Free Resources from the Net for EVERY Learner » ClickSpeak

Loose Stitch (online resource)

Paul Hamilton — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:57:33 +0000

One size does NOT fit all when it comes to learning; and this is true for every aspect of learning. That’s why I am delighted by the constantly expanding collection of available Web 2.0 learning tools. Thanks to the Demo Girl team for sharing yet another terrific tool for recording, organizing, and sharing information.

Loose Stitch is a user-friendly outlining tool that can be used in many ways to support learning. An individual can use it to record and organize researched information. Or, it can be used to help keep track of scheduled events or assigned tasks on a project. As well, Loose Stitch offers convenient ways of sharing recorded information. It has been designed to be used collaboratively by a group of people working together on the same project.

I especially appreciate the ease with which Loose Stitch outlines can be embedded in wikis or blogs. When an outline is changed, the changes are automatically reflected in embedded versions of the outline. Of course, each outline can also be shared via its unique URL.

By selecting text in an outline, I found I was able to use CLiCk,Speak‘s text-to-speech to have outlines read aloud in Firefox.

Registration is not required to use the fully functional free version of Loose Stitch, but a “Pro” version is available with additional features.

Please take a look at the helpful screencast put together by Maureen at DemoGirl.com, and think of ways that Loose Stitch might be used to support learning in your context. (For enhanced viewing, view in full screen mode and select HD for high definition.)

Access Firefox (Online Resource)

Paul Hamilton — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:55:32 +0000

Last week, Google released the shiny new web browser that they’ve aptly named “Chrome“. After taking it for a test drive, I have to admit that I rather like it. It’s incredibly fast, and I love the way it gives me almost my entire laptop screen for viewing web pages. Still, Chrome reminds me of just how very much more I appreciate Firefox.

I believe that Firefox should be available to every learner in every school. That’s because of the accessibility features that are built into Firefox and because of the available Firefox add-ons that further facilitate access for individuals with diverse learning needs.

In a blog post entitled “Learning to give up…“, Ira Socol convincingly makes the point that text-to-peech software is an essental tool that should be available to all learners, not just to those with designated “special” needs. I think every classroom teacher would do well to read Ira’s post!

With Firefox, text-to-speech software can indeed be available to all learners when reading online. That’s because there is a free Firefox add-on called CLiCk,Speak that conveniently offers text-to-speech. This is but one example of the countless add-ons for Firefox that enhance accessibility and that help to make learning possible for many who might otherwise give up.

Access Firefox is a website that I’ve written about before, but I believe it’s well worth another mention. Access Firefox is a tremendous resource for anyone interested in making the internet accessible to all learners. Access Firefox details the built-in accessibility features of Firefox. It also describes and links to numerous add-ons. The site is well organized and uncluttered. It has been designed with accessibility in mind, and demonstrates what an accessible website can look like.

If you are in a position to exert any influence at all, please advocate for the use of Firefox on the computers that are being used in schools. Alternative browsers available today don’t come close in terms of helping to meet the diverse range learning styles and learning needs that exist in every classroom.

CLiCk,Speak for Firefox 3 (Firefox Add-on)

Paul Hamilton — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:38:51 +0000

CLiCk,Speak is now available for Firefox 3.

CLiCk,Speak is a FREE tool that I believe needs to be available to ALL learners who have any reason to go online. It is a powerful tool, and one that is extremely easy to use for anyone who can use a mouse. The CLiCk,Speak toolbar installs with three buttons, as shown here.

In order to have text from a web page read aloud, simply place the cursor where you want to begin reading and click the green button. To stop reading aloud, click the red button. If you wish to read a selection of text, click the white button after selecting the desired text.

Under the Firefox ‘Tools’ Menu is an item called ‘CliCk,Speak Options’. You are able to adjust the reading rate and the pitch of the voice here.

As I repeat frequently, if schools are truly interested in supporting all learners, there is no excuse for continuing to insist on using Internet Explorer. If schools are really interested in trying to facilitate universal access, Firefox is a far superior browser because it is so much more accessible for countless learners. There is absolutely no monetary cost for using Firefox, but the potential to help learners with reading challenges is priceless!

Awesome Highlighter & Firefox (Online Resources)

Paul Hamilton — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:21:37 +0000

Yesterday, I wrote about Awesome Highlighter. I had no sooner posted than I realized I neglected to mention a helpful feature. There is a Firefox add-on for Awesome Highlighter that can be installed directly from the website. Today, I want to write briefly about that add-on. While I’m at it, I also want to discuss the advent of Firefox 3 and some short-term implications on using Firefox add-ons.

