Why?

• Wider reach with your content

• More opportunity for learning, sharing, interacting

• Content more externally discoverable, internally searchable

Imagine . . .

You are (pick one):

• Teacher

• School librarian or

• Administrator

Your team is establishing standards for purchasing and creating new classroom content.

Put Yourself in Different Shoes

Deaf & Hearing Loss

US Deaf Statistics

• 1 million deaf

• 10 million hard of hearing

• 30 million permanent hearing loss from exposure to noise (CDC)

Extended Benefits

Increasing accessibility reaches beyond the directly handi-capable.

• British study indicated that of 7.6 million people accessing tv subtitles only 1.4 million with hearing loss .

• Captioning applications: online indexed, searchable, improving find-ability

• Used by language learners, people in noisy or public situations (gyms, restaurants)

Captioning in the Classroom

• Deaf students

• Students creating content that will be displayed in school

• Students who are posting content on the web, and want people to be able to find it

Blind & Visually Impaired Statistics

American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) reports 2010 Prevalence Rates for Vision Loss* as:

• United States - 21.5 million people

• Maryland- 98,096 people

*21.5 million adult Americans reported they either "have trouble" seeing, even when wearing glasses or contact

lenses, or that they are blind or unable to see at all. Source: American Foundation for the Blind www.afb.org.

Screen Readers

Main Uses and Benefits:

• Essential software that allows blind or visually impaired people to use the computer

• Much more enjoyable experience

Subtitling Demonstration

• Amara.org (aka Universal Subtitles)

• Free, online, portable

Subtitling is Easy

1. Go to subtitling service web site www.amara.org

2. Click on "Subtitle a Video"

3. Link video to subtitling service (paste video link into the specified box)

4. Click "Begin"

5. Click "Subtitle me"

6. Select the "Speed Mode"

7. Press "Tab" to start or stop the video

8. Type the words as you hear them

Subtitling is Easy - Continued

9. Press "Enter" to create a line break. Universal Subtitles suggests how long a line should be - try to make the break where it makes sense

10. Sync the written word captions with the spoken or signed video

11. Proofread the captions and make corrections as needed

After Captioning: Post to YouTube or other specified hosting location

Screen Readers

How They Work:

• Use audio interfaces

• Convert text into synthesized speech so that users can listen to the content

Screen Reader Demo

Web Anywhere http://webanywhere.cs.washington.edu/wa.php

Benefits:

• Web-based screen reader

• Can be used on almost any computer

• Allows blind users to access computers like sighted users

• Great for use in public locations, such as libraries, airports, internet cafes, etc.

Screen Readers in the Classroom

• Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

• Auditory learners

• Autistic learners

• Delayed cognitive processing learners

• Dyslexic learners

• Language learners

• Low reading level learners

• Support reading and writing fluency

Assignment 1. Subtitle a short (1-2 minute) video using Amara (www.amara.org ) OR

try Web Anywhere (http://webanywhere.cs.washington.edu/wa.php ) on a web site of your choice.

2. Think about how you would use subtitling or screen readers in your classroom & justify their use to your administration.

3. Complete Google Poll: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?fromEmail=true&formkey=dE9VWTVCdVFXclpkd0w1NzlXY21Tb1E6MQ

Captioning Resources

• Google Universal Subtitles http://www.universalsubtitles.org/en/teams/google/

• YouTube Captioning Service: http://yt-subs.appspot.com/

• Captioning project description and resources: http://lbsc622project4.wordpress.com/captioning-guide/

Screen Reader Resources For Purchase Screen Readers

• DAISY Readers

• Kurzweil Education System

• JAWS for Windows

Free Screen Readers (also see Top 10 article on resource page)

• Apple VoiceOver

• ChromeVox

• Microsoft Narrator

• NVDA

• ORCA

• Spoken Web

Screen Readers- Additional Readings

10 Free Screen Readers for Blind or Visually Impaired Users

http://usabilitygeek.com/10-free-screen-reader-blind-visually-impaired-users/

Described and Captioned Media Program: An Introduction to Screen Readers

http://www.dcmp.org/caai/nadh181.pdf

National Federation for the Blind-Technology Resource List

http://www.nfb.org/technology-resource-list#SA&LVPFW

Screen Readers and Talking Browsers

http://www.snow.idrc.ocad.ca/content/screen-readers-and-talking-browsers

WebAim: Designing for School

http://webaim.org/techniques/screenreader/

Web Accessibility Evaluator

(free, online) http://wave.webaim.org/