I also plan to introduce him to South Carolina Talking Book Services. This great resource offers over 70,000 downloadable recordings of books as well as Braille texts and large-print texts for free...children's titles included. Visually impaired students could use the audio recording to follow along with the text, or just listen for pleasure.
I also have one student who is hearing impaired, requiring that her teachers use amplifies in the classroom. In thinking about how I could improve access for her, I researched You Tube's closed captioning feature as well as Jing for creating screencasts. First of all, any videos I create will be uploaded to my YouTube channel so that closed captioning can be included. This video from Heather Moorefield-Lang explains the process beautifully. Although the process takes a few extra minutes, it is important to go that extra mile for my students.
Finally, for the many students who struggle with attention deficit disorder, I plan to use Jing to create short screen casts (five minutes or less) explaining various processes in the library from accessing Destiny Quest to DISCUS research and even sections of the library. These screen casts will help those who forget easily or don't sustain attention in class when these lessons are taught. Often students will not admit that they don't know how, so providing short videos will allow them the extra time and review on their own.
Accessibility is my responsibility. After this class session, I think differently about my lessons as I plan. Although there are so many ways to make information more accessible, I think the key is to get started...try to incorporate one new tool or feature until you are comfortable using it, and then add another and another until your users' needs are fully met.
Well you know how passionately I feel about this topic. Thanks for sharing my video. I plan to create more specifically in the vein of accessibility. The original plan was to have an entire chapter in my YouTube Channel on it but I only have a few right now. More to come. But you are right, just getting started and having resources in your knowledgebank is a step in the right direction. I am so glad you found this week useful, super glad I decided to include it this year in my topics.
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