With Algor Maps' concept maps, studying becomes easier.Also for students with Dsa

Thanks to artificial intelligence, Algor Maps allows you to create concept maps, offering targeted support in case of learning disabilities.

• Almost 300 thousand Italian school students have a diagnosis of DSA (specific learning disorders).
• Concept maps are very effective study tools, but they require support and skills.
• Algor Maps is a web application that, through artificial intelligence, supports users in creating, editing and sharing conceptual and multimedia maps starting from long texts, in a convenient digital whiteboard.
• The platform was developed by the Italian startup Algor Lab.

Can artificial intelligence concretely improve people's lives, starting from school age?The founders of Algor Lab they are convinced so.And they want to demonstrate it with a platform that creates easily concept maps, invaluable study tools for those with a specific learning disorder (DSA).

300 thousand students in Italy have a diagnosis of DSA

What are we talking about when we talk about Dsa (specific learning disorders)?In general it means a series of difficulties in the ability to read, write and do calculations which include, among others, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dysorthography and dyspraxia. If not diagnosed starting from primary school and without the right support, these disorders can compromise self-esteem and progress in school and work.

Worldwide, approximately 700 million children and adults with specific learning disabilities are at risk of long-term illiteracy and social exclusion.According to the Ministry of Education, almost 300 thousand Italian school students have a diagnosis of DSA.From 2011 to 2019 the percentage increased fivefold, going from 0.9 to 4.9 percent.

A step forward in our country was made in 2010 with the introduction of law n.170 which recognizes learning disabilities and regulates the use of compensatory and dispensatory tools.Students with DSA actually have perfectly normal intelligence and, with the right support and adequate methods, can achieve the same results as their peers.

Algor Maps, an app for creating concept maps

But what are these methods?The main ones are the concept maps, graphic tools capable of summarizing long texts by representing ideas and information in the form of boxes or circles connected with arrows.They are used in the classroom both by teachers and tutors, as a teaching support tool, and by students to learn or explain study topics.However, creating concept maps requires commitment and support from parents and teachers;and it is not certain that the latter have the time or the skills.

The assistive technological solutions available up to now in Italy are rather obsolete digital alternatives to paper concept-mapping, which do not make the student independent.For all these reasons, after a careful market analysis it was born Algor Maps, one web applications which, throughartificial intelligence, supports users in creating, editing and sharing concept and multimedia maps starting from long texts, in a convenient digital whiteboard.Due to its strong social value this innovative startup has entered the ecosystem of LifeGate Way, dedicated to supporting and connecting sustainable startups.

An intuitive and inclusive product

Algor Maps is the first product developed by Algor Education, an inclusive and collaborative digital platform dedicated to students, in turn developed by Algor Lab Srl, startup that wants to improve people's lives thanks to artificial intelligence.

With Algor Maps you just need to copy and paste a text and, in a few minutes, thealgorithm owner summarizes it, extracts the main concepts, simplifies the syntax and provides a customizable map.Alternatively, you can create concept maps from scratch by manually retrieving information from a digital book.There multimedia digital whiteboard allows you to reorganize your work with one click through automatic layouts, move nodes and arrows, change fonts and colors, add images and multimedia resources.PDF documents and concept maps can communicate on the same screen:this means the student can take notes, highlight sentences and transfer text and images from their book to the map.To access the study material, simply connect to the site from any browser, without having to download any software.And you can also share it with friends, teachers and colleagues, to collaborate in real time.

From a perspective of inclusiveness, the app is designed to be accessible to everyone, especially people with reading or writing neurodiversity.Various dyslexia-friendly fonts are available inside, but the user can also use the speech synthesis to reproduce the textual content of the map with fluent male or female voices, with highlighting and in different languages ​​and playback speeds, saving effort in reading.It can also include audio material to listen to again, or make writing easier using the spell checker.

Algor Lab, a young company that has already obtained numerous awards

Algor Lab was established in July 2021 by a team of graduates with transversal skills and high-level experience in corporate, startup and academic research.Mauro Musarra, Giovanni Cioffi, Antonino Geraci, Fabio Frattin, Matteo Tarantino and Emanuele Gusso have heterogeneous engineering backgrounds, but they share a focus on artificial intelligence, having met during the master's degree in Data science at the Polytechnic of Turin.They share the values ​​of teamwork and a strong vocation for technological innovation:it is no coincidence that in April 2022 all the members of the team were selected by Forbes magazine among the 100 under 30 innovators from the world of education.In just over a year since its foundation, Algor Lab has already won prestigious awards, including first prize for the Impact innovation category in the 2022 edition of Unicredit Start Lab, Unicredit's business platform aimed at the best Italian startups and innovative SMEs.

Social impact and alternative applications

The ambition is to innovate a market, such aseducational technology, which has been stopped in Italy for years.To provide all students, and in particular those suffering from DSA, an inclusive platform for teaching and learning in an effective and interactive way, in which everyone can find the tools best suited to their cognitive channels.

Algor Maps is translatable and the algorithm is multilingual:because of this its applications can be multiple. It is no coincidence that it has attracted the interest of various players in the world of publishing and e-learning, but also in the legal and commercial fields, which require similar solutions to extract value from large quantities of texts.