TREATS

Technology Resources for Education's Assistive Technology Solutions

 

Weekly Resources for the Assistive Technology Service Provider Community

 

Volume 6, Issues 25 - 27 for Weeks of 6/27 – 7/11/05

 Words Compiled by David Grapka (David@Trecenter.org)

Technology Resources for Education (T.R.E.) Center TRECenter.org

------------------------------------

Note: Some links are time-sensitive.  Access to some may require registration or free subscriptions.

 

QUOTES OF THE WEEK: “Two persons cannot long be friends if they cannot forgive each other's little failings.”  Jean De La Bruyere

 

UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING WEBSITES OF THE WEEK:

·    http://www.freedomscientific.com Freedom Scientific aims to make accommodation easier with Test Talker, which allows teachers to scan printed test and worksheet material and administer assessments electronically using text-to-speech technology.

 

·    http://www.pgdp.net/c/default.php Distributed Proofreaders was founded in 2000 by Charles Franks to support the digitization of Public Domain books.

 

·    http://www.blackmask.com/cgi-bin/newlinks/page.cgi?d=1 One of the world’s largest providers of digitized texts.

 

·    http://news.com.com/Your+brain+Search+engine%2C+or+calculator/2100-1008_3-5768611.html  New Research says your brain doesn’t work like a computer.

 

·    http://www.constitutioncenter.org/constitution "Interactive Constitution" lets you search the Constitution & find relevant passages and explanations.  Discover how the Constitution relates to more than 300 topics, from civil rights to school prayer, including Supreme Court decisions.

 

·    http://enabledonline.com/accessT/A_UniversalDesign.php What’s new in the world of UD for older Americans.

 

·    http://www.citeducation.org/mathmatrix/default.asp The Math Matrix does a great service in comparing the UD features of commercial software titles. A similar matrix exists for UD features of Reading Software which could also use some suggestions at http://www.nationaltechcenter.org/matrix/default.asp (Lisa Wahl)

 

·    http://blindreaders.info/ This site is a guide to sources of information in alternative formats (braille, recorded cassettes, large print, e-texts, web audio) accessible by people with print disabilities--those with visual and physical handicaps as well as dyslexia.

 

·    http://www.quantumsimulations.com/demo.html For a virtual demonstration of Quantum's AI tutoring software - a software program with artificial intelligence (AI) that is in the final stages of development that can actually explain problems that the student types in, and it's accessible with JAWS!.

 

ACCESS SOLUTIONS:

·    http://www.cantoraccess.com/keyaccess/keyaccessfaq.htm for a free "Keyboard Access FAQ." Version 1.3 includes more comprehensive answers to questions about how to make the keyboard interface more efficient, how to navigate around web sites, and how to jump from frame to frame on web sites? (Alan Cantor - acantor@cantoraccess)

 

·    http://www.sensorytools.com/galileo.htm For this scanner, you just lay the material on it, push a button, and it reads the text. (sharon@EILTSFAMILY.ORG)

 

 

ADMINISTRATOR SOLUTIONS:

·    http://www.distance-educator.com/dnews/Article13777.phtml Ohio Distance & Electronic Learning Academy (OHDELA) Has Earned AYP Under Federal 'No Child Left Behind' Act

 

·    http://nyscseonline.org. CSE On Line training is open to anyone who registers-schools, parents, organizations. (Charlene Gurian)

 

·    http://www.vesid.nysed.gov/specialed/idea/home.html The proposed federal regulations to implement IDEA were posted in the Federal Register as of June 21, 2005. The 75-day comment began last week. Please share as appropriate. (Cathleen A. Castle)

 

·    http://www.distance-educator.com/dnews/Article13819.phtml Download Report: 21st-Century Skills. A coalition of education, business, and technology organizations is calling for new measures of the skills needed to succeed in a fast-paced global economy.

 

·    http://www.distance-educator.com/dnews/Article13818.phtml Why should administrators use surveys?

 

CONSULTING SOLUTIONS:

·    http://www.howthingswork.com A good resource for a quick overview of how things work and for making you look like the expert. Steve Mertz (smertz@msn.com)

 

·    http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/ucce50/ag-labor/7conflict/ You can download a free PDF file of Helping Others Resolve Differences: Empowering Stakeholders, including a paper on pre-caucusing that appeared in the Group facilitation: A research and applications journal.

 

·    http://www.hotconference.com/GFSC/partners1.php We are using Hot Conference with people from all over the world in Global Facilitators Service Corps (GFSC) and with excellent results.  And if you purchase it (very inexpensive) the company donates 25% to GFSC.

 

·    http://www.skype.com has an ordinary multi-person chat possibility coming for folks who have to stick to small-band low-speed connections.

 

·    http://www.thinkofit.com/webconf/ and http://www.kolabora.com/ are the classic guides to all sorts of conferencing software.

 

·    http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/arp/dtuwb.html For an exercise on discussing the undiscussable.

 

·    http://www.geocities.com/csh_home/downloads.html For an exercise on discussing the undiscussable, go to "resources" and look for "Discussing Undiscussables.”

 

ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS writing supports from sharon@EILTSFAMILY.ORG