Assistive Technology

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T17:24:00.002-05:00

I want to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a great day tomorrow and get the opportunity to spend some time with your friends and families! Enjoy the day! Brian

Capturing Notes Using Papershow

2009-11-24T21:36:00.011-05:00

I had a great day working with a group of teachers in assisting them to incorporate the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into their math lessons. Over the course of two days we went over the principles of UDL and had a chance to look at a variety of tools and strategies that could be employed into their lessons. We had a chance to use Google Forms, Delicious, Webspiration, and InspireData to give the teachers some new tools to actively engage students in their learning. It was exciting to feel the energy in the workshop as the teachers began to see how they could use the various tools to reach their students. During the workshop I was able to capture some of the ideas using Papershow which was a real hit with the teachers. At the end of the second day I captured some notes which I can share with you. Papershow is a wonderful tool for recording and capturing ideas. After today's session I saved the notes as a PDF file and placed them on our wiki which worked really well. Here is is a link to today's notes as captured with Papershow.

One Sentence Summary Created with Context Organizer
During the workshop I was able to capture some of the ideas using Papershow which was a real hit with the teachers.

Writing Proposals with MindView 3 Business Edition

2009-11-23T09:51:00.001-05:00

As a technology consultant I am often asked by my clients to write up a proposal for my services. For many of us who are in this situation our first inclination is to open up Microsoft Word and start to draft our proposal. While I have written about this topic before, it is worth mentioning again that I have found it to be a tremendous time saver to draft my proposals in a mind map and then export them to Microsoft Word. In the past couple of weeks I have had to put three proposals together and in this instance I decided to put MindView 3 Business Edition through its paces to draft my proposals. I have been using MindView 3 Business Edition lately, to track some of my projects using the Gantt Chart and Timelines but had not investigated how to use it to generate proposals.

In general I find it a good strategy to brainstorm the topics for my proposals in the mind map which gives me the freedom to move around the key ideas. Once I have the main headings I can begin to insert the details for each main topic. In MindView 3 Business Edition I decided to add more text to flesh out my ideas by using the Notes feature. For each idea that I wanted a fuller explanation I typed in some notes into the text editor. I generally also add some graphics and icons to my maps to spruce them up. After all of my ideas and notes were completed I was able to export my mind map to Microsoft Word. MindView 3 Business Edition provides a nice set of formatted Word templates to Export your mind maps to. You have considerable control as to what comes over during the export process. I have found that MindView 3 Business Edition outputs your mind maps quickly and accurately to Microsoft Word and the finished product is very professionally formatted.

As much as I would like to think that the content of my proposals is what gets me my work, it does help when your proposals are succinct and look professional. In this case, MindView 3 Business Edition has assisted me to get my proposals in, in less time with laser focus. So the next time you need to write a business proposal open up MindView 3 Business Edition and give it a whirl you will be glad you did- take it from me.

One Sentence Summary Created by Context Organizer
In the past couple of weeks I have had to put three proposals together and in this instance I decided to put MindView 3 Business Edition through its paces to draft my proposals.

Delivering e-Learning Assets in PDF Format Webinar

2009-11-21T12:54:00.007-05:00

Two weeks ago I delivered a presentation at the DevLearn 09 Conference on: Delivering e-Learning Assets in PDF Format which focused on how one can deliver a range of content using the ubiquitous PDF format. During my session I showed my participants how I am using Adobe Acrobat Pro Extended, Adobe Captivate 4, Camtasia Studio, and Adobe Presenter to create rich and engaging eLearning assets. Using a combination of these tools it is possible to create some interesting materials that can be shared with the Adobe Acrobat Reader. One of the real take aways from the presentation is that it is now possible to embed video in your PDF's which your users can view with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.

The presentation was well received and it occurred to me that there may be others out there who may benefit from this presentation who were not able to attend the DevLearn 09 Conference. I am in the process of putting together a 1 hour long webinar to show you how to make the most of the tools you have at your disposal. There will be a nominal fee of $19.99 to attend the webinar but your return on investment will be huge. You can pay and register for the webinar by clicking on this link.

In the webinar you will learn how to:

Create interactive handouts in PDF format with Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro
Embed a SWF and FLV File into a PDF
Create PDF Portfolios with a range of rich media
Create Flash based eLearning assets with Adobe Presenter
Upload a Captivate SWF file to BlackBoard as a zip package
Embed Adobe Captivate SWF files into your projects
Output your Adobe Captivate projects in PDF format

The Delivering e-Learning Assets in PDF Format Webinar is scheduled for January 11, 2010 at 1:00 pm EST. To Register click here. Plan now to attend!

