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I’m very impressed with the free software I’m featuring today, and I find it hard to believe that I had never heard of it until this week. Many thanks to Kerry Randle for the tip! As I see it, WordTalk is a quintessential UDL tool. Microsoft Word has become ubiquitous in schools around the world, and WordTalk has the potential to improve access to reading and writing for many students. This is a productivity tool with applications across the curriculum.

WordTalk (downloadable program) This free plug-in enables text in any Microsoft Word document to be read aloud. As a useful bonus, WordTalk also comes with a talking spell checker and thesaurus. The simplicity of WordTalk’s toolbar makes it highly accessible, and the toolbar’s functions are easy to configure for individual preferences. To further enhance accessibility, the software comes pre-programmed with keyboard commands.

WordTalk reads by word, sentence, or by paragraph. Or, it will read continuously from wherever you place the cursor in a document. When you ask WordTalk to read, the selected reading unit is highlighted, and then each word within that unit is highlighted in another colour as it is read. By default, WordTalk uses SAPI 5 voices, and these can be downloaded with the program if they are not already on your computer. Other commercially available voices, however, seem to work flawlessly.

The first screenshot below shows WordTalk’s toolbar in the context of the MSWord interface. The second shot shows the functions of the toolbar buttons. The third screenshot shows the interface of the talking spell checker. (Click to enlarge the thumbnail, and use your browser’s back arrow to return to this page.)

WordTalk has been developed by Rod Macaulay of TASSC in Aberdeen, Scotland. The program is promoted by the CALL Centre. The documentation for installing the plug-in is clear and well illustrated. Installation instructions are provided for both standalone and networked computers. Also available from the WordTalk site is a helpful presentation entitled, “WordTalk: Enabling Access to Curriculum Resources for Students with Additional Support Needs”. This presentation is available for download in html, PowerPoint, and PDF formats.

WordTalk installs in any version of Word from Word 97 on. Installation is not difficult, but it is important to follow the instructions carefully. WordTalk runs only in Windows.

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Today’s featured online resource has the potential to benefit almost everyone. Most of us have either Microsoft Office or Openoffice installed on our computers, but I suspect that relatively few of us are using any of the programs in these suites as effectively as we might. Although Inpics tutorials have been designed specifically for individuals with learning disabilities, they can be helpful for anyone using any of these programms designed for productivity.

[This is another resource I learned about from Kevin Jarrit at NCS-Tech! If you have any interest in using technology in education, his blog is definitely worth a look!]

Inpics.net (online resource) This is a set of completely free visual tutorials. Inpics systematically presents simple screen shots to teach and illustrate how to use of some of the most widely used software in the world today. This includes all the component programs of Microsoft Office 2003 (Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Word) and Openoffice.org 2.0 (Base, Calc, Impress, Writer). There are also tutorials for Dreamweaver 8, as well as html and css. The tutorials cover the basics as well as advanced applications.

In the research based design of their tutorials, the people at Inpics have had individuals with learning disabilities in mind. Potentially distracting clutter, colours, animation, and wordy explanations have been avoided. The focus is on tasks peformed by the programs rather than on features. Lessons are presented as mini-projects. Not surprisingly, these tutorials are also accessible and highly effective for people without learning disabilities.

Inpics says there will soon be tutorials for Office 2007, Photoshop, Fireworks, MySQL, and PHP.

The Screenshots below show the first steps in the tutorial on using templates in Word. (Click on the screenshot to enlarge and use your browser’s back button to return to this blog.)

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Here is a clipart resource that stands head and shoulders above most clipart sites on the web. This one deserves to be bookmarked! It is currently at the very bottom of my Productivity page, but in terms of value it rates much higher.

WP Clipart (downloadable and online resource) This is a clipart site with some significant differences, and it offers the user considerable flexibility. You have the usual option of browsing online and then downloading an image. Or, you can download the entire collection, along with a very handy viewer, and have the whole collection available on your hard drive. WP Clipart contains an extensive collection, with more than 12,000 images, and the collection is updated regularly. Because all the images are in the public domain, they are truly free and may be used for any purpose, even for commercial purposes. All images have been optimized for use in word processors and for printing on inkjet printers. The collection has also been carefully designed for effective searching. Paul Sherman deserves kudos for maintaining a very practical site of exceptional quality. To download the collection, or to access it online, go to http://www.pcbypaul.com/wpclipart/index.html

The Clipart Viewer operates in Windows and Linux.

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Here is another free etext reader that works effectively, and it has particularly impressed me. This one is not a demo or partial version. Even if you are already familiar with another etext reader, you may find it worthwhile to have a look at Speakonia. I’ve listed it on my Productivity page.

