A fundamental tenet of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is that information must be available to learners in multiple formats.  Here’s a resource that presents information visually, with text, and auditorily by way of text to speech.

Qwiki‘s stated goal is to “…forever improve the way people experience information.“  Although Qwiki is still under development, I think they’re off to a great start!  There is nothing unusual about Qwiki’s search box.  It’s the multi-modal way in which search results are presented that is truly exceptional.

In response to a query,  Qwiki presents a slide show of related images, along with text that is read aloud in a high quality voice by a text-to-speech engine.  The slide show and scrolling text can be paused, and the source of an image is revealed by rolling the cursor over it.

When a ‘Qwiki’ ends, you are offered links to Qwikis about related subjects. There are also links to articles on the same topic in Wikipedia, Fotopedia, and Youtube, along with Google search results for the term.

Clicking on the ‘Contents’ tab of a Qwiki yields yet another way of accessing the information.  The text of the article is displayed next to the related images.  A convenient option for printing the article is available as well.  Qwiki articles can be embedded elsewhere, or shared via Facebook or Twitter.

Check out the Qwiki of the Himalayas that I’ve embedded below.