interviews were then recorded and transcribed. • The analysis looked for themes that described each individual’s experiences. • Then researchers looked across each transcript for recurring or common themes that resonated with multiple participants.

15. Results

16. Student 1

17. Student 2

18. Student 3

19. Student 4

20. Student 5

21. A Side-by-Side Comparison

22. Implications for Future Research • Future studies need to continue to examine the effectiveness of text-to-speech technology for postsecondary students with disabilities. • Future research should also consider implementing a similar study using texts that each student is currently using in their coursework versus a text chosen by researchers.

23. Limitations • Our study findings cannot necessarily be generalized beyond participants in this study. • Findings may also be limited due to the fact that several study participants had to exit the study due to the end of the semester, making it impossible to extend the length of the intervention or include them in a return to baseline condition. • Using an expository text (e.g. historyor astronomy) may have yielded different results. • In addition, reading passages outside of the student’s own coursework may have affected motivation and performance on the retelling task.

24. Questions? Comments? Thoughts?

25. Contact Information Mary Anne Steinberg, Ph.D. University of Florida masteinberg@phhp.ufl.edu 352-273-6023