By Marcy Guttman, Summer Associate for Corporate Philanthropy Wisdom can often come from unexpected places. I remember a message that I read when traveling in the New York City subways: “kindness is contagious, and it begins with you.” Huddled in the crowded masses of people, holding on to bars and handles touched by thousands of other travelers, I generally tried to avoid “catching” anything. However, reading those seven words made me realize that kindness is something that I not only wanted to “catch” but also desired to pass on to others. The gratification of doing something kind for another consistently…
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Educational topics and resources related to accessible ebooks for students with disabilities.
Published August 25, 2010
Inside Higher Education…Suggested Books College Freshman Should Read
Inside Higher Ed, an online ezine I faithfully read, recently published an article on “What College Freshman Will Read.” If you are a college freshman or have students just starting college, like I do, you’ll want to read this article which suggests several books that will help first-year students bond through a common reading experience and jumpstart their ability to discuss intellectual content. A “Study by the National Association of Scholars,” a group that advocates for a more rigorous and traditional college curriculum, released a comprehensive analysis of what freshmen are being asked to read during college orientation programs. The…
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Published August 2, 2010
A Few Weeks Left This Summer to Read and Move
From legislation to lunchtime reading, the U.S. Department of Education and the Office of Special Education Programs care about literacy in this country. Picture the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, holding a book, and Kareem Dale, the Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy, reading If I Ran for President in braille to about 100 attentively listening young kids, ages 4-8, and their parents. Soon Congressman Jim Langevin from Rhode Island joined the group and read House Mouse, Senate Mouse. The event was the Department of Education’s “Let’s Read. Let’s Move” summer enrichment program on July 30 in…
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Published July 30, 2010
Is Braille Now Optional?
Is learning braille now optional? If so, why? Or is optional braille another example of the weakness in today’s educational system – decried by the Obama administration – that allows students to get by, not learn the tough subjects, and not graduate ready for college or a career? In letting today’s youth skip braille, are we handcuffing them for life? Most would agree that learning can occur auditorily and that for many, auditory learning is the preferred mode. Many software applications (including those available from Bookshare) and devices render printed content as spoken language for readers with visual impairments and…
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Published July 20, 2010
Postsecondary Students Benefit from Individual Memberships
A University of Michigan – Flint student, with an individual membership says “Bookshare Rocks!” Ashley Seymour, a college junior majoring in health care at the University of Michigan-Flint, has been blind since birth. She says, “Bookshare is expanding fast! It’s easy for me to get my books from one source. I don’t have to wait. I just download my books, convert to MP3 files for my iPod, and go to class.” Ashley has found books and background information in communications, ethics, literature, psychology and medical sciences. She uses Bookshare to find material for reports, study biographies and locate accessible titles…
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Published July 13, 2010
University Partners Help Each Other
Bookshare’s University Partners Program has grown substantially. Today, 25 university partners (please see the list below) regularly contribute books they have scanned on their local campuses to benefit U.S. students with print disabilities. By pooling books scanned on campuses in Bookshare, university partners help each other reduce the nationwide challenge and workload of providing accessible books for postsecondary students. Scanning once and sharing saves costs associated with scanning and conversion. Finding a textbook that a student needs gets easier and takes less time; campus DSS staff are saying that more and more, they are finding books their students need in…
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Published June 26, 2010
On the Road…with Bookshare’s Summer Reading Contest!
Wow! Bookshare’s Summer Road Trip Reading Contest is off to a great start! In just four weeks, over 300 students have signed up and submitted more than 150 book text messages. Way to go Road Trippers! Contestants are sharing lots of fun and interesting messages about the books they are reading in Bookshare and about U.S. States. You can still sign up for the contest! Here are some of our favorite messages: • I learned that Helen Keller was blind and deaf and still talked to people. She had a harder time than I do. I’m glad I use a…
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Published June 9, 2010
Do Accessible Instructional Materials Work?
Every educator would like an answer to this question, as accessible instructional materials, AIM, become more prevalent in classroom use. Think of AIM as the books from Bookshare or content “read” in non-traditional ways, beyond print on a page. Often reading AIM combines multiple modalities such as seeing a word and hearing it at the same time. Good news is emerging that yes, AIM does help improve student outcomes. We have early, encouraging indications from informal research, not from controlled studies, pointing to better performance. The first sign of success comes from an informal survey of teachers in K-12 who…
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