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Category: Higher ed

Guest Blog: “Dyslexia Should Be About Strengths, Not Shame,” by Ben Foss

Experts in dyslexia have for many years focused on teaching children to read in the conventional way. But there are hidden costs that impact many children who have a hard time in a mainstream classroom: shame and bullying. I’m dyslexic. When I was a kid, my mom read aloud to me. When I went away to college, I used to fax my term papers home to her in New Hampshire and have her read them to me over the phone so I could find my own spelling mistakes.  I went on to become the Director of Access Technology at Intel…

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Back-to-School Books for Schools and Universities

Throughout August, we’re encouraging students to get ready for the new school year. You can start this now and get on the right foot by reading this blog and following the steps below.  In our last blog post, you read how to make sure your school or home accounts are up-to-date.  Today, let’s make sure you’ve got your books! Get the books you need! Start by getting your required book list from your school or DSS office, then follow these steps to success: Go to www.bookshare.org and log in. Use the search feature located at the top of every page…

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Get Ready for Back-to-School with Bookshare!

Back to School is a time for teachers, parents, and students of all ages to brush off the summer dust and get ready for a brand new school year. How can you be sure that you are ready to make this year a success on day one? By making sure you are prepared with the books, tools, and information that you or your students need before class begins. That way, you can spend more time focusing on teaching and learning and less time getting ready. Bookshare can help! Throughout the fall, we’ll provide you with step-by-step information to set up…

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Photo Journal: U.S. Official Visits Benetech and High School/College Transition Program Using Bookshare

Michael Yudin, the Acting Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, visited our Benetech headquarters recently. He was on his way to observe a dual-enrollment transition program at Mission Middle College in Santa Clara.  This unique collaboration of Santa Clara Unified School District and Mission Middle College offers new opportunities for high school seniors who were not performing well academically to complete high school graduation courses and accumulate college credits. At the technology demonstration, students, parents, and educators shared experiences with Mr. Yudin and Betsy Beaumon, our General Manager and VP. Bookshare student members demonstrated…

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On the Future of Braille: Thoughts by Radical Braille Advocates… by Betsy Beaumon

On the Future of Braille: Thoughts by Radical Braille Advocates by Betsy Beaumon, VP and General Manager, Benetech’s Global Literacy Program   I recently had the honor to speak at the first-ever Braille Summit, hosted on June 19-21, 2013 by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) and Perkins School for the Blind. With the goal of promoting braille literacy, this landmark meeting brought together braille experts from around the world to Perkins’ campus in Watertown, Massachusetts. My biggest takeaway from the summit: the time could not be more urgent, and more hopeful, for the future…

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Bookshare Celebrates 250,000 Milestone and Members of All Ages!

Bookshare is helping people with print disabilities around the world to read books for school, work, and fun so they can reach their personal goals and more fully participate in society. This summer, we celebrate a very important milestone: we now serve 250,000 members! Did you know that Bookshare members include students, adults, seniors, veterans, and international members in over 40 countries? We could not have achieved this milestone without the help of members, advocates, and partners like you. Your tireless efforts have helped to build Bookshare’s thriving community. And your continued support will help us reach hundreds of millions…

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College Students Share Thoughts and Feelings about Bookshare

There’s no better evidence of success than when you hear a Bookshare member sharing their achievements and innermost thoughts. Recently, we talked with three students now in post-secondary schools whose lives were changed by Bookshare. Ta’ Lisa Hutton began, “What if others think I’m abnormal?”  This was the main question that ran through her mind when she was first offered a Bookshare membership at eight years old. “At that age, other people’s perceptions of me were more important than tools that could have changed my future,” she said.  “So I struggled with reading and comprehension and feelings that amount to…

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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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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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