Digital books bring literature to life, especially for students who are reluctant or non-readers in the conventional sense. The students normally wear earphones and the computer ‘reads’ the book to them. However, this type of software usually has many supplementary features that greatly expand its use beyond just the reading of the story. Comprehension questions, for example, are sometimes provided to encourage the student to listen and to develop writing skills. This range of software is normally easy to use for teacher and students.

As writing is necessary across all aspects of the curriculum, word processing software is ideal ‘content-free’ material that assists students in many ways. The choice of software will depend on the nature and extent of the student’s difficulties and the circumstances in which it is likely to be used in the school. The choice of writing software used in the Laptops Initiative fell into three broad categories:

This software can help students to visually organise their ideas and information as a prerequisite to writing. It is very useful for students who think visually rather than orally and is useful for students with both general and specific learning difficulties. For instance, it can be used for outlining, prewriting, diagramming and concept mapping. The more basic forms of the software are easy to use for teachers and students.

Used judiciously, assessment software can assist the teacher in identifying areas of learning difficulty, in measuring and recording attainment, and in indicating intervention measures. While very easy for students to operate, this type of software generally requires intermediate levels of teacher skill. It also requires professional special needs insight to interpret the results.

This software allows the student to dictate text onto a computer. Put simply, students talk to the computer and it writes up the text for them. This software tends to suit mature and motivated students with specific learning difficulties who have problems in writing legible text. Because it is operated by voice it is not suitable for typical classrooms. This software requires moderate degrees of ICT skill to learn and a good deal of initial support for the student.

There is an increasing variety of software available for specific curricular use. However, some of the Laptops Initiative schools found that it took some time to find software that suited both a teacher’s style and preference, and his or her specific Certificate examination syllabus.

As examples see:

• The digital video from Wexford Vocational College where Irish teacher, Margaret Jones-Broaders, used EuroTalk software to successfully develop Irish vocabulary in preparation for the aural element of the Junior Certificate
• The digital video from St. Paul’s Community College where Geography teacher, Orla Curran, used WorldBook software to teach Leaving Certificate Geography.

ICT offers enormous scope for teachers who like their students to research and source information.

This type of software can be used to author and present material in a variety of ways. Microsoft’s PowerPoint is a commonly-used example.

This can be used to present ideas and work assignments. This type of software was used a lot in the Laptops Initiative for completing projects and portfolios. The ability to incorporate text, images, animation and video is advantageous.

In the digital video from Wexford Vocational College, Séamus O’ Leary outlines the advantages of using ICT in this way in examination portfolios.

The Laptops Initiative teachers found that students needed reasonably good typing skills in order to use laptops effectively in mainstream situations. Also, some considered this a necessary life skill for students, and especially where ICT proved to have a considerable benefit in literacy terms.