Blog Post #5: Talking Books Services from the South Carolina State Library

I am always looking for ways to make media access easier for folks with disabilities, especially students. When I came across the Talking Book Services from the South Carolina State Library, I immediately thought of how well that would serve students and teachers. Talking Book Services is a free service that provides materials for people who have disabilities that prevent them from holding or reading normal print books. This includes a wide variety of materials:

• Digital audiobooks

• BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download)

• Braille books

• Large print books

• Audio descriptive DVDs

• Digital audio and braille magazines

• Assistive devices, such as screen readers, braillers, and devices that help magnify text (caveat: assistive devices can only be used in person at the South Carolina State Library Inclusive Services Center)

Though these services are free, potential users must fill out a short application in order to have access to these resources. After users have been approved, they will be supplied with login information to make an online account so they can begin using the website. If schools wish to apply, they must supply a list of students with qualifying disabilities and those students must be set up with their own Talking Book Services account at home before the school can be approved. 

This tool has so many potential uses. It can allow students to access the same materials as their peers in a way that suits their needs; students could receive braille, large print, or audio versions of assigned reading books. This also allows students to have access to expensive assistive technologies that they otherwise might not be able to use, such as an Optelec ClearReader or a Perkins Brailler, which can cost several hundred or several thousand dollars. Many schools do not have the ability to offer all of the materials that Talking Books Services offers, and this free service is a great way to provide access to students who are often excluded.

Image 1: Perkins Brailler

Image 2: Optelec ClearReader

Blog Post #4: E-readers and the RAT Model

 

Image by Savanna Durr of Business Insider

Although I have many friends who have e-readers and love them, they are a piece of technology that has never appealed much to me, as I prefer to physically hold books in my hands. I had never really considered how e-readers could be used in the classroom until writing this blog post, and I've come to realize that they can be used to provide book access to students who might otherwise be left out. For some context, I have taught many students who need materials to be accessible in both English and Spanish, and I have taught students with severe vision impairment. Providing accommodations to these students with the basic materials I'm provided, particularly English novels in standard font sizes, can be difficult, but e-readers could make it much easier for students needing accommodations to access our texts.

While not all e-readers are the exact same, nearly all of them come with accommodating technologies like text-to-speech, enlarged fonts, and translation tools. Using Dr. Joan E. Hughes's R.A.T. model for technology integration, e-readers can be applied to all three levels. They can replace the need for teachers to make all these accommodations themselves (for my students who need bilingual materials, I have to create all the materials myself due to my school not having a multi-lingual learner specialist). They could also replace the need to buy copies of large-text editions that kids might be embarrassed to be seen reading (not to mention that not every book has a large-text edition). 

This also seamlessly transitions into e-readers falling under the amplification and transformation levels of the R.A.T. model. If I am not having to spend hours making these accommodations myself and an e-reader can seamlessly do it for me, then effectiveness and efficiency has definitely been increased. Learning is also transformed, as kids who previously might not have had the same access to texts as their peers can now access them. It is important to mention that true transformation with a piece of technology is contingent upon educators learning everything they can about the tech, but I do still believe that aspects of e-readers in the classroom could be called transformative.

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list of how e-readers can be beneficial to the classroom. Education World has a great article about how e-readers can be used in the classroom as does WeAreTeachers. Even beyond e-readers being a great accommodation tool, they may also spark a new love of reading in students as some students may discover they prefer e-readers over physical books. However they might be used, an intentional implementation of e-readers in the classroom can be beneficial to everyone from students to teachers and beyond.

References

Caron, S.W. (2012). Top 8 tips for using kindle readers in the classroom. Education World. https://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/how-to-use-kindle-in-the-classroom.shtml

Hughes, J.E. (2016). Replacement, amplification, and transformation: The r.a.t. model. Tech Edges. https://web.archive.org/web/20190612101737/https://techedges.org/r-a-t-model/

WeAreTeachers Staff (2015, January 7). 10 tips for using e-readers in the classroom. WeAreTeachers. https://www.weareteachers.com/10-tips-for-using-e-readers-in-the-classroom/

Blog Post 3: Technology Integration

Good afternoon, math teachers!

I have come across a piece of technology that could prove enriching to your lessons. Edutopia recently ran a piece about using a BBC micro:bit to demonstrate data collection and analysis with middle grade students. The micro:bit is essentially a tiny computer that can hold a single code at any given time. It allows students to make connections between coding, graphing, and a variety of other skills they learn in math class. Physical micro:bits can be purchased, although there is also a free online simulator that allows the same skills to be applied without the need for a physical version.

I hope that this tool can be enriching for you! It is always my goal to find technology that meets you and your students where you are (Boyer, 2016). I think purchasing physical versions of these could be very enriching to our students (a set of ten costs about $205), but the online version is still useful, too. If you give the free version a try with your students and you find it successful, please let me know and I will assist you with requesting a purchase order. I'm also happy to assist in learning how to use the technology; my goal as a librarian is to help sustain the digital environment of our school, and I want to help cultivate a variety of literacies beyond just reading, and this includes technology literacy (Boyer, 2016).

As always, my goal is to make new technology initiatives about the people who will actually use and implement them (Overbay, Mollette, & Vasu, 2011, p. 56). In this case, that would be you and your students. If you do not believe this would be successful in your classroom, please let me know! I will take that information and use it in the future when I find new technologies that might be useful in our classrooms. I want both you and our students to have buy-in when it comes to incorporating these tools.

Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns!

References

Boyer, B. (2016). Meet your learners where they are: virtualizing the school library. Internet@Schools, 23(1), 4+. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A440057567/AONE?u=nysl_ca_dmvacces&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=73a967ca

Microsoft MakeCode. https://makecode.microbit.org/

Omundson, J. (2022, December 15). Coding a bbc micro:bit to explore math problems. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/coding-math-middle-school 

Overbay, A., Mollette, M. & Vasu, E.S. (2011). A technology plan that works. Educational Leadership, 68(5), 56-59.

Ready2STEM. (2023). Bbc micro:bit v2 club pack. https://www.ready2stem.com/products/bbc-micro-bit-v2-club-pack variant=41908059603132&currency=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&utm_campaign=gs-2022-08-22&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign&gclid=Cj0KCQiAofieBhDXARIsAHTTldoFon_1jPkARtShGAsJPb5uWtfZ6NLGVWB1CXUklNN5FjXYkur_rVkaAnZiEALw_wcB