Acrobat.com Now Integrates Tables & Presentation

2009-11-21T09:55:00.004-05:00

I have been following Acroabt.com since its inception and today Adobe has finally integrated their suite of services under one roof. Acrobat.com is an essential service for Adobe since it is tightly integrated into Acrobat 9 line of products. If you have a copy of Acrobat 9 you can easily upload your PDF files to Acrobat.com come and share them with others by providing them with a URL that is generated. Acrobat.com can also be used when distributing PDF Forms and becomes the repository for the information that gets submitted.

The Acrobat.com Suite now includes Buzzword, a collaborative word processor, Tables, a database tool, and Presentation, a slide deck presentation tool. All of your files are accessible to you when connected to the web and you can invite others to collaborate on your documents if you wish. All of the applications have the very aesthetically please Flash look to them and are very inviting to use. Additionally you can use your Acrobat.com account to connect and share your computer with up to two other people, which makes is easy to collaborate and do small trainings or webinars. While the feature set looks to me to have stayed the same having all of the tools under one roof really helps to solidify this offering. I still have my free Acrobat.com account but if you feel that you need more storage or would like to host larger meetings you can upgrade to one of their Premium accounts. Take a look at Acrobat.com and let me know your comments.

Service Pack 2 Available for MindView 3 Business Edition

2009-11-20T21:20:00.003-05:00

While using MindView 3 Business Edition today I was alerted that Service Pack 2 was available for download from Matchware. After you install the Service Pack your version of MindView 3 should be at Version 3.160. There is also Service Pack2 for MindView 3 as well.

This Service Pack contains the following changes:

Service Pack 2:

New Features:

MindView now supports pen input as well as standard keyboard/mouse input.
MindView now supports the use of SMART boards.
Timeline view: The detail level of the Timeline now matches the detail level used in the Timeline Outline. This means that only branches that are visible in the outline are shown on the timeline itself.

Fixes:

Copying a branch containing a text note now also copies the text note as expected.
The command Send no longer causes MindView to swap to another open document in some circumstances.
The filtering of dates has been updated.
The Mind Map now scrolls to the left when editing branch labels that expand outside the right edge of the workspace.
The Auto Correct function now works as expected when editing branch labels.
The Find/Replace and Spellchecking functions now expand invisible branches when necessary.
The Show Time Info setting chosen to display or hide start and end times is now preserved as expected when saving and re-opening the Mind Map.
Mind Maps shown in the Top Down view with their sub-branches displayed vertically are now updated as expected when branches are moved or deleted.
The layout of Mind Maps whose branches have been arranged "manually" (with auto-layout off) is now preserved as expected when saving and re-opening the file.
It is now possible to insert a branch from the Timeline Outline without causing the "Insert Event" dialog to open.
The dialog displayed when opening a packed map containing files whose original versions has changed since the map was packed no longer shows multiple entries when the same file has been used on several branches.
The Show Branch Data settings chosen to display or hide start/end times, priority level, completion percentage and resource names are now preserved as expected when saving and re-opening the Mind Map.
When updating the priority level, completion percentage and/or resource names of a branch, the changes are now reflected immediately on the Mind Map.
Copying branches containing calculations values now works as expected.
Gantt view:
- The timescale chosen (years, quarters, months, days etc.) to represent the Gantt chart is now preserved as expected when saving and re-opening the file.
- The label displayed in the Predecessors column of the Gantt Outline is now shown correctly in the case of tasks linked with predecessors with a Start to Start link.
- Tasks having a summary task as predecessor task and linked to it with a percentage lead time (so that the task can start some time before the summary task ends) are now scheduled correctly in all circumstances.
- Saving very large Gantt charts no longer causes MindView to freeze while generating the file preview picture.
MS Project Export: The Mind Map hierarchy is now always preserved as expected when exporting to MS Project 2007.
Excel Export: Sheet names are now localized as expected in versions of MindView other than English.
XML import: This now works as expected when branches have branch boundaries.

