Author: AccessAbility Smyles

Create symbol flashcards, timetables, stories and a lot more with no installation needed.

Easy to use templates

Choose from a wide range of page layouts, from large display flashcards to small 

vocabulary grids.

 
Widgit Symbols 

Access to more than 14,000 Widgit Symbols, with free automatic symbol updates.

Mac and PC compatible

Widgit Online can be used on Windows, Linux and Mac computers and resources can be viewed on iPads and tablets.

Share 

With a group account, you can share resources with colleagues and classmates, with full control over user access.

Online Storage 

Create and save your symbol resources and access them from anywhere with an Internet connection.

Hear

Widgit Online uses high quality, streaming text-to-speech to read your resources aloud.
 
 
Go to http://www.widgitonline.com and start creating resources with a free 21 day trial.

My good friends at Widgit Software have released this brand new product which replaces Symwriter Online. This is a cloud-based symbol processing and making tool for different teaching aids:-

“Widgit have launched a new online service called ‘Widgit Online’. Symwriter Online has been incorporated into the new service.

*** You can now make flashcards, timetables, games and a lot more using the simple grid templates
*** Technical headaches will no longer happen because no software installation is needed and you can access your account from anywhere with an Internet connection
*** Save, share and print your symbol resources with colleagues with a group account

You can find more information about it here:

www.widgit.com/products/widgit-online

We have reprinted our catalogue to reflect the new online service. If you would like a copy, please get in touch and I will gladly send some out to you.”

https://speechlogger.appspot.com/en/ – is a website that allows a user to talk and have his speech turned into text. What makes this site different is that there is no logon and no training making it a tool that schools might wish to use as it works with the browser only. It’s accuracy is quite good and facilities are on the page to save and edit. But it is a simple tool and doesn’t have the options of sentences and grammar as Dragon Dictate has. But great for everyone to try and to have it accessible to all.

Dropittome – this is a really useful website for schools and others to share files with each other. Password protected so that only the person you want can access the facility this is a powerful way to remotely share device material and also to share different file formats as well. Great for collaboration and flipped classroom work!

Sharing files from an iPad in a school setting has been not as easy as it should be. Padlet has lots of useful features that can enable files to be shared in numerous ways from PDF’s to cloud storage like Dropbox, Google drive, etc. Not only that but the visual wall you create can be a great collaborative tool for others as well. Using this pupils can work on joint projects together.

click on the link below for some great features in iOS 9 that would help schools make the most of the new operating system. Note many of these features need an iPad Air !

Best features in iOS9

As this week has been Dyslexia Awareness week in the UK I thought I would give a plug for a surprising device . It is the Chromebook. At first I thought this would be a limited use device due to its small memory and needing wifi to be useful. Both of that is true but you can extend your memory with an SD card and you can download work to be used offline( you can login to the chromebook on startup)

Then if you go to Accessibility>Enable Onscreen keyboard. Instructions as follows. You can then write into any and every application using your voice. It’s truly ingenious and functional. Of course what I am just saying will need wifi to be useful as the speech interpretation is being done online but it doesn’t require any training to perfect the tool and is available at no extra cost on your £168 Chromebook or similar priced Chromebook.

95% of what follows was written with my voice and with no training. Keystrokes were needed to be functionally useful with certain actions like a new line or paragraph but that is all! This is what a dyslexic user might find useful as it also works on any Android device.

To write with your voice on a Chromebook

1. Enable the on-screen keyboard in Settings – Accessibility- Enable on-screen keyboard
2. You will see that there is a microphone on the keyboard
3. You will be able to input textBy clicking on the iconAnd then speaking your words and sentence

And audio beep occurs when the speech is ready to receive text.

You’re not stopped from using the normal keyboard

Fact this is a preferred way of making your text more accessible by using both the speech microphone and the keyboard in a combo fashion.

There is no need to train

Google accepts your speech

As long as you’re connected to the Wi-Fi

And have Internet access

The onscreen keyboard can pop up with pop down as required

This has been covered before but its good to share again as I still meet people who don’t they can do this. For instance every iPad from 3 and above ( as well as some later iPad 2 models) all have this feature, From the keyboard there is an microphone icon by the space bar. If you are online this will work but not if you are not. Using any app with text input such as notes or pages you can use your voice to write with text. Also, use Siri to make notes or send emails.

Google Chrome – the browser from Google has a microphone in the search window. Click on this and speak and Google will go and search out a result. If you are using Android devices you can access a google keyboard that will input text into apps like Office Polaris or Kingston or Writer. Finally Google Search makes your search simple to do now using your voice.

I am attending the above event put on by Texthelp in conjunction with BATA ( British Assistive Technology Association) . The event is the second one put by Texthelp and BATA and will feedback on the research project on exam accessibility conducted this past year. If you are on Twitter then you can follow the event at BATAExamAccess . The use of technology in exams has been a tricky area to get equality of access in over the years. With technology changing so quickly and a multiplicity of tools and devices it is difficult to keep up with as well.But things are changing ! I hope this event will show progress being made.

“Thinnest, Coolest , Most Powerful PC ever made” – Panos, Microsoft

http://www.microsoft.com/october2015event/en-gb/live-event – watch the presentation yourself !

Microsoft are making some ground breaking products as we speak. HaloLens is a virual reality game headset which brings the gaming into the room. Microsoft Band has been upgraded to make health and data seemless with your device. People are exercising more as a result. Lumia 950 and 950XL can connect with contiuum to a display box that links your phone to an 1080dpi display on your tv making your tv a display monitor. Surface Pro 4 has slightly larger screen and greater power. Lastly, Surface Book is combo Surface Pro with a laptop keyboard and which is thin as a clipboard. There are 110 million active Windows 10 devices will these devices make a difference to those with the need for assistive technology. Classrooms will be pleased if they can use the Lumia 550 to work in lessons and “plug into” a monitor and show the class what they can do. Many pupils with dyslexia would love the power of the pocket and being able to share their work without touching the school network would please school networks all that would be needed would be the display box and a bank of Lumia 550’s. We won’t know the drawbacks until we can try them in our hands! That is at the beginning of November 2016.

The band might provide a monitoring device for pupils with the most complex needs to have health monitoring. For PE and Science data logging could be a more immediate and relevant experience for all pupils. Being fitter, more active, reaching their potential is what the Microsoft Band can offer.

Surface Pro 4 and the SurfaceBook ( sounds very Apple like!) offers lightweight, powerful systems that schools may wish to integrate into their school networks as time goes on as the costs will limit their introduction. Especially as their appears to be a slight backlash to mobile technology in school.  SurfaceBook has a 13.3″ screen which I personally like. Again this is a combo so its a tablet and a pc with power. And the performance and battery power is what schools like as well as being lightweight to carry. Also, the SurfaceBook doesn’t have the flap at the back like the Surface Pro’s 3 and 4 which is a selling point for me who always seems to have fall off a knee. The Surface Pro’s need a flat firm surface to work from which is their drawback and for our clients with assistive needs simpler opening and staying in position is clearly a winner! Let’s see where these products go to in a years time. In the meatime here is a link to some video about the SurfaceBook:-

http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/6/9454051/microsoft-surface-laptop-announced-specs-price-release-date