Speakonia (downloadable program) is a free text-to-speech etext reader built using Microsoft Speech Technology. Speakonia offers considerable flexibility and several useful features. You can copy and paste text into the Speakonia interface and have that text read to you. Or, you can have Speakonia read any highlighted text. Speakonia also offers a “Read the Web” feature, but I find that it works best to highlight text on a webpage and then have the text read. By dragging the bottom of the interace up, Speakonia can be collapsed on your screen to leave a convenient toolbar. This “toolbar” can be positioned wherever you wish on the desktop while highlighted text is read. You then have access to buttons that allow you to pause and resume reading at will. You can choose from standard Microsoft voices and adjust both pitch and reading rate. Speakonia even gives you the option of saving text as audio wav files.

Speakonia can also be used as an invaluable editing tool for your own writing. You can type directly into the Speakonia interface and then hear it read what you have written. You can either save what you have written as a text file or copy and paste it into a document in another program. Speakonia has been developed by CFS Technologies, and you can download the program from their website.

This program runs in Windows only.

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Here’s a resource from the productivity page that is elegant in its very practical simplicity.

Dictionary.com (online resource) This is a handy free reference resource that is available to you anywhere, and on any computer, as long as the computer you are using is online. Enter a term at Dictionary.com and choose from the following tools: dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, or web search. This is a great study tool for both writing and reading. The only drawback is that you do have to put up with some advertising at this site.

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Here’s a typing tutor with a difference.

TuxTyping 2 This free open source program offers several engaging activities to help learn and practice computer keyboarding. This is not a typical typing tutor. Most activities involve hitting a designated key, or typing a word before the letter or word reaches the bottom of the screen. There are two distinct modes, “Fish Cascade” or “Comet Zap”. The former provides a gentler approach with music to match. “Comet Zap” is a little more like an arcade game. Within both modes, practice exercises and activities are offered in multiple levels. This program can help anyone become more a more effective typist by becoming more familiar with the location of the keys! In the process, you can have yourself some pretty good fun. Tux Typing 2 supports multiple languages, and you can download it from http://tuxtype.sourceforge.net/.

This program is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

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Many of us can use a tune-up on our typing or keyboarding skills. Today’s new listing on the productivity page is a free downloadable program that can help. If you use this, and approach it with the right attitude, it can even be fun to improve your skill on the keybaord. Some of us also have opportunity to help make the learning and practicing of this essential skill fun for our students.

Bruce’s Unusual Typing Wizard (Downloadable Program) This is a full featured, and rather sophisticated, typing tutor. It offers introductory lessons, practice exercises, and games. Progress records and statistics can be kept for multiple users. There is also fairly extensive help available. This is an excellent typing tutor, but it is probably not appropriate for most younger children. Go to http://typing.qcalculus.com/ for more information and to download the program.

This program runs in Windows only.

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Today’s entry is from the Cool Stuff page, but it is really productivity software for individuals who need special access to the computer. Although the program is completely free, it is full featured and it functions well.

Click-N-Type (downloadable program) Click-N-Type is a versatile free on-screen keyboard. You can enlarge the keyboard, choose alternative layouts, and it will scan for switch users. Multiple languages are supported. For English, you can also add word prediction by downloading and installing a separate executable file. This program is from Lake Software.

This program runs in Windows only.

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This entry is really worth a look. Sebran’s ABC has been around for a while, but it offers an excellent set of learning activities for young children. I like Sebran’s ABC so much that I’ve listed it on my Cool Stuff page. It really belongs with Content & Curriculum.

Sebran’s ABC (downloadable program) This is a whole suite of free, open source, high quality activities that support early learning–literacy, numeracy, problem solving, and even keyboard (typing) skills. There are colourful images, catchy music (that can be turned off), and wonderful contrast. Check it out or download it from www.wartoft.nu/software/sebran/.

This program runs in Windows.

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Are you ever reading something on the web, or something you’ve downloaded, and you need to look up the meaning of a word? Are you ever composing something in your word processor, and you need to find a synonym for that word you’ve already repeated a couple of times? If so, it will be worth your while to check out the program from my productivity page that I’ve listed here today.

Word Web (downloadable program) Word Web is a free comprehensive dictionary and thesaurus that can be used to look up words from within most programs. You simply click on an icon in your system tray to bring up the dictionary and thesaurus. If you want to look up a word that is on your screen, you highlight the word before opening Word Web. Or, you can open the program and then type in the word you want to look up. This program works very well! Download from http://wordweb.info/free/

This program runs in Windows.