Second Generation Pogoplug™ Unveiled Today

2009-11-20T17:52:00.003-05:00

Next-generation Hardware Design and Software Provide Enhanced Storage, Multimedia and Social Media Capabilities

San Francisco, Calif. – November 20, 2009 – Cloud Engines, Inc. unveiled the second generation of the award winning Pogoplug multimedia sharing device today giving consumers more flexibility to store personal content safely in the home and access, manage, and share it from anywhere on the Internet. The new Pogoplug hardware sports a new design boasting multiple USB ports supporting up to 4 external drives for expanded data capacity. The new Pogoplug also gives users improved sharing capabilities, an easy drag-and-drop interface to create engaging multi-media slide shows, seamless media playback, and enhanced sharing with friends on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

Pogoplug acts like a gateway from your home or office through the Internet. It allows you to access, share and even stream your personal digital media directly to anybody, anywhere in the world. Your content always remains physically in your home or office, making it secure, convenient and available on your terms. Pogoplug is perfect for those individuals with increasingly mobile lifestyles and small businesses in need of simple, inexpensive mobile data access solutions.

“The reaction to the Pogoplug has been incredible. By listening to user feedback and following our own product roadmap, we are bringing a great second-generation product that gives our customers access to a host of new features that both improve the function of the Pogoplug, and add to the fun of using it as well.” said Daniel Putterman, CEO of Cloud Engines, Inc. “We are committed to giving our customers the best way to access their data from anywhere in the world, pushing the envelope with both product quality and design aesthetic. The result is what you see here today.”

NEW HARDWARE
The new Pogoplug design retains the simplicity and ease of use of the original while listening to consumer feedback and adding the ability to directly connect up to 4 external hard drives at once. The resulting product boasts an improved design with greatly improved functionality for users with multiple drives and an increasing need for easy synching and sharing of their digital libraries. This upgrade turns the Pogoplug into an even more prominent feature in the modern digital home or small business.

NEW FEATURES

Automatically Synchronize Photos, Videos, Music and Other Selected Content
Users can synchronize their Pogoplug with their PC or Mac to automatically import new content from popular applications such as iTunes, Windows Media Player, and iPhoto. This feature allows Pogoplug owners to “set it and forget it” and always have access to new photos, videos and music from anywhere on the Internet.

Drag-and-Drop Music and Photo Slideshows
Users can easily create and share fun and engaging slideshows using their stored photos, videos and music. Creating a slideshow with Pogoplug is as simple as drag and drop, and sharing these slideshows is just as easy as ever. Once a user’s link is shared and viewed, their slideshow will immediately begin with the photos, videos and music they selected, playing seamlessly in the viewer’s browser.
Easier Sharing with Pogoplug Address Book
Pogoplug Address Book greatly improves the speed and ease of use of sharing with a user’s friends and family. Pogoplug automatically remembers all email addresses entered in a user’s previous shares - even if that share no longer exists – and makes them available in an easy to use address book to make sharing truly one click away.

Global Search Across Multiple Drives and Pogoplugs
With support for multiple drives on a single Pogoplug (and multiple Pogoplugs on the same account) Pogoplug has added "global" search support across all of a user’s Pogoplugs and drives. Search filters are now a distinct feature, allowing users to view all of their photos, videos and music in a single organized view, or to search for a specific file across all Pogoplugs and drives.
Organize Your Music, Photos and Videos
Pogoplug automatically displays music by Album, Artist and Genre, and shows cover art for quick access to a user’s favorite music. Photos are now displayed by photo timeline and videos are only a click away, including the ability to watch a preview in the thumbnail itself.

Play movies directly from my.pogoplug.com, or even to the iPhone
Pogoplug now supports the playback of videos directly from a Pogoplug, with support for the most popular cameras, video cameras and mobile phones. Movies can be shared and viewed directly from the Pogoplug website – or even from an iPhone!

Pricing and Availability
We are currently taking Pre-Orders for Pogoplug at www.pogoplug.com Units will ship before the end of the year – just in time for the Holiday Season. The Pogoplug has a suggested retail price of $129, with no additional service fees.

