Accessible Books_Powerpoint


Accessible Books/PowerPoint

 

Photo from M. LaFleche on Flickr

 

Dr. Suess, "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!" said,

"The more you read, the more things you will know.  The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."

 

Overview

In this session students will be introduced to accessible books and why access to literature is important to all students.  Students will receive an overview of the features of PowerPoint 2007 and be guided through a step by step process of how to use it to create an accessible book. 


What are Accessible Books?

Accessible books are books that have been recreated to allow non-readers access to text.  This is done through technology.  The first step is to scan a book and then narration of the text is added by using an external microphone. Accessible books are usually created at the grade K-3 level.  Accessible books can also be teacher and student-made.  Check out some of the teacher and student made accessible books. on the SET BC website.  Accessible books can be created in a variety of formats i.e., MS Word, MS PowerPoint, SwitchIt Maker, Boardmaker, Classroom Suite 4, Clicker 5 etc.  

 

Why create a talking book?

Access to literature is of crucial importance in the education of all pupils, including those with special education needs.  There has been a great expansion in the use of story books in schools with a large number of reading books linked to the National Literacy Strategy (Walter, R. 2002)


Copyright

This information on copyright was taken from the SET BC website.  "The "on-screen accessible books" are to be considered alternate format for Persons with Perceptual Disabilities.  They fall under the Canadian Copyright Act, section 32 (1).  The books can be used in alternate format for students with perceptual disabilities provided an original copy of the book has been purchased and is stored in conjunction with the "on-screen accessible book".

The Canadian Copyright Act defines “perceptual disability” to mean a disability that prevents or inhibits a person from reading or hearing a literary, musical, dramatic or artistic work in its original format, and includes such a disability resulting from

  1. severe or total impairment of sight or hearing or the inability to focus or move one’s eyes,
  2. the inability to hold or manipulate a book, or
  3. an impairment relating to comprehension

Copyright issues are strictly adhered to in order for books to be made accessible in alternate format for special needs students."

Remember to adhere to copyright laws when creating an accessible book. 


 

Day 3 -  In-Class Activity

Class Activity - Tutorial -  How to Make an Accessible Book Using Photo Album in PowerPoint


 

Resources

Tutorials

Learn to create an Accessible Book - The tutorials can be downloaded and unzipped in either PowerPoint 2003 or 2007

How to Unzip Folder

  1. When you click on the foler you will be prompted to save it.  Save it to the Desktop.
  2. You will see the little zipped folder on your desktop. 
  3. Right click on the folder.  Select Extract All - follow the prompts from the Extraction Wizard (next, next, finish).  Click Finish.
  4. The unzipped folder now appears on your desktop. 
  5. Open the folder and follow the directions on how to create an accessible book

 Making an Accessible Book Tutorial in PPT 2003-New.zip

 Making an Accessible Book in PPT 2007-New.zip

 

Comprehensive list of sites that have accessible books

Accessible Books Free Resource List.doc

 

Websites (Audio Book Resources)

Click on the links to view and listen to the numerous books at these sites.

1.  Audio Books for Free - http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/screen_main.asp?gg=2

 

2.  Book Flix by Scholastic - http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/bookflixfreetrial/index.htm

 

3.  Browser Books - http://staff.prairiesouth.ca/~cassidy.kathy/browserbooks/index.htm

 

4.  Create Talking Books - http://atto.buffalo.edu/registered/Tutorials/talkingBooks/powerpoint.php

 

5.  Librivox - http://librivox.org/newcatalog/search.php?genre=Children 

 

6.  Lit to Go - http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/ 

 

7.  Robert Munsch - http://www.robertmunsch.com/booklist.cfm

 

8.  SET BC - Accessible Books - http://www.setbc.org/setbc/accessiblebooks/freebooksforyou.html

 

9.  Silly Books - http://www.sillybooks.net/Catalog.htm 

 

10. Tumble Books - http://www.tumblebooks.com/

 

Websites (PowerPoint Resources)

Learn how to use the many tools of PowerPoint from the resources below.

 

1.  Awesome PowerPoint Tutorials – a collection of free advanced PowerPoint tutorials i.e., Linking, Looping, Graphics, Interactive menus, Transparency, Text-FX etc.  http://www.awesomebackgrounds.com/powerpointtutorials.htm

 

2.  Demo Up to Speed with PowerPoint 2007 - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HA100484621033.aspx

 

3.  How to Create Talking Books - http://atto.buffalo.edu/registered/Tutorials/talkingBooks/ppt_ace.pdf

 

4.  Internet4Classrooms – A fabulous collection of PowerPoint tutorials - http://www.internet4classrooms.com/on-line_powerpoint.htm 

 

5.  PowerPoint Basic Animation Tutorial - http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=9156&title=PowerPoint___Animation___Basic

 

6.  PowerPoint tutorial 2003 by Melanie Cofield - http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/technology/tutorials/office/ppt03/02ppt_starting.html

 

7.  PowerPoint 2007 Training Courses - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA102184981033.aspx

 

8.  SET BC - Making an Accessible Book Tutorial - http://setbc.org/download/LearningCentre/Access/making_accessible_books_tutorial.pdf  

 

9. PowerPoint in the Classroom is compiled by Mallory Burton.  It is one of the BCUDL resources.  There are numerous links demonstrating ways that PowerPoint can be used in the classroom.  It is a great resource for teachers - http://setbc.org/setinfo/bcudl/resources.html

 

Free Pictures

Use pictures from here for your next class assignment or for your next PowerPoint presentation. 

 

1.  Pics4Learning – You can browse by topic - Pics4Learning is a copyright-friendly image library for teachers and students.  Permission has been granted for teachers and students to use all of the images donated to the Pics4Learning collection - http://www.pics4learning.com/

 

2.  Flickr:  The Commons Library of Congress Section teaches social studies.   The viewers are invited to comment or tag historic photos.   These can be used in projects without violating copyright - http://www.flickr.com/commons

 

3.  Flickr’s Creative Commons photos is a special section of Flickr in which photographers have granted various levels of permission to use their photos -

http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

 

4.  The Internet’s Morgue is a public image archive “for creatives by creatives”. The photos here can be used for free - http://morguefile.com/

 

5.  Stock.XCHNG is a free photo site.  You can browse or share your photos - http://www.sxc.hu/

 

6.  NOAA – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration photos has been recently updated.  There are over 10,000 new images.  These images are all free and useful for science topics - http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/

 

7.  US Fish and Wildlife Service's – has a great online digital media library with a searchable database. The images are in the public domain.

http://www.fws.gov/digitalmedia/

 

Free Sounds

Want to add sounds to your next PowerPoint.  Choose a sound from one of the free sites below. 

 

1.  Use these Free Sound Effects in your next PowerPoint Presentations - http://www.a1freesoundeffects.com/cartoon.html

 

2.  Free Sound Project – is a creative commons library of sounds.  All sounds are free - http://www.freesound.org/whatIsFreesound.php

 

PowerTalk

Download PowerTalk - automatic speech for PowerPoint