2019
A personal experience and a big dream
The strongest ideas come from those who experience difficulties firsthand, because you have a full understanding of what others may also need.
And the idea comes from Prof. Giuseppe Calabrò, Professor of Electrotechnics and Technologies for Nuclear Fusion at the University of Tuscia.
The experience of being a parent of a child with Specific Learning Disorder (SAD), along with that of having received a diagnosis of SAD himself in adulthood, generates in him an important reflection regarding the university world.
And hence the will and the great dream of making Tuscia University an accessible learning environment for all.
October 2019
First step
Joseph and Juri present an initial proposal of the TUA - TUscia for Learning and Accessibility project to the Ministry.
October 2019 - February 2020
International dimension of the project
Marcella, Juri and Giuseppe with 10 other partners, the support of the National Dyslexia Associations of Italy and Spain and the EDA - European Dyslexia Association, are working on a redesign and ampliamaento of the idea through:
- The integration and development of AI-based tools with the use of Augmented Reality;
- the development of university services to empower students with dyslexia to bring out their potential and create a network of Sustainable Campuses.
September 2020
Vrailexia project approval
Unitus becomes coordinator of the European project Vrailexia .
Andrea joins the team. With his IT skills and passion for teaching students with DSA, he develops the IT part of the BeSpecial e-learning platform.
With the collaboration of a team of psychologists, psychometricians and pioneering students with dyslexia, the questionnaire is developed and distributed at Italian and European universities.
May 2020
Partner Estro technologies ltd.
Lorenzo is put in touch with Joseph through a mutual acquaintance.
He then proposed to Angelo and Francesca the collaboration with Unitus.
Together they positively evaluate the project's purpose, in line with each other's personal values and professional goals, aimed at creating impact in people with Neurodevelopmental Disorders.
With the Unitus team of Joseph, Juri, Marcella and Andrea, they begin to design and develop Reading Easy.
March 2021
Webapp Reading Easy
Upon completion of the development of the Reading Easy webapp, initial testing with students with Dyslexia begins.
December 2021
BeSpecial Award - UNESCO
Vrailexia's BeSpecial is on the list of top 100 and among the 25 EXCELLENT artificial intelligence applications developed.
The prize was awarded by IRCAI - International Research Centre in Artificial Intelligence under the auspices of UNESCO.
December 13, 2021
Birth of Tech4All, a university spin-off.
Joseph, Marcella, Lorenzo, Francesca, Juri, and Andrea decide to take a step forward with the knowledge gained from this whole journey.
The Reasy product is the evolution of Reading Easy, a tool that stems from an objective difficulty of students with Dyslexia and at the same time becomes an opportunity for improvement for all.
Let's learn more about Vrailexia's pathway
vrailexia
A research project for the inclusion of students with dyslexia
It was funded in 2020 by the European Community within the program
Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership for Higher Education
for a period of 3 years.
Vrailexia has as its strength a multidisciplinary team and involves 9 international partners from Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Greece and Belgium.
The goal is to promote and develop a tool model, to overcome the main difficulties of students with Dyslexia while enhancing self-esteem and motivation.
By putting the university student with Dyslexia at the center, it aims to create a learning environment based on Universal Design Learning so that every university can be an inclusive place.
Because inclusion means allowing everyone to bring out their strengths and uniqueness.
Dyslexia, in fact, is not regarded as a problem but as a mode of thinking
out of the box
, out of the box.
A form of thinking where creative ideas are not hindered by rules.
For info: www.vrailexia.eu
Dyslexia at the center
Motivations
- Legislation in different European countries treat dyslexia in the same way
-
High incidence: Dyslexia affects 70 percent of students with DSA at the University of Tuscia. .
Thanks to a study by the university on its enrollees, it was found that students with dyslexia are on average one exam behind others.
This results in a high risk of dropping out of school or delaying graduation.
In addition, the number of students with a diagnosis of DSA enrolling in universities is growing steadily.
The goals of the Vrailexia project
- Create a network of experimental university institutes to implement protocols for inclusion and equal opportunities for students with dyslexia.
- Implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based learning tools to support students with dyslexia to shorten their time in college.
bespecial
The platform of
e-learning through artificial intelligence
Using algorithms based on Artificial Intelligence (AI), the e-learning platform will adapt to the characteristics and needs of each student with Dyslexia.
This was accomplished by constructing and disseminating a questionnaire to Italian and European universities in order to collect preliminary data (1,300 interviews of students with dyslexia aged 16 and older).
The questionnaire becomes not only the data collection, but surprisingly it is understood to be a tool to give voice to children with Dyslexia and ASD. The confirmation is the numerous responses received that far exceeded expectations.
The goal of this tool was to reconstruct their past school history, facilitating the identification of the compensation mechanisms used.
Virtual Reality, moreover, is used to investigate reading and comprehension difficulties through psychometric tests administered at the beginning and throughout the project.
BeSpecial, therefore, will have a database through which Artificial Intelligence can extract the different profiles of students with dyslexia.
In December 2021, it was recognized in the world’s top 100 list of projects applying Artificial Intelligence. The EXCELLENT rating places it among the top 25 projects.
In September 2022, the Vrailexia project became part of the Digital Republic Coalition of the Department of Digital Transformation.
Digital Republic is the national strategic initiative, promoted by the Minister for Technological Innovation and Digital Transition and coordinated by the Department for Digital Transformation of the Prime Minister’s Office, which aims to reduce the digital divide and promote education on future technologies, supporting the country’s development process.
For more info: www.repubblicadigitale.innovazione.gov.it/iniziativa/universita-degli-studi-della-tuscia-_vrailexia
READING EASY
The 360-degree learning tool for students with dyslexia
Born in 2021 from the desire to simultaneously develop tools to facilitate reading and learning for students with dyslexia in order to shorten their study time.
Using the results of the questionnaire circulated in Italian and European universities, the research team of the University of Tuscia, with the participation of Estro technologies srl (an external technology partner), developed the Reading Easy webapp and tested it with the first students with dyslexia.
Reading Easy is a free tool that rests its foundation on Vrailexia’s scientific research.
Reasy
The evolution of Reading Easy
The comprehensive tool for Schools and Universities that want to accompany students with Dyslexia on their learning journey
