Being accessible: you, your student and free Assistive Technology Jamie Crabb & Atif Choudhury London and Southeast Group Meeting Workshop 24/11/12

Today’s Goal: Discuss and demonstrate FREE Assistive Technology software (Freeware) similar to software that students receive through the Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) PC: My Study Bar: -X-Mind (Mindmapping) -Orato & Balabolka (Text-to- Speech) Ginger Software (Contextual Spell Checker / Proofreader) Zotero – Referencing and Bibliographies MAC: Text-to-Speech (built in to Operating system) Natural Reader (Text-to- Speech) Zotero Ginger – Google Chrome Plug-in (MAC & PC)

International Students! Staff! EU Students Home Students

Wifi Logon to ‘Guest’ Wifi: Account 1 (10 people) Username = guest Password = uoqg8092 Account 2 (10 people) Username = guest Password = dyvu6052 Word Document with Download Links:

My Study Bar My study bar download (Windows only):

X-Mind X-Mind can be used for: note-taking – mapping key ideas when reading brainstorming ideas planning, structuring and writing essays - keeping an eye on the ‘big picture’ to avoid repetition (example – mapping reading) Export to HTML & open with Word X-Mind direct download (PC & MAC):

Orato/Balabolka Orato/Balabolka* - can be used for: Reading - s, internet articles, MS Word and accessible PDF documents using a synthesised voice Proof-reading** – visually scan and listen (example – website/document) *Free voices are available: **Hunspell spell checker plug-in: plus-a.com/hunspell_English.ziphttp:// plus-a.com/hunspell_English.zip

MAC Text-to-Speech & Natural Reader Natural Reader (MAC & PC): / /

Accessible Scanning Software: OCR What is Optical Character Recognition, or OCR? Most scanners can only create an image or a snapshot of a document – it doesn’t recognise it as text…Example In order to create a scanned PDF document that is accessible OCR software is necessary which can detect letters and words from the original document... Example FreeOCR (PC Only) Free OCR Online (PC & MAC)

Referencing & Citation Manager Build a personalised database of sources! This is a FREE application! 3 main types of sources students cite: Book Publications Journals Websites (example of each & creating in text citations & bibliographies) Zotero: & Word Plugins: -Built into Firefox browser or standalone version that works with Safari and Google Chrome “Being dyslexic Zotero was an extremely useful tool in helping me categorise and organise my research. It made the complexity of referencing so much simpler, helped me in being more efficient and meant I had more time to focus on my writing!” MA Applied Theatre Student

Ginger Software Free Contextual Spelling & Grammar Software Ginger Software (PC Only): Ginger Chrome / Safari Plugin (Mac & PC): r-and-spell-checker/kdfieneakcjfaiglcfcgkidlkmlijjnh

Questions & Explore…