Free Resources from the Net for EVERY Learner

Judy O’Connell pointed us to a truly valuable tool on heyjude the other day.

PDFMYURL can be an invaluable tool for anyone doing research online.  As its name suggests, this application turns web pages into pdf files.  This can be especially  helpful  in situations where web content is required when a person cannot be online.  Or, when someone wants to embed a web page on a wiki or blog.

Web pages can be turned into pdf files with virtual printers such as PDFCreator, but I think it’s slicker and quicker to use PDFMYURL, especially with the available bookmarklet that can be added to the browser’s Bookmarks Toolbar.

With the help of embedit.in, I’ve embedded an eSchool News article that I first turned into a pdf file with PDFMYURL.

Thanks to a comment left by Jim Spirialis on my last post, I was made aware of yet another text-to-speech option.  This is another one that will run either from the desktop or from a USB flash drive.  Of all the PC text-to-speech software that I’ve tried, this may well be the best of the lot.

Balabolka is a Russian word that means “chatterer”.  Balabolka is also very good free text-to-speech software for the PC, running in all versions of Windows–from  Windows 2000 through Windows 7.  There are two versions of the program, one that is installed on a host computer, and a portable version that will run from a USB flash drive.

Balabolka’s user interface is similar to other PC text-to-speech programs, but it can be customized with the use of skins.  Text can be input directly.  Or, it can be copied and then pasted in.  Balabolka comes bundled with an impressive set of built-in tools, including magnification (2X to 16X) and spell checking.   Keyboard shortcuts have been programmed for accessing Balabolka’s functions.  This software will create audio files from text–MP3, WAV, OGG, WMA.

Balabolka is available in the following 15 languages:  English; Bulgarian; Chinese, Czech; Dutch; French; German; Hungarian; Italian; Polish; Brazilian Portuguese; Romanian; Russian; Spanish; Ukrainian.

Balabolka’s very clean default user interface is shown below.

It’s impossible to keep track of all the free text-to-speech options that are available.  Some of these are downloadable programs that will work off line, while others are online applications.  My favorite app for reading online content is the Firefox addon CliCk,Speak.  CliCk,Speak, of course is a cross-platform application becuase it works inside the browser.

For reading online content with Internet Explorer, the best option I’ve found is the free Natural Reader toolbar, which will also read in Microsoft Outlook, OpenOffice, Google Docs, etc.  A huge bonus with Natural Reader is that this software is available for both the PC and Mac. I believe the best text-to-speech option for reading content in Microsoft Word, at least on a PC, is the free and versatile WordTalk toolbar.

Free online text-to-speech options include AudioPal, iSpeech, YaKiToMe, vozMe, and probably more.   Today I want to write about the  downloadable stand alone option that is included as part of the AccessApps suite that can be run on any PC from a pen drive.

DSpeech is free text-to-speech software for the PC, that offers a set of useful features in an intuitive user interface.  DSpeech is similar im many respects to ReadPlease (2003) and Speakonia, which I wrote about here more than three and a half years ago.   Overall, I think DSpeech would be my top pick of the three.  Of course, the only opinion that really counts is that of the user, so please try all three.

With DSpeech, text can either be typed directly into DSpeech, or it can be pasted in from the clipboard.  A plugin is available for opening pdf files in DSpeech. DSpeech creator Dimio’s website indicates that DSpeech is available in 13 languages besides English.

With DSpeech, it’s easy to change the voice, volume, pitch and reading rate while reading.   I was pleased to note that DSpeech automatically used my default text-to-speech voice. A set of keyboard shortcuts has been pre-programmed.  DSpeech will turn text into audio files (MP3, WAV, or OGG).

I didn’t test this feature, but apparently you can combine voices when text includes dialogue between characters.  A basic voice recognition system has also been built into DSpeech, and this enables the user to construct a dialogue in which he or she participates.

Click on the thumbnail below for a full size view of the DSpeech user interface.

Richard Byrne has just written about an excellent source of free audio books.  I could just direct readers to Richard’s post, but I want this resource to be filed here on my blog.  I have noticed that new visitors sometimes spend an extended period of time combing through the blog looking for resources that may be of value to them.

This week, Richard directed his readers to my blog.  This is an opportunity for me to do the same for Richard’s Free Technology for Teachers.  Richard is a prolific blogger, normally putting up several posts a day.  He typically introduces a resource and then discusses potential educational applications for it.  Free Technology for Teachers has more than earned its three Edublog Awards, and I highly recommend subscribing to it!

AudioOwl offers an extensive collection of high quality public domain audio books.   I believe that books in audio format are of tremendous value to all learners, not just learners with vision challenges!

The books on AudioOwl are helpfully organized by genre, including children and teen/young adult. You can browse by genre, or search the entire site by author, title, or key words.  A selected book can be “previewed” before deciding to download it.  In other words, you can listen to the reader.

AudioOwl offers two download options.  A book can be added to iTunes as a podcast.  Or, the book can be downloaded in a zipped folder that contains an MP3 file for each chapter, for use with any MP3 player.  It is worth noting that some of these files are quite large and require considerable download time.

I mentioned the high quality of the audio books from AudioOwl, and it really is excellent.  I previewed samples from a variety of genres, and in every instance the quality of both the reading and the recording was top notch.  This should come as no surprise because AudioOwl is making use of recordings from LibriVox, where each book is read by a volunteer.  You can read more about LibriVox HERE, in a post I wrote in September of 2007.

Clicking on the thumbnails below will show you the user interfaces of AudioOwl and you can see some of the many available features, including audio books in multiple languages, links to other resources about the work, and a brief summary of each book. Readers/listeners are encouraged to review and rate the audio books on AudioOwl.

“The goal of the WebInsight Project is to learn what impedes access to the web and develop technology to improve access.”  It is some of this technology that I’m writing about today.

WebAnywhere from WebInsight is a web based screen reader that offers  blind people access to the internet from any computer with a sound card.  This is a screen reader that provides access only to the internet, but it means that a blind user does not have to be at his or her own computer in order to go online.  WebAnywhere is open source software, and it is free to use.

As a light-dependent blogger, I’m not really competent to evaluate a screen reader for blind internet users.  So, I’ll embed a video that does a terrific job of presenting WebAnywhere.