USEFUL LINKS
• Pogoplug web site: www.pogoplug.com
• Product photos: www.flickr.com/photos/pogoplug
• Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/pogoplug
• Pogoplug online community: www.pogoplugged.com
ABOUT THE POGOPLUG
The Pogoplug is a device that connects up to 4 external hard drives to the Internet. It is designed for consumers who have an external hard drive and have high speed Internet. Consumers can securely access and share all of their content [Files, Photos, and Video] from any Web browser or enabled mobile device with no additional monthly fees. Free your inner drive.
ABOUT CLOUD ENGINES, INC.
Founded in 2007 by experienced entrepreneurs from the digital media and security industries, Cloud Engines is located in San Francisco, California. The company was formed with a mission to change the way personal content is stored and distributed over the Internet. The Cloud Engines philosophy is that by making a product simple, open and affordable, the community will participate in making it better. For more information, please visit our Web site, www.cloudengines.com.

Uploading your Captivate 4 Videos to BlackBoard

2009-11-15T15:52:00.005-05:00

While presenting Delivering e-Learning Assets in PDF Format at the DevLearn 09 Conference a question was raised as to how do you go about sharing your Captivate 4 projects on BlackBoard. Now that you can save your video projects as a PDF file it is easy to upload them to your BlackBoard course as a simple PDF file. But if you would like, you have the option of storing your video project as a zip file on BlackBoard which gets unzipped when your students click on the link. There are a couple of details which are important to note when uploading your Captivate projects to BlackBoard in a zip format which are highlighted in this video. So take a look at this video to see how you to can upload your Captivate projects as a zip file right into BlackBoard. Your comments are welcome- hope this helps!

DevLearn 09 Follow-up

2009-11-14T11:13:00.013-05:00

After nearly a week out of the office attending the Adobe Summit and DevLearn 09 Conference I'm back in my office catching up. I met some really wonderful people and really enjoyed the conversations we had about the state of eLearning. It was very exciting to meet up with professionals in this area who I have only interacted with online for the past couple of years. To say the least, we are living through some really interesting and exciting times when it comes to learning and how to capitalize on the power of the web for eLearning.

I had over 50 participants at my session Delivering e-Learning Assets in PDF Format and focused on how one can deliver a range of content using the ubiquitous PDF format. During my session I showed how I am using Adobe Acrobat Pro Extended, Adobe Captivate 4, and Adobe Presenter to create rich and engaging eLearning assets. Using a combination of these tools it is possible to create some interesting materials that can be shared with the Adobe Acrobat Reader. One of the real take aways from the presentation is that it is now possible to embed video in your PDF's which your users can view with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader 9. During my demonstration I showed how you can embed SWF files into a Word document and create an interactive handout which can be saved as a PDF file. In fact this is the way I recently created my ebook Technology Supports for Writing. There a lots of ways to use PDF's to create handouts and eLearning materials using Adobe Acrobat Portfolios. You can take a look at this video that I created to give you some ideas of how you might use the Portfolio feature in the work that you do. To get a copy of my handouts from the conference you can download them from the DevLearn 09 Web site.

Inspiration 9 Coming January 2010

2009-11-05T10:12:00.006-05:00

Inspiration 8 continues to be on my top 10 all time list of software applications and every time I use it or run a workshop showing teachers how they can support students I am always amazed at the built in features and templates. Just yesterday, I did an in-service program on using Inspiration 8 and Webspiration and I showed a group of Middle School teachers how they can integrate graphic organizers in their classroom's with students. Some of the features which really shine are: Text to Speech, WordGuide, Templates, and the Transfer to Word. On the heels of this I was excited to see that Inspiration 9 will be released in January 2010.

Here is what Inspiration Software is saying about Inspiration 9:

Comprehend. Create. Communicate. Achieve More

For visual mapping, outlining, writing and making presentations, use Inspiration® 9, the ultimate thinking and learning tool. Brainstorm ideas, structure your thoughts and visually communicate concepts to strengthen understanding with the Diagram and Map Views. To take notes, organize information, and structure writing for plans, papers and reports, use the integrated Outline View to focus on main and supporting ideas and to clarify thinking in written form. With Inspiration's Presentation Manager, transform your diagrams, mind maps and outlines into polished presentations that communicate ideas clearly and demonstrate understanding and knowledge.

For more information go to Inspiration Software website.

Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic - Individual Membership is now Free

2009-11-01T20:53:00.004-05:00

Thanks to major funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, Grant #H327D090001 and support of private donors, Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic ® (RFB&D®) Individual Membership is now free to individuals with proper certification*.

