Mobile phone apps

Last year I attended a webinar about this exciting new innovation from Citizen Literacy in Scotland and we decided it would be a good idea to share with ACAL members.

What is Citizen Literacy? Citizen Literacy is an adult literacy education programme being developed by Citizen Literacy Community Interest Company (CLCIC), a non-profit organisation based and registered in Scotland. Their work is supported by the Ufi VocTech TrustNesta The Innovation Foundation, and the Scottish Department for Education. CLCIC develops resources and services to support teachers help adults improve their reading and writing skills. Their wealth of resources includes a smartphone app with an interface especially designed for low literacy users. Interestingly, the app includes the use of voice and handwriting recognition.

Here is a link to the recording the Citizen Literacy webinar from 11 November 2020 with Scottish Union Learning https://www.crowdcast.io/e/citizen-literacy-sul-1 and are the slides https://citizenliteracy.com/events/

If you too think a smartphone app for low literacy users is a good idea, there’s an opportunity to get involved in helping to develop this innovative software. For the latest information about their public testing and engagement activities, head to their Testing + Feedback page. And for a more in-depth discussion about Citizen Literacy’s technological initiative, there’s an informative White Paper that outlines all the project’s functions and features. And you never know… Citizen Literacy might be useful for Australian literacy learning and teaching as well!

Liz Gunn