Tag: adult learning

Year 2 Periodic Report of the Project

Written by iread4skills on March 17, 2025. Posted in News.

iRead4Skills has just released its Year 2 Periodic Report, highlighting significant progress in the development of intelligent tools to improve literacy in adults with low reading skills.

Aiming to make reading more accessible and effective for Adult Learning (AL) and Vocational Education and Training (VET) learners, the initiative has been combining artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) to classify texts according to their complexity and create innovative reading support solutions.

Key Achievements in the Second Year of the Project

📌 Creation of a specialized linguistic corpus in Portuguese, Spanish, and French, classifying texts by complexity levels for further analysis.
📌 Development of the Intelligent Complexity Analyzer (ICA) API, an innovative system that allows evaluating text readability, identifying complex linguistic patterns, and providing recommendations adapted to users’ literacy levels.
📌 Adoption of machine learning models capable of predicting and automatically classifying the reading difficulty of different types of content.
📌 Co-creation workshops with trainers and learners to validate and improve tools, ensuring they meet the real needs of the target audience.
📌 Strengthened collaboration with policymakers and training institutions, ensuring the practical implementation of developed solutions and their integration into educational programs.
📌 Promotion of Open Science, ensuring that collected data and developed methodologies are accessible to researchers and educators.

The Year 2 Periodic Report is now publicly available and can be accessed via the link: https://zenodo.org/records/15038440

iRead4Skills Co-Creation Workshop

Written by iread4skills on March 10, 2025. Posted in News.

On February 17, 2025, a co-creation workshop was held at NOVA University Lisbon to refine the features and requirements of the applications being developed under the iRead4Skills project: the Text Classifier by Level of Complexity/Difficulty and the Writing Analyzer/Assistant.

The event brought together 12 teachers from various schools and adult education centers who had previously participated in project activities. The session began with a general presentation of iRead4Skills by Raquel Amaro, outlining its objectives and strategy. This was followed by a conceptual overview of the tools presented by Jorge Batista, including a practical demonstration of the Text Classifier, which evaluates text complexity and visually represents vocabulary difficulty.

During the session, guidelines were presented on complexity factors and recommendations for adapting texts to the desired level. Participants also explored the Writing Analyzer’s approach to text evaluation and the different recommendations it provides.

The discussion was highly engaging, with participants raising relevant questions, sharing experiences, and providing constructive feedback. Overall, the tools were well received and considered valuable resources for supporting literacy education. Teachers also emphasized the importance of usability, accessibility, and pedagogical adaptability.

The iRead4Skills co-creation workshop served as a crucial opportunity for dialogue, ensuring that the tools being developed align with the real needs of educators and learners.

Regina Duarte (MEC team) Discusses Literacy, AI, and Lifelong Learning in New Interview

Written by iread4skills on March 6, 2025. Posted in News.

The iRead4Skills project highlights a recent interview with Regina Duarte, Commissioner of the National Reading Plan 2027 and a key member of the iRead4Skills team, published on EPALE – the Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe. The interview explores the role of literacy in the digital age, the impact of artificial intelligence on education, and the challenges and opportunities in adult learning.

Duarte emphasizes the growing integration of digital tools and AI in literacy education, particularly in Portugal’s national strategies. She discusses how these technologies can support adult learners, improve access to reading materials, and enhance learning outcomes. The conversation also highlights the importance of collaborative efforts between educators, policymakers, and literacy projects like iRead4Skills in addressing existing gaps in adult education.

The interview provides valuable insights into how digital transformation is shaping the future of literacy education. It underscores the need for accessible learning materials, effective teacher training, and policies that encourage digital inclusion.

The full interview is available on EPALE: https://epale.ec.europa.eu/en/blog/interview-regina-duarte-mecpnl-portugal

New iRead4Skills Deliverable: Annotated Corpora by Level of Complexity for FR, PT, and SP

Written by iread4skills on February 5, 2025. Posted in News.

We are pleased to announce the release of Dataset 2: Annotated Corpora by Level of Complexity for French (FR), Portuguese (PT), and Spanish (SP). This dataset is a collection of texts categorized by complexity level and annotated for complexity features, presented in Excel format (.xlsx). The corpora were compiled and annotated under the scope of the iRead4Skills.

Dataset 2 is derived from the previously released Dataset 1: Corpora by Level of Complexity for FR, PT, and SP (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10055909), which consists of written texts of various genres and complexity levels. A sample of texts from Dataset 1 was selected for classification and annotation, providing additional data and test sets for the complexity analysis systems in the three project languages.

Data Collection and Annotation Process

The classification and annotation tasks were carried out through a structured methodology:

Texts were distributed to Adult Learning (AL) and Vocational Education Training (VET) Centres, where trainers and students participated in classification tasks.
The classification was conducted via the Qualtrics platform, ensuring a standardized approach.
Participants assigned texts to one of four complexity levels:
- Very Easy (140 texts) – Easily understood by all.
- Easy (140 texts) – Understandable for those with less than 9 years of schooling.
- Plain (140 texts) – Readable at a 9th-grade level.
- More Complex (42 texts) – Challenging for individuals with a 9th-grade education.

For full details on the annotation process, data descriptions, and inter-annotator agreement, refer to the documentation available at Zenodo.

iRead4Skills featured on EPALE – Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe

Written by iread4skills on January 31, 2025. Posted in News.

We are delighted to appear on EPALE, a European, multilingual, open membership community of adult learning professionals, including adult educators and trainers, guidance and support staff, researchers and academics, and policymakers.

EPALE is part of the European Union’s strategy to promote more and better learning opportunities for all adults. The platform supports and strengthens the adult learning professions by enabling members to connect with and learn from colleagues across Europe. It provides a space for knowledge exchange through blog posts, forums, and the Partner Search tool, complemented with physical gatherings. EPALE also offers high-quality, accurate information relevant for adult learning practitioners, fostering engagement and collaboration within the community.

We are pleased to share an insightful interview with Raquel Amaro, the coordinator of the iRead4Skills.

Q&A highlights

What are the goals of this international project?
The iRead4Skills project is dedicated to enhancing adult reading skills by developing an automatic system capable of assessing text complexity. This system will help individuals find suitable reading materials or assist in the creation of such materials. Ultimately, the goal is to bridge skill gaps, improve professional competencies, and enhance access to information and culture for vulnerable and often overlooked populations.

How has it been to work with experts from different nationalities and disciplines?
Collaborating with a diverse, international, and multidisciplinary team has been both rewarding and inspiring. It brings challenges, as different perspectives and expertise must be integrated, but this also results in stronger outcomes. The iRead4Skills project is particularly enriching as it combines knowledge from computational sciences, information technologies, education, social sciences, and humanities.

How can the project contribute to adult literacy improvement across Europe and globally?

Our system is designed to be easily accessible and freely available to trainers, librarians, publishers, and individuals with low literacy skills. By offering tailored reading recommendations, we aim to make reading more engaging and less discouraging. The ability to choose materials that match one’s reading level is crucial for motivation and success, whether in educational settings, informal learning environments, or workplaces. Currently, the system covers Portuguese, French, and Spanish, benefiting speakers of these languages worldwide.

Read the full interview on EPALE: https://epale.ec.europa.eu/en/blog/iread4skills-interview-raquel-amaro