Member benefits include:

FREE access to the nation's largest audiobook library of textbooks and literature titles
Human-narrated audiobooks with descriptions of images, tables and graphs
Easy-to-use online catalog
24/7 online member services and phone support
Various audiobook downloadable formats, including DAISY and WMA (Windows Media Audio)

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*Learn more about Certification

Recording of Technology Supports for Writing Webinar is Now Available

2009-10-30T11:10:00.006-04:00

This past Wednesday, Joan Green and I held a webinar on technology supports for writing which was based on our new eBook, "Technology Supports for Writing" which we recently released. The 51 page eBook which is accessible with Adobe Acrobat Reader includes a great compilation of resources for anyone who needs to support students in the area of writing. Included in the ebook iare over 12 videos that are embedded that let you actually see how the software works. You can view the videos in full screen and get a sense first hand if you think that the program may have application for the students you are working with. During the webinar we highlighted a couple of reesources, ie. PixWriter, Livescribe Pulse Smartpen, Ginger, and NaturalReaders. You will find the eBook to be a helpful resource to have on your computer which not only includes a breakdown of features and interactive links to the publishers website.

This 51 page cutting-edge video ebook is a rich resource for information about various software and hardware tools to improve the writing process. It includes one video describing how to take advantage of this new "just in time" type of multi-media interactive learning tool and 12 integrated videos showing readers examples of how to use supports built-in to some of the highlighted products.

Clickable topics in our video e-book include:

* Software with customizable drill-and-practice exercises to improve writing
* Software to improve spelling
* Software to help stimulate written content
* Features of word processors and assistive writing technology
* Text-based word processing features
* Text- based word processors
* Picture-based talking word processors
* Stand-alone word bank program
* Dictionaries
* Graphic organizers: technology for organizing written narrative
* Technology to help with the physical aspect of writing
* Speech-to-text and voice recognition
* Initiation of the writing process
* The physical act of handwriting or typing
* Portable word processors

A recording of the webinar is now available for everyone to view for one week- until November 7, 2009. Please feel free to pass along this information:) If you know of colleagues, friends, teachers or others who might be interested in this topic, it would be great if you could email them the info to access the recording. If you are involved with support groups, listserves, blogs and Facebook - we would appreciate your help posting this info.

To view the recording go to http://tr.im/Do3z.

In this 60 minute presentation, you have the opportunity to see how assistive technology can help individuals with the writing process. Joan and I demonstrate and discuss several products such as Ginger Software, PixWriter, Livescribe Pulse Pen and Natural Readers and present information about our book titled "Technology Supports for Writing" (available as an instant download or on a CD from www.ittsguides.com.

Until Nov. 7th, use the coupon code "presentation" for a 30% discount for online orders of the download. Contact me at Joan@innovativespeech.com for an order form if you prefer to pay by check or need to use a purchase order.

You will need Windows Media Player on your computer in order to view the webinar recording as well as high speed internet access. If you don't have the software, it can be downloaded from here.

After ordering the ebook, you will neet to have at last Adobe Reader 9 to view the integrated videos. If you don't have at least that version, it can be downloaded here .

We are both available for consultations as needed (on this topic or others) if you would like to explore in greater detail which resources might be most appropriate for your situation. Our contact information is included below. We'd also appreciate hearing from you about other topics you would be interested in learning about.

Brian Friedlander, Ph.D.
Brian@assistivetek.com
908-852-3460
Skype: assistivetek
Blog: assistivetek.blogspot.com

Joan Green, M.A. CCC-SLP
Joan@innovativespeech.com
1-800-IST- 2550 or 301-602-2899
Twitter- @jgreenslp

MindGenius 3 Released!

2009-10-24T16:38:00.017-04:00

No sooner then I do a review of MindGenius 2.5, I find out that MindGenius Ldt., has just released MindGenius 3. When you first open MindGenius 3 you will see an who new look, complete with the adoption of the Fluid Ribbon Interface. MindGenius 3.0 is much more visually appealing to use but you should feel right at home with the common interface structure. MindGenius 3 kept many of the same conventions as in their previous version such as the Map Explorer and the Picture Gallery Viewer. MindGenius 3 has a clean and inviting look summoning you to jump in and use the program. If you are upgrading from version 2.5 you should be up and running in no time. While it may take some time to get used to the Ribbon, I found the organization of the commands on the Ribbon to be well thought out and relatively easy to find what I was looking for. The Welcome Map and the Getting Started Guide are two useful resources when you are just beginning to use MindGenius 3. Here are a list of some of the new features that you will find in MindGenius as provided by the publisher:

