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Month: November 2011

Published November 29, 2011

Good News! Bookshare Wins Award!

Good news! District Administration (DA) Magazine has announced its 2011 Readers’ Choice Top 100 Products awards, and Bookshare is one of the winners! After conducting a thorough review of hundreds of submissions and research into the products, the editorial staff picked Bookshare as one of the Top 100. The winners include products for districts of all sizes and technologies for many uses, from information systems to assistive technologies. It is a great honor to be included in such a list! We thank DA for recognizing the benefits Bookshare offers students with disabilities. Nominations require testimonials from school administrators that explain…

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Published November 28, 2011

6th Grade Volunteers at Bookshare Surprised!

Three sixth graders from Jordan Middle School in Palo Alto, CA, never thought community service would be so much fun. They volunteered to spend several hours helping organize the collection at Bookshare. However, the students didn’t know very much about Bookshare and what they’d be doing, nor did they realize that they’d also learn how students who can’t read print, (those who are blind or have low vision, a physical disability, or a severe learning disability like dyslexia) can read a digital accessible book. When they arrived, they were introduced to the process Bookshare uses to convert many print textbooks…

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Published November 17, 2011

New Update for Read2Go … Now Available

Apple has now approved this release and it is available in the app store. A new version of Read2Go is now available in the iTunes store. This version has support for iOS 5.0 and further enhancements for handling large books. Large books will be broken into smaller segments, but the segments will be invisible to the user. It’s version 1.0.2.0. Thanks for your patience!

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Published November 15, 2011

Education Week Editor Posts YouTube Audio

Recently, Education Week special education editor Nirvi Shah recently wrote a thorough article about Bookshare, its accessible books, services for students with print disabilities, and the recent LIT award from OSEP to build tools that will make it easier to read digital accessible books and increase student use of books with training for educators and more information for families. Nirvi interviewed educators about their accessible book programs in Washington, DC, Maryland and New York and talked about students’ familiarity and ease of use with technology readers and digital materials.  In the piece, she likened “synthesized computer voices” to popular TV…

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Published November 11, 2011

District of Columbia Public Schools Project Changes Students’ Lives

Picture a room with senior administrators from some of our nation’s largest districts. And then add tears in many eyes. You’re picturing the room at the Council of Great City Schools recent conference in Boston, MA, during the presentation given by Norma Villanueva, Director of Low Incidence Disabilities for the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). In describing her work with her students with visual impairments and physical disabilities, she told the story of several students whose lives were turned around by assistive technologies and Bookshare. Instead of dropping out, these students have graduated and have a future. Two videos…

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