Oxford University Press partners with Kiwa Media to create new literacy aid

Learning to read and spell has just become easier through the “Oxford Literacy” digital reading programme.

Children now have the opportunity to learn to read and spell using an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch following a partnership between Oxford University Press (OUP) and New Zealand digital book producer Kiwa Media.

Simone Jackson-Doyle, OUP’s sales and marketing manager for its Australasian primary education division, says screen concepts are now of equal importance to print concepts in literacy programmes and school curriculums and Kiwa Media is a world leader in print-to-screen conversion.

The first 100 digital titles of the Oxford Literacy library have been created as “obooks” by Kiwa Media and are for sale through Kiwa Media’s website link, or through Apple’s iTunes App Store.

Rhonda Kite, Kiwa Media’s managing director, says obooks use animation to clearly show the link between the audio track and the words, with the words animating as the audio progresses. There are also touch zones where illustrations have sound effects that are played when the pictures are touched. Linking words to audio improves reading skills.

Taking advantage of the touch screen capabilities of iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, obooks are designed to be used in a classroom setting and teachers are able to project them onto a big screen. They can also be used for independent reading sessions and teaching children at home. Students can tap on each word on the screen to hear it spoken or to press and hold a word to hear the letters that make up the word.

obooks are an extension of Kiwa Media’s QBook format, which last year was voted by British media as one of the best iPad book Apps.