accessible books Archives - Page 24 of 26

Published December 5, 2010

Publisher Spotlight: Top Ten from Cambridge University Press

There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes at Bookshare, and that includes the feed of digital files from our partners. Every month we receive thousands of files from publishers around the world. Over 100 publishers have signed with Bookshare and are donating digital files, including all the major trade publishing houses (Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Scholastic) as well as top university presses (Cambridge, Chicago, Princeton, Columbia, California, NYU, Michigan, Stanford) and K-12 and postsecondary publishers. They send us their new releases and books on just about every subject you can imagine, including books that fill a specialty niche (like…

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Published November 24, 2010

What We’re Reading {November 24 2010}

Dogs. You asked for books that feature guide dogs, dogs who are man’s best friend, loveable dogs, silly dogs, mischievous dogs…everything dogs. So, this week I give you…dogs! I’ve focused this collection on books for all ages. Enjoy these great books, and be sure to comment and let us know what other great dog books are out there. Happy reading! The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon — Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has…

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Published November 22, 2010

“Great Resource for Inclusion Settings,” says IA Specialist

We asked Laura Koch, IA Specialist for Muscatine Community School District, Iowa, to share examples of how Bookshare has supported students in her school district this year. Laura, an early adopter of our online library of accessible books, gave us this wonderful story for our website last year; we wanted to follow up to see how Bookshare was helping her students. Here are Laura’s answers to our questions: Has Bookshare helped more students participate in inclusion settings? Yes..100%. I have teachers asking me about books on Bookshare before they enroll a student in class. Without the benefit of class books…

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Published November 17, 2010

A Path Towards the Least Restrictive Environment

True or False: 1. Special education students are general education students first. 2. All students are special education students. The answer, both are true. Teachers who use Bookshare tell us again and again that students in special education can make progress in the general curriculum when it is presented to them in a format they can access. If the format of the material is appropriate to their learning needs, they can consume it. As consumers of the general curriculum, aren’t they general education students – just learning from a different format? In fact, all students learn differently. Some make copious…

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Published November 15, 2010

Bookshare and the Braille Readers Are Leaders Contest

This post is contributed by Allison Hilliker, Bookshare Collection Development Associate. Thank you, Allison! I love Braille! I use Braille everyday for my Bookshare job and in many other areas of my life. All of us at Bookshare think Braille is a terrific tool for many people, and we’re thrilled that we can help make such a wide variety of materials available to our members. Most of you know that the Bookshare library has over 90,000 books available in BRF (Braille Ready Format and DAISY), but did you know that there’s another fun way to enjoy Braille? There is. It’s the Braille…

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Published November 11, 2010

What We’re Reading {November 11 2010} Special Veteran’s Day Edition

Today we celebrate Veterans Day (also known as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day), a time to look back at the sacrifices members of the military and their families have made. In honor of the holiday, this special post provides books in the Bookshare collection that focus on the military, their families, and remembrance. I’ve also included books authored by veterans that share deeply personal experiences of war. We hope you enjoy the recommendations. Thank you to all who have served and are serving our country. Bookshare Military Special Collection: Books by or for veterans: Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and…

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Published November 10, 2010

Reading Skill Improvements, More Reading Choices and Engaged Students!

Special thanks to Jeanette Donelson, special education teacher for sending us this great story. WE ARE INSPIRED! **************** I love Bookshare! The students I serve are in 9th through 12th grade with special needs across the spectrum. I have students with dyslexia, Cerebral Palsy, and severe reading disabilities. Most of them have difficulty reading books and comprehending what they read. With Bookshare, they can now download a textbook, print it out in larger print (which allows them to write notes and highlight), and use the text-to-speech software which is free with Bookshare, to hear the content read aloud. Accessible Curriculum Last…

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Published November 4, 2010

Sunrise or Tsunami – The Rise of Digital Books in the Classroom

As surely as the sun rises every day, digital books are steadily, daily finding their way into classrooms. Their arrival will not flood our classrooms like a tsunami; rather they will appear because of the foresight and talent of leading educators who recognize the many benefits of digital books and know how to incorporate them into teaching strategies. If, when, why, and how digital books will appear in classrooms are all good questions for discussion; however, a less common, extremely important question is the format of these digital books. Ideally, digital books will be “accessible” books from the beginning, with…

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Published October 18, 2010

Assistive Technology Center in Qatar Partners with Bookshare

500 Qatari Citizens Gain Access to World’s Largest Accessible Collection of Copyrighted Content People with disabilities in Qatar now have a place where they can fully develop their potential thanks to Mada (the Qatar Assistive Technology Center) which has been working to connect people to the technology that will improve their lives. Mada recently announced a partnership with Bookshare to provide 500 individuals with print disabilities in Qatar access to over 13,000 accessible English-language books in Bookshare. The center will give anyone with a qualifying print disability who wishes to join Bookshare a one-year membership allowing them to download and read any number…

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Published October 15, 2010

What We’re Reading {October 15 2010}

This week’s What We’re Reading brings you five of October’s best sellers. Something for every age group. The Heroes of Olympus, Book One: The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan — Heroes of Olympus will be a five-book series. It is set in Percy Jackson’s world, and Percy has an important role to play in the series. At different points in the series, you will get to catch up with most of the characters from the first series, but The Lost Hero also features a new cast of main characters, so Riordan has been careful not to call it a “Percy Jackson series.”…

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Category: accessible books