2019
A personal experience and a great dream
The strongest ideas arise from people who experience difficulties firsthand, because they have a full understanding of what others may also need.
The idea was born from Prof. Giuseppe Calabrò, Full Professor of Electrical Engineering and Technologies for Nuclear Fusion at the University of Tuscia (Viterbo).
The experience of being the father of a child with Specific Learning Disorder (SLD), together with that of having received himself a diagnosis of SLD in adulthood, generates in him an important reflection about the world of university.
Hence the desire and the great dream of making the University of Tuscia a learning environment accessible to all.
October 2019
First step
Giuseppeand Juri present a first proposal of the TUA - TUscia project for Learning and Accessibility 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, work on a redesign and expansion of the idea through:
- the integration and development of tools based on Artificial Intelligence with the use of Augmented Reality;
- the development of university services to enable students with Dyslexia to bring out their potential and create a network of Sustainable Campuses.
September 2020
Approval of the Vrailexia project
The University of Tuscia becomes coordinator of the european project Vrailexia. Andrea joins the team. With his informatic skills and passion for teaching students with SLD, he develops the informatic structure of the BeSpecial e-learning platform.
The questionnaire to assess students with Dyslexia needs was developed and distributed to Italian and European universities, with the collaboration of a team of psychologists, psychometricians and pioneering students with Dyslexia.
May 2020
Partner Estro technologies srl
Lorenzo is put in contact with Giuseppe through a common connection. Subsequently, he proposes Angelo and Francesca to collaborate with the University of Tuscia. Together, they evaluate positively the purpose of the project, because it is in line with their personal values and professional goals, which are aimed at creating an impact in people with neurodevelopmental disorders. With the University team, made up of Giuseppe, Juri, Marcella and Andrea, they begin to design and develop Reading Easy.
March 2021
Webapp Reading Easy
At the end of the development of the Reading Easy webapp, the first tests with students with Dyslexia begin.
Dicember 2021
BeSpecial Award - UNESCO
BeSpecial by Vrailexia is included in the list of the top 100 AI UNESCO projects and among the 25 EXCELLENT Artificial Intelligence applications. The prize was awarded by IRCAI - International Research Center in Artificial Intelligence under the auspices of UNESCO.
13 Dicember 2021
Birth of Tech4All, a university spin-off
Thanks to the awareness acquired by this whole path, Giuseppe, Marcella, Lorenzo, Francesca, Juri and Andrea decide to take a step forward.
Reasy is the evolution of Reading Easy, a tool that arises from an objective difficulty of students with Dyslexia and at the same time becomes an opportunity of improvement for everyone.
LET’S KNOW BETTER VRAILEXIA’S HISTORY
VRAILEXIA
A research project for the inclusion of students with Dyslexia
It was funded in 2020 for three years by the European Community within the Erasmus + Strategic Partnership for Higher Education program.
Vrailexia’s strenght is its multidisciplinary team. It involves nine 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 focusing on university students with Dyslexia, it wants to create a learning environment based on Universal Design Learning, so that every university can be an inclusive place:
inclusion means allowing everyone to bring out their strengths and uniqueness.
Dyslexia, in fact, is not considered as a problem but as a way of thinking out of the box,
a form of thinking where creative ideas are not hindered by rules.
Info: www.vrailexia.eu
Dyslexia
The context
- The legislation of different European countries treat Dyslexia in the same way;
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High incidence: Dyslexia affects 70% of students with SLD at the University of Tuscia.
A study by the University of its students showed that students with Dyslexia are on average one exam behind the others..
This represents a strong risk of dropping out of studies or a delay in obtaining the degree.
Inoltre, il numero di studenti con diagnosi di DSA che si iscrivono alle Università è in crescita costante.
The goals of Vrailexia project
- Create a network of experimental university institutes to implement protocols in favor of the inclusion and equal opportunities of students with Dyslexia;
- Implement learning tools based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support students with dyslexia, to shorten their university studies.
BESPECIAL
The e-learning platform thanks to Artificial Intelligence
Thanks to Artificial Intelligence-based algorithms, the e-learning platform will adapt to the characteristics and needs of each student with Dyslexia.
This was possible with the construction and dissemination of a questionnaire at Italian and European universities, in order to collect preliminary data (1300 interviews of students with Dyslexia aged 16 and older) .
The questionnaire wasn’t just data collection because, surprisingly, the team understood that it was a useful tool to give a voice to students with Dyslexia and SLD. The confirmation is in the numerous responses received which have far exceeded expectations.
The goal of this tool was to reconstruct their previous school history, in order to facilitate the identification of the compensation mechanisms which had been used.
Virtual Reality is also 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 amongst the world top 100 AI projects. The EXCELLENT rating places it among the top 25 projects.
In September 2022, Vrailexia became part of the Digital Republic Coalition of the Department for Digital Transformation.
The 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 the technologies of the future, supporting the country's development process.
For more info: www.repubblicadigitale.innovazione.gov.it/iniziativa/universita-degli-studi-della-tuscia-_vrailexia
READING EASY
The learning tool for students with Dyslexia
It was 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 times.
Thanks to the results of the questionnaire disseminated in Italian and European universities, the research team of the University of Tuscia, with the participation of Estro technologies srl (external technological partner), developed the Reading Easy webapp and tested it with the first students with Dyslexia.
Reading Easy is a free tool that has been built Vrailexia's scientific research.
Reasy
The evolution of Reading Easy
The perfect tool for Schools and Universities that want to accompany students with Dyslexia in their learning path.
