ALEX: mobile language assistant for low-literacy adults

Cosmin Munteanu, Jo Lumsden, Hélène Fournier, Rock Leung, Danny D'Amours, Daniel McDonald, Julie Maitland

Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference outputChapter (peer-reviewed)

Abstract

Basic literacy skills are fundamental building blocks of education, yet for a very large number of adults tasks such as understanding and using everyday items is a challenge. While research, industry, and policy-making is looking at improving access to textual information for low-literacy adults, the literacy-based demands of today's society are continually increasing. Although many community-based organizations offer resources and support to adults with limited literacy skills, current programs have difficulties reaching and retaining those that would benefit most from them. To address these challenges, the National Research Council of Canada is proposing a technological solution to support literacy programs and to assist low-literacy adults in today's information-centric society: ALEX© – Adult Literacy support application for EXperiential learning. ALEX© has been created together with low-literacy adults, following guidelines for inclusive design of mobile assistive tools. It is a mobile language assistant that is designed to be used both in the classroom and in daily life, in order to help low-literacy adults become increasingly literate and independent.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceeding
Subtitle of host publicationMobileHCI '10 Proceedings of the 12th international conference on Human computer interaction with mobile devices and services
PublisherACM
Pages427-430
Number of pages4
ISBN (Print)978-1-60558-835-3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2010
Event16th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking and The 11th ACM International Symposium on Mobile Ad Hoc Networking and Computing MobiCom/MobiHoc '10 - Chicago, IL, United Kingdom
Duration: 20 Sept 201024 Sept 2010

Conference

Conference16th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking and The 11th ACM International Symposium on Mobile Ad Hoc Networking and Computing MobiCom/MobiHoc '10
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityChicago, IL
Period20/09/1024/09/10

Keywords

  • mobile computing
  • assistive technology
  • mobile learning
  • educational interfaces
  • interface design

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