Four hundred teachers have now signed up to be Mentor Teachers in their local schools and districts. These teachers, because they help others learn how to use accessible educational materials and get accessible education content to students with print disabilities in a timely manner, are key to the long-term education of many students in this country. We thank them for their efforts and congratulate them on their dedication. Depending on their schools, districts and schedules, Mentor Teachers have facilitated group and one-on-one trainings with teachers, parents and students on anything related to Bookshare. Others have developed online training tools and…
2 CommentsMonth: August 2012
Texas AT Specialist Champions Large Scale District Accessible Book Initiative
You’ve heard it before… all it takes is one person to start a ball rolling. For equal access to reading and educational books for students with print disabilities, that person is Jessica McKay, an AT Specialist in Ysleta ISD, Texas. The Ysleta district will roll out their widespread initiative this fall (2012) across 60 campuses, to hundreds of K to 12th graders who are blind, have low vision, a physical disability, such as cerebral palsy or a severe reading disability, like dyslexia. Jessica, with the support of her supervisor, Leslie Armbruster, championed the initial cause. “Jessica has this amazing ability…
2 CommentsAre You Using Open Educational Resources (OER)?
Open Educational Resources (OER) are digital teaching materials that can be used freely by anyone. They are published under creative commons licenses which allow uses of materials that would not be permitted with materials published under traditional copyrights. As free digital teaching resources, many schools, districts, community colleges, universities, and some states are beginning to use and adopt them instead of textbooks. However, just because OER are digital, they are not necessarily accessible. Several OER publishers including CK-12, Flat World Knowledge, Connexions and Curriki, recognize that their formats are not accessible to all students and contribute files to Bookshare for…
2 CommentsBooks to Help You Prepare for Those Big Tests!
Good preparation can make that important day when you take the big test so much less stressful. Bookshare has a variety of resources that will help you get ready. You’ll find books from all the popular test preparation publishers, including Peterson’s, Barron’s, and Kaplan. If you don’t find the book you want, search by the name of the standard test in our collection, and you’ll find lots of choices. These books give you lots of opportunities to take practice tests and look more closely at subjects that you want to review more intensively. Here are some general titles to get you…
4 CommentsA Computer Science Degree to a Job with Bookshare
I learned about Bookshare in 2004 just before my senior year of high school. Bookshare wasn’t free for qualified students back then, so I paid for my first subscription with money I received for my high school graduation. I joined six weeks before I started college, knowing I would need as many sources of accessible materials as possible. While there weren’t many textbooks, I thought I would find materials that would help with research papers. However, another use was rather surprising. For a political science class, I was required to read the newspaper, e.g. The New York Times, several times…
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