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Month: March 2013

Bookshare Webinars in April and May

During the next couple of months, we have several webinars to help you get your students prepared for summer reading, their transitions, and your fall planning. Register for the webinars that are of interest to you, and note that there are dates in April and May for each webinar. If you can’t attend, but are interested in the content, please go ahead and register anyway. You will be sent a link to the recording after the webinar. Google Education on AIR – Tips for Using Bookshare’s Web Reader with Chrome (a 45-minute hangout) Date: Weds, May 8, 2013 Time: 4:00…

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New Partnership with Lions Club International

With great pleasure, we welcome our newest partner, Lions Club International. For almost 100 years, Lions Clubs International has sponsored programs to help people with vision loss, including restoring eyesight, better eye care, braille literacy, and access to assistive technology. Through their Reading Action Program, Lions encourages programs that support the advancement of literacy around the world. They believe literacy is tremendously important because “it forms the basis for individual academic, occupational, and social success, and can also empower communities to fight poverty, reduce child mortality, achieve gender equality, and ensure peace and democracy.”1 The Reading Action Program “is a…

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Recent New York Times Children’s Bestsellers

Who doesn’t enjoy a bestseller? This round-up of titles from a recent NY Times childrens’ bestsellers list has fun reading for everyone. Picture Books Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site, by Sherri Duskey Rinker, Tom Lichtenheld. As the sun sets behind the big construction site, all the hardworking trucks get ready to say goodnight. This is Not My Hat, by Jon Klassen. WINNER OF THE 2013 CALDECOTT MEDAL! From the creator of the #1 New York Times best-selling and award-winning I Want My Hat Back comes a second wry tale. (Ages 4 to 8) Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes,…

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Web Reader Screen Shortcuts and Educator Tips

The Bookshare Web Reader  makes it easy to preview or read Bookshare books because you don’t need to download and unzip them. It’s a quick way to preview a book or read it in its entirety. Below are some shortcuts. Do you use a screen reader? You can use your screen reader with Internet Explorer 9, Safari, or a recent version of Firefox to read with Bookshare Web Reader. To start, find a book, then select the “Read Now” link. Expect to hear an announcement saying that your book is being packaged. Once complete, Bookshare Web Reader will open, and the…

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BYU Peery Entrepreneurship Program and Bookshare Partnership

Bookshare has developed innovative technology to make textbooks more accessible to blind and visually impaired students.   Before now, blind and visually impaired students missed out on thousands of images in their textbooks. Imagine studying science without being able to see the charts, graphs or diagrams in your textbook!  Using a simple on-line tool we call Poet, our volunteers write vital descriptions for textbook images. On March 4, Brigham Young University students sponsored a competition among campus-based church groups to write image descriptions in textbooks for Bookshare members.  Dozens of students participated in the two-hour challenge, writing over 600 descriptions…

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10 Tips for Creating Accessible EPUB 3 Files

The goal of the DIAGRAM Center at Benetech is to impact how image and graphic content for accessible instructional materials (AIM) is produced and accessed throughout the country. The DIAGRAM Center, WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM), and the U.S. Fund for DAISY are collaborating to identify challenges within the technologies, standards and production practices used to produce and display accessible images and graphic content within AIM, and develop technologies, tools, recommended practices and training materials that address them. In support of this goal, the DIAGRAM Center has produced this document with 10 tips for creating accessible EPUB 3…

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More Training Opportunities for Bookshare Web Reader and Bookshelf!

In case you were unable to attend the February webinars about the new Bookshare Web Reader and Bookshelf, we have several more scheduled in March. If the date and times don’t work for you, sign up anyway and you will be sent a link to the recording after the webinar is over. Learn more about Bookshelf and the Bookshare Web Reader Wednesday, March 6, 2013 4:00 PM ET, (3:00 PM CT, 2:00 PM MT, 1:00 PM PT) Register Here OR Thursday, March 14, 2013 3:30 PM ET (2:30 PM CT, 1:30 PM MT, 12:30 PM PT) Register Here Reading Choices:…

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