Students need the Features to Personalize their Text Formats
Education is changing dramatically, requiring significantly more digital reading and learning. The shift to online learning, the increased availability of high-speed internet, and the rising demand for personalized learning are all contributing to record growth. In fact, the global EdTech market is expected to grow from $142.37 billion in 2023 to $348.41 billion by 2030, a CAGR of 13.6%. As more learning takes place on digital platforms, there is a tremendous opportunity to design applications for the improved learning outcomes created by personalized reading formats.
Student Benefits
New readability research demonstrates that both strong and struggling readers, adults and children, can benefit from personalized text formats. Personalization features allow readers to customize the appearance of text, such as font, size, line spacing, and background color. Adjusting the text to meet the individual’s needs can make digital text easier to read and understand. When text is personalized and formatted for the individual, students experience:
- Increased reading speed and accuracy
- Improved comprehension
- A more equitable educational environment
- Increased enjoyment and engagement
- Reduced eye strain
The Future of Reading and Learning Apps
The future of digital text presentation includes increasing numbers of personalizations. Many EdTech providers are already working to empower students (children and adults) to read in a text format that is best for them by providing new features to personalize the reading experience, including the combination of font, size, spacing, background color, and more.
Personalized text formats make learning and reading apps more inclusive and enjoyable. Educational Technology companies must architect their platforms to:
- Allow users to choose their font, size, character and line spacing, and background color
- Make it easy for users to change and store their preferences
- Store personalized reading formats in a reader profile, and deliver all content using the profile
- Take advantage of variable font technology
- Anticipate new assessment tools that will create a reading format token for use across many reading platforms
As the EdTech market continues to grow, so will the demand for reading apps designed to support readers with their own individual needs and preferences. By incorporating readability features today, educational technology companies can help make reading apps more inclusive and enjoyable for all readers which will lead to increased productivity, improved academic performance, and a lifelong love of learning.
To learn more about implementing personalized reading formats, contact the team at Readability Matters.
