Awards + Press
09.27.18
The Hechinger Report: EARLY EDUCATION
A Bilingual App with Sign Language Brings More Stories to Deaf Children
“A bilingual app with sign language brings more stories to deaf children… and building literacy skills is only the beginning.”
02.23.18
#ZEROCON18
Gallaudet University Receiving Zero Project Award
01.15.18
Library of Congress Literacy Awards
vl2 storybook creator receives Best Practice award in literacy
05.17.17
Feature on The Daily Moth
The Daily Moth did a feature on the labs of VL2, including Motion Light Lab!
2016
Journal of Education
BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
The Baobab, A Storybook App
In an interactive, bilingual American Sign Language (ASL) and English Storybook app for children, the NSF Science of Learning Center on Visual Language and Visual Learning (VL2) at Gallaudet University presents a tale of a “curious and adventurous little girl.” What makes this story unique is that the content is provided in two languages—ASL and English.
06.20.16
SUSAN LAYTON:
"I *HEART* ASL STORIES! (APPS)"
"You will find their use of classifiers, facial expressions, use of space and many other ASL components are amazing to watch and would be useful in mirroring and expounding on in your own practice. Not only that, the ‘Watch’ section of the apps give you a beautiful opportunity to practice voicing." [READ MORE]
05.11.16
EDUCATION WEEKS' BLOG
"AVATARS, SIGN-ALONG STORY APPS MAY SUPPORT LITERACY FOR DEAF STUDENTS"
Remember the famous 30 million word gap in language exposure between the children of professional families and those on welfare, and all its attendant problems in reading and attention? How could educators make up for the gap for a child with no exposure to language at all in the first year or two of life? [READ MORE]
2015
ERIC
"BILINGUAL STORYBOOK APPS: AN INTERACTIVE READING EXPERIENCE FOR CHILDREN"
In recent years, researchers have turned their attention to the cognitive impact of bilingualism, and the benefits of using two languages have become increasingly apparent. Children raised in bilingual families exhibit stronger awareness of the style and tone of language, stronger cognitive development, and higher levels of reading skill than children raised in families where only one language is used. [READ MORE]
2015
ODYSSEY MAGAZINE
Bilingual Storybook Apps: An Interactive Reading Experience for Deaf Children by Melissa Herzig & Melissa Malzkuhn. [READ MORE]
06.28.15
NPR
"WHEN IT COMES TO LEARNING FOR THE DEAF, ‘IT'S A 3-D LANGUAGE’"
In a small, sparse makeshift lab, Melissa Malzkuhn practices her range of motion in a black, full-body unitard dotted with light-reflecting nodes. She's strapped on a motion capture, or mocap, suit. Infrared cameras that line the room will capture her movement and translate it into a 3-D character, or avatar, on a computer... [READ MORE]
05.01.15
TECHNICAL.LY
"HOW THE MOTION LIGHT LAB AT GALLAUDET IS MAKING BILINGUAL BOOKS FOR DEAF CHILDREN"
In 2009, the current director of the Motion Light Lab (ML2) at Gallaudet University, Melissa Malzkuhn, painted a small, unused room in Chroma Key paint and put up a sign that said, “Motion Lab.”
“It was like putting up my sign on a treehouse and calling it a pirate ship,” she said. [READ MORE]
04.11.14
THE BUFF AND BLUE
"VL2 STORYBOOK APPS FOR IPAD"
"...The Baobab, which has approximately 1,500 downloads as of now. Also, The Baobab won second place in the DEVICE Design Award 2014—Professional Category this past February. Norway is working to translate The Baobab to create a different version of the app to suit deaf people in Norway who might not know ASL or English." [READ MORE]
04.03.14
DIGITAL JOURNAL
"INTERACTIVE STORYBOOK IPAD APP ESPECIALLY FOR ASL DEAF CHILDREN"
Washington - Science of Learning Center on Visual Language and Visual Learning (VL2) has released a bilingual storybook app for the iPad, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, mainly developed to help language acquisition and reading in children who are deaf and hard of hearing.
The National Science Foundation-funded Science of Learning Center on Visual Language and Visual Learning (VL2) at Gallaudet University research center has released the second in a series of three bilingual storybook apps for the iPad, The Boy Who Cried Wolf. [READ MORE]
03.24.14
GEORGIA PATHWAY
“NEW VL2 STORYBOOK APPS: THE BOY WHO CRIED WOLF"
The classic Aesop’s fable about the boy who cried wolf is brought to life in a wholly new medium with vivid American Sign Language storytelling, adding cinematic elements to a timeless tale. Accompanied by detailed paintings that evoke times of yore, this storybook app for the iPad comes with over 140 vocabulary words, signed and fingerspelled. App design is based on proven research on bilingualism and visual learning from Visual Language and Visual Learning. [READ MORE]
2013
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCED COMPUTER SCIENCE
Bilingual Storybook App Designed for Deaf Children Based on Research Principles by Melissa Malzkuhn and Melissa Herzig. [READ MORE]
12.15.13
IJACS
"BILINGUAL STORYBOOK APP DESIGNED FOR DEAF CHILDREN BASED ON RESEARCH PRINCIPLES"
Nearly 96% of the deaf children are born in a family whose parents are not deaf (Mitchell & Karchmer, 2002.) Language acquisition and development are of a concern among those deaf children whose parents do not sign at an early age. Early language exposure is crucial to children’s ability to become lifelong learners. [READ MORE]
02.05.13
PAH!
"VL2 STORYBOOK APPS"
Why are we doing this? Every child loves, and deserves, a great story. Great stories invite children into our vast world, encouraging new ways to imagine and then leading them down the path to reading and learning. The inspiration behind the VL2 Storybook Apps comes from the belief that there are many ways to tell a great story. [READ MORE]