Chi-Lites – Alissa

In English speaking countries, approximately 10% of children have dyslexia. Although most of these children have above average to high intelligence, many never become fully literate. Alissa Antle and her team have created a technology that uses 3-D physical letter-blocks to interact with a tablet running a custom reading app, which helps children at risk for dyslexia learn to read and spell. Alissa will tell us how, by transforming the process of reading and spelling into a physical interaction that leverages children’s strong visual-spatial skills, their system supported learning in record time.

Alissa Antle is an innovator and scholar, whose research pushes the boundaries of computation to augment the ways we think and learn. As a designer and builder of interactive technologies, her goal is to explore the ways in which these innovations can improve, augment, and support children’s cognitive and emotional development. Her interactive technologies have been deployed to facilitate collaborative learning about aboriginal heritage, sustainability and social justice; improve learning outcomes for dyslexic children; and teach self-regulation to disadvantaged children. Alissa was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists in 2015, acknowledging her as one of Canada’s intellectual leaders.