To learn about Awesome Highlighter, and using it as a study aid, please read what I wrote about that yesterday. For anyone who finds Awesome Highlighter useful, the Firefox add-on makes it more convenient. When the add-on is installed, a button appears next to the Google search bar. (In my case that’s alongside buttons for my Piclens and Skype add-ons.

When you click on the AH button, it brings up the Awesome Highlighter toolbar and gives you all the options of the application. This saves you the trouble of going to the website each time you want to use it. This is invaluable for anyone using Awesome Highlighter on a regular basis. I have been very pleasantly surprised to discover that the Awesome Highlighter add-on works fine in the recently released Firefox 3.

But there is still a problem with some Firefox add-ons. They don’t yet work in Firefox 3. As of today, June 26th, this is still the case with CliCk,Speak, the text-to-speech add-on that allows any page open in Firefox to be read aloud. (I’m pleased to say that Accessibar is now compatible with Firefox 3. Since it is a little difficult to find it, I’ve used Awesome Highlighter to highlight the download link HERE.)

If you, or someone you know has already downloaded Firefox 3 and discovered that essential add-ons won’t work, there is a solution to tide you over until the add-ons you need are updated. You can uninstall Firefox 3, and re-install a previous version. You can’t download previous versions directly from Mozilla, but you can get one HERE at OldApps.com I suggest that you use Version 2.0.0.14. You shouldn’t need to worry about losing bookmarks or other personal information because this is normally stored separate from the program on your computer.

Accessibar (Firefox Add-on)

Paul Hamilton — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 03:51:38 +0000

I wish classroom educators were not so stuck on using Internet Explorer. Firefox is a superior web browser in almost every respect, and this is especially true for individuals with special needs. Kate Ahern recently mentioned another add-on for Firefox that offers a set of convenient tools to enhance accessibility.

Accessibar is a toolbar that can be installed as an add-on for the Firefox browser with a set of tools to make the internet more accessible for people with special needs. Accessibar is especially useful for those with low vision. As with all toolbar icons in Firefox, the toolbar shown below can include text that names the function of the icon. All of the Accessibar functions can also be activated with keyboard shortcuts that can be configured by the user.

In the words of the toolbar’s developers, here’s what the Accessibar tools will do for you.

Web page fonts and background colors can be changed from a selecton of 70 colors on current session
Icons with configurable shortcut keys to increase and decrease Font size.
Line spacing can be increased or decreased to five different spacing settings incrementally.
All images (including Flash) displayed on a web page can be selected as being hiden or shown.
All changes made to web page display can be restored to original page settings by pressing “Restore Page“.
Changes made to the currently displayed web page persist until “Restore Page“ is selected.
Integrated Text To Speech reader. Reads out strings hovered over as well as focused elements.
Reader settings can be configured allowing the selection of the voice, volume, speaking rate, pitch, and voice range.
Toolbar functions have configurable Hotkeys (keyboard shortcuts).

I tested Accessibar’s text-to-speech function, and I found it to work reasonably well. It does an especially good job of reading links and buttons. As a sighted reader, however,I much prefer to use CLiCk,Speak for reading passages of text. I wonder if it might be the same for individuals with low vision if they are able to use Accessibar’s tools to enable them to see the web page effectively. I added the CLiCk,Speak buttons to the Accessibar toolbar. The only drawback is that there are no keyboard commands for the CLiCk,Speak buttons.

Visual Dictionary (online resource)

Paul Hamilton — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 15:52:04 +0000

Welcome to this Treasure Chest of Free Stuff!

FREE online resources and downloadable programs for learners.

I’m following up my last post about an excellent online reference site with a post today about another great online reference. This one is especially valuable for individuals who are primarily visual learners. Amanda, at Thinking Past the Square, wrote a helpful review of Visual Dictionary last month. I’d like to add my observations, and ensure that this resource is archived here.

Visual Dictionary by Miriam Webster is exactly what its name says it is. While this is a terrific option for individuals who are primarily visual learners, there is growing evidence to suggest that this sort of alternative is also helpful for everyone. For learners with reading challenges, I was pleased to discover that CLiCk,Speak will read entries aloud when the site is open in Firefox. Visual Dictionary provides audio files that pronounce the terms it defines.

Information is organized under 15 major headings, each represented by a symbol–Astronomy, Plants and Gardening, Human Being, etc. Clicking on an image leads to more visual images to choose from. I’ve illustrated the progression with the five screenshots below that wind up at the entry for Saturn.

Main Heading

Sub-Heading

Sub-Sub-Heading

Detailed Options

Entry