Web-based reading assessment and instruction prototype development and evaluation

The proposed work seeks to demonstrate feasibility of an accessible Web-based literacy program which assesses an individuals reading skills and provides relevant instruction through interaction with a virtual tutor—a lifelike computer character that simulates the behaviors of an effective reading teacher. Specific technical objectives include designing online reading assessment instruments to estimate an individual’s reading competence and to identify areas where remediation is indicated, designing online reading tutors that improve targeted reading skills, modifying an existing real time server-client architecture to optimize tradeoffs between bandwidth constraints and user experiences, and evaluating the validity of the assessments, the effectiveness of the literacy tutors and the overall quality of the user experience.