Training Sources

CalDys2

CalDys2 Consortium

CalDys2 Consortium

October 2011

Greek

English

European

Web Site

Students with learning difficulties

Teachers, Parents

CalDys2 – Collaborative Language Teaching for Dyslexic Students 2 is a follow up project to
the previous Minerva funded Calldysc project, aimed at supporting children with dyslexia to
learn English as a second language. To that end, a participatory design approach to the creation of the interactive experience, and a significant period of time to train, observe and measure the professional (teacher, parent or support worker) in their use and integration of games as learning tools into their practice is an important and unique component of CalDys2.

The project’s innovative approach is based on three components: teaching methodology,
educational technology and channels of delivery. Learning activities reflect innovation in their
dyslexia responsive pedagogical approach, i.e. emphasis on multisensory learning,
improvement of general literacy skills to support foreign language learning, content
personalisation, inclusion through collaborative activities, etc. However, the real innovation is
adopting an Web 2.0 philosophy of having the learning activities created and shared by a
community of educators and SEN supporters. The project builds upon previous research and
EU funded project participated in by partners, and will enhance and extend their results by
embedding previous technological innovations (user generated multimedia content, game
based language teaching, blended learning design, etc.) into a Web 2.0 authoring
environment.
Instead of providing learners or teachers with ready made worksheets or teaching games,
the project will give them online authoring tools to create as many learning activities as they wish, at different levels and with different educational content focus. The tools will offer a blueprint of the learning activities for educational practitioners to fill with pictures, texts or
voice they need for teaching a certain vocabulary or grammar. This is good for the students, as they will always get learning materials tailored to their needs and interest, and good for the teacher as meeting the challenge of how to find highly motivating.