OrCam Technologies launches learning companion solution

OrCam Learn empowers students with learning challenges to read and learn with confidence

OrCam Technologies, innovator of life-changing, personal “AI as a companion” solutions, has today launched the OrCam Learn, an innovative, powerful new solution that supports teachers and schools, enabling every student to explore their full potential – by offering vital, practical reading support, and feedback, analysis and reporting.

An evolution of the 2021 TIME Magazine 100 Best Inventions Winner OrCam Read, the interactive OrCam Learn empowers students with learning challenges – including dyslexia – to effectively read and learn, resulting in enhanced comprehension, reading fluency, and improvement of overall confidence in an education setting.

The OrCam Learn is a wireless, compact handheld solution with an intuitive point-and-click operation that “captures” and immediately reads out loud a full page, paragraph, or single word of text – of the student’s choosing – from books, digital screens, or classroom handouts The learning companion will listen to and provide feedback on the student’s reading, and test reading comprehension.

“Reading is crucial to access the school curriculum and we know that children who find reading difficult will struggle across all subjects. In fact, students with dyslexia or another specific learning difficulty (SpLD) are twice as likely to fail to achieve a grade 4 or above in English and maths at GCSE”, said Irie Meltzer, UK regional director at OrCam Technologies.

“The OrCam Learn solution has been designed to help teachers to support their students as they read and study. Integrated into day-to-day school life, it empowers students with learning challenges to develop and maintain reading and learning skills, gain confidence, and thrive – both inside and outside of the classroom. We are driven to level the educational playing field for a wide spectrum of students who can benefit from OrCam Learn.”

Moon Hall School in Reigate is one of 50 schools in the UK currently collaborating with OrCam Technologies in offering the OrCam Learn for use to their students with learning challenges.

“The OrCam Learn solution enables our students to be as independent as possible with their learning experience, and as headteacher I absolutely recommend it,” said Michelle Catterson, Executive Headteacher at Moon Hall School and Chair of the British Dyslexia Association.

Makes reading and learning flow for every student

Researchers have observed the benefits of reading out loud to improve reading comprehension and literacy. OrCam Learn’s innovative “Reading Pal” feature harnesses interactive AI to support students in improving reading fluency by allowing them to read any text to the OrCam Learn, and then receiving immediate, conversational, and encouraging feedback about their reading.

OrCam Learn listens to the student’s reading, provides positive feedback to elevate confidence and positive feelings about reading, and then generates reports through a web and mobile app that provides teachers and support staff with a comprehensive analysis of the student’s progress.

Enables teachers to focus on teaching

“Every teacher’s priority is the development of their students, and those with learning challenges typically require more time and attention to succeed. We developed the OrCam Learn to partner with teachers, providing access to the insight and support they need to guide students with learning challenges more effectively. Allowing schools to direct resources where they are needed the most, and enabling students to work independently which can free up teaching assistants and alleviate logistical pressures like finding extra classrooms or scheduling separate times for exams”, said Irie Meltzer.

Every OrCam Learn reading session generates an automatic analytics report identifying areas of challenge. Listening to the student’s reading, it captures a variety of metrics that help evaluate their performance, including those that are commonly used by reading specialists:

• Text difficulty level
• Fluency (measured by Words Correct Per Minute)
• Accuracy (% of accurately read words)
• Reading rate (Words Per Minute)
• Total reading time

OrCam Learn also has an ‘Exam Mode’ that teachers can select by scanning a QR code before the student enters an examination. This offline setting ensures there is no possibility of any WiFi or cloud connectivity and that the solution complies with general school exam requirements. It also guarantees that students can complete examinations without the need for a human reader.

In June 2022, OrCam Learn was awarded the 2022 EdTech Breakthrough Award for Remote Learning Solution of the Year, joining winning submissions in other categories from companies including Discovery Education, LEGO Education, Logitech, Spotify and Verizon.