has ceased trading – but still producing valuable assistive technology information
A free webinair is taking place next Tuesday at 4:00pm GMT for 30 mins on ICT that enables dyslexic learners to record information . If you would like to join in please book your place now , remember it costs you nothing at:-
“Helping your child/pupil with Dyslexia using ICT”
You will be sent a link to join the conference which will be interactive for delegates to watch/share/learn from live demonstrations of the tools being described.
I have been a great fan of LinkedIn . There are many plugin and related apps. “Learning,” is one such app. A clever way to access courses on the fly at no cost to you. I expect that will change in the future. But while you can access freely see what channel suits you. There is an educational section also it looks at your profile and suggests possible training .
In England ( it was pointed out to me that other parts of the Uk have not given up levels) we have moved from rigid curriculum levels to a more freer approach. “Life without levels,” is a helpful approach to giving advice to schools on what will support the curriculum in schools. Take a look at their website below:-
Dave Banes produces a weekly update on all things “Assistive Technology” why not go over to his facebook page and follow the links to his blog and sign up? This week he features an Android app called ” Go Read.” It is free to join this service which is a mine of useful information. Thanks, Dave!
Dave Banes “Access and Inclusion”
Some interesting keyboards available from this company in the UK
http://www.keyboardco.com/category.asp?path=Assistive%20and%20Educational
VLE’s in their first generation have provided a walled garden for educational establishments. Each student having their own space and portfolio of files and photos,etc. A second generation of VLE might be the online walled gardens such as:-
https://www.loopd.life/#academic-potential
Many universities have signed up to this and are using it to be a space for students to collaborate in which is like a VLE . What is the difference? Not much is the answer except the data must be managed by another organisation. Need to know more about this. So if you have used Looped then please put a comment on this post.
With so much controversy over copyright of media these days it is easy to put yourself in a bit of a ethical pickle! The saying ” if it’s too good to be true it probably is” comes to mind. On Android there are non-play store apps that provide media streaming such as Mobdro which gives access to streaming channels some of which I am not sure of the legal position. So I won’t be using this app . But less controversal and more useful is anothe non-play store sanctioned app – TubeMate which copies anything from Youtube. Of course some content is not favourable but for an Android device this is really useful. How is it useful? Instead of live streaming having a favourite video on your device when you are not in a wifi zone could be really handy. One word of warning some Android devices have small internal memory but have a microSD card slot so memory can be expanded. This is a tip worth knowing has it saves money and expands the memory and usefulness of the device. Unlike apple where you have to subscribe to cloud memory to expand the device’s storage capacity. Here on Android you have a physical piece of memory you can have your data on.
Android devices don’t always get the press they deserve being the smaller brother to the mighty Apple iOS when it comes to education. But I have to take my hat off to this useful tool as it helps to protect your child from internet nasties and for those with special needs puts a “walled garden” around the device that is helpful to concerned parents about their child’s use of the device.
Kids Play is free on the Play Store and provides a PIN lock to changing or introducing content once the app is run. The home key can be disabled so the child stays within the walled garden. You can manage apps, images and video through Plugs in’s Kids Pics and Kids Video. Along with other features contained in Settings for the app makes it a pretty useful tool for parents to have if you want to protect your child. Also, the paid version as tools for remote monitoring what your child is looking and and which apps they use. Anyway worth having – at least the free version!
Free Assistive technology of the Week – OviiChat
OviiChat (iOS)
Real time communication for those with hearing loss
Oviichat is a remarkable app for iPhone, iPad and iPOD touch. It provides real time text communication between two devices without the need for an internet connection.
Unlike texting or instant messaging, it uses real-time, letter by letter conversation with each letter appearing on the second screen as it is typed. The app automatically connects to any other device with OviiChat open and features adjustable font sizes & styles. You can use the app to chat with up to 8 devices both by typing or using voice dictation to transfer into real-time text with full emoji and custom keyboard support.
OviiChat is available from the app store at
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/ovii-chat-real-time-communiction/id1071931133?mt=8
and you can get more details at
http://oviisoft.com/oviichat.html
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For those who didn’t know or haven’t checked for updates there was an update release for iOS10. If you would like to see the main features I found this article useful:-
https://www.macstories.net/news/ios-10-our-complete-overview/
The upload is large 1.1 Gb and does take a long time to do. On my devices it took nearly an hour to complete. So give yourself plenty of time to do the upgrade ( not like me that thought he could do it in half-an-hour and missed an appointment!).
AccessAbility Solutions 