A New Culture of Learning
and the Dyslexic Learner
As a provider of dyslexia therapy, the students I encounter every day are some of the most creative learners in our school building. Their brains are physically wired differently (Kearns et al., 2019, p. 182). And while this presents so many challenges for them as readers and writers, they have significant creativity and problem solving strengths that carry into adulthood (Stampoltzis, et al., 2023, p. 120). An environment, like that promoted in The New Culture of Learning, can help draw on their strengths rather than weaknesses. Thomas and Brown (2011) describe our current system as a mechanistic approach (p. 34). We give students information and they are expected to retain it and then turn around and give it back to us. While this may work okay for some learners, is this really the best approach?
“Traditional approaches to learning are no longer capable of coping with a constantly changing world” (Thomas & Brown, 2011, p. 48). We need to create a space for students to thrive on play, passion, and community. My innovation plan combines all three of these to help dyslexic learners strengthen the skill of diacritical coding which will then allow them to thrive in other educational environments in a more independent way. This skill is traditionally practiced with pencil/paper and only at the therapy table. My plan proposes developing an online gamified, self correcting application where students practice and gain repetitions of using coding to read. This increases motivation to practice and allows them to be more independent (Firdaus, et al., 2024). When students are able to practice through play while using mobile technology they are able to practice free from adult assistance (Garciano et al., 2023, p. 356).
The fundamental idea from The New Culture of Learning that I want to bring into my learning environment is the idea of play. The authors remark that play is thought to be the opposite of modern day learning and that it is the opposite of work (Thomas & Brown, 2011, pg. 97). While really, play promotes the most learning. Gamified environments like the app provide dyslexic learners with opportunities to engage with the material through play and exploration. A New Culture of Learning demonstrates how passion and curiosity drive intrinsic motivation, which is critical for learners facing challenges like dyslexia. The gamified application can draw on learners' natural desire to “level up” through rewards, challenges, and interactive feedback, making practice fun and interactive rather than just something they have to do in front of a teacher.
A challenging aspect will be that my innovation plan is based on a very explicitly taught and practiced skill. This is where the gamified portion of the app really needs to come to life. The skill needs to be woven within a story where students are able to practice the skill, but still use their creative problem solving skills to activate their right brain. In A New Culture of Learning, Thomas and Brown (2011) discuss how children can use play and imaginative learning to go to new words and cope with new information that they are receiving (pg. 47). This can help learners grasp new concepts and really get into the gamified aspect of the application.
Students with dyslexia can often feel isolated and alone. The application can have aspects that build on the idea of the collective described in A New Culture of Learning (Thomas & Brown, 2011, p 114). Aspects like peer challenges, progress sharing, and community leaderboards are all things that could be added to drive motivation and establish the collective within the application. Safety parameters will need to be a concern, but students are interacting through apps such as Dojo Island and Minecraft Education. We can build upon those who have gone before us and level up the interaction amongst our learners.
Conclusion
The gamified application from my innovation plan brings in principles from A New Culture of Learning by blending passion based learning and technology based differentiation to create an engaging learning environment for dyslexic students. By adding this engaging, learner centered application to our dyslexia therapy tool kit, we can address the need of additional repetitions and establish a fun collective environment for our learners.