Ribbon User Interface which allows for improved brainstorming, presentations, analysis and task management functionality and easier access to the most commonly used features and functionality.
improved Analysis capability to help you sort your information and add quick filters to get a different view on your data eg by category, actions due/ over due, cost or task properties.
MS Excel export for use with pivot table analysis, parts lists, costs, task management, and FMEA Analysis, allowing you to work with numerical values as well as words.
Numerical fields added that allow you to record actual work hours, costs and quantities and undertake cost and quantity calculations.
updated image library with a suite of pictures that can be used royalty free by all MindGenius users.
ability to add and edit your own question sets in the Question Tool allowing you to undertake improved planning and brainstorming sessions and create frameworks for meetings and customer facing sessions.
timer to allow you to keep on schedule in brainstorming, meetings and presentations.

One of the strengths that comes across in using MindGenuis 3 is the powerful filters and the ability to sort your maps by a specific category. MndGenius really shines in this area and makes for a valuable tool if you are doing consulting and looking how resources are being used in a project. With a click of the mouse you are able to create your map based on the Resources and see things through a different lens. You can watch this video to show you how to assign Resources with the Resources Dropper and how to quickly create a Resource Map within MindGenius 3. In this regards MindGenius 3 has redone the interface and allows you to quickly link resources with tasks on your map. Using the very familiar Eye Dropper you can drop resources in tasks make it easy to track them in a project. You will also find that there were some significant features added to the Task Ribbon. In MindGenius 3 you can now track Work Hours, and Cost for tasks that can then be Exported to Excel for further analysis. If you like you can also Export your Tasks to Outlook with a click of the mouse. Having exported some project information to Excel I was impressed with the formatting and the Report that was generated. Of course if I decide to, I could always export the project to MS Project to give me a full range of tools and a Gantt Chart.

One of the features which is unique to MindGenius 3 is the ability to create Question Sets. A Question Set is a series of prompts or questions that can be associated with a mind map. This is a great feature to use to help you to generate ideas and to get you to thinking about a topic is a new or novel way. While MindGenius 2.5 included this feature you were unable to edit the Question Sets and you had to use them in the standard way. In MindGenius 3 you can easily edit the Questions and use them as you see fit. These custom prompts and questions can help and guide users to be more productive when they are working through an issue and are mind mapping. These Question Sets can be very powerful frameworks for users when they are attempting to solve problems using mind mapping tools.

All in all, you will find MindGenius 3 to be an easy to use mind mapping tool that builds on it foundations and provides a good foundation for future development. While you will have to gauge for yourself the worth of this upgrade- I for one feel that users will find MindGenius 3 easier to use, more visually appealing and brings with it a clean new interface that should make users more productive.

Today's Webspiration Training

2009-10-23T15:03:00.007-04:00

Today I was called into a Middle School to do some training with teachers on Inspiration to help support a student with writing and reading comprehension difficulties. Last year I had done a comprehensive assistive technology evaluation and had made the recommendation to the Child Study Team that the student would benefit greatly from using Inspiration on a computer as a pre-writing strategy and to help him to better understand and retain information. When I went into the school today I decided to take a little different tact and worked with the teachers on getting them comfortable with Webspiration. Since all of the teachers did not have Inspiration installed on thier laptops I figured why not try Webspiration a tool that they could use not only with this student but with the entire class. There are lots of advantages to using Webspiration if you are teacher, most notably, you can access your graphic organizers from any computer connected to the internet and you can jointly share your webs and templates with others.

During this short session we were able to create a graphic organizer on the "scientific method" as well as add graphics from the library. We also had a chance to add notes and to look at some of the templates that come with Webspiration. The "aha" moment didn't come until I showed them how they could share their files with others. Within minutes teachers were collaborating with one another and could see just how easy it was for them to share their graphic organizers with the identified student who would need this to support his learning. It was a rell eye opener for them to also learn that the student could then access these files and open them with Inspiraiton 8 which he has installed on his laptop computer.

I had a chance to work directly with the student and showed him how to access these shared files that some of his teachers had shared with him in Webspiration. He quickly grasped how to use Webspiration and was taught how to download the files he needed so that he could use some of the other supports that were only found in Inspiration 8, Text to Speech, and the Word Guide. Using the Listen Tool the student was able to click on any symbol on the screen to hear the text being read. Likewise I also showed him how to turn on the Talking Interface which would then allow him to have the computer read the definitions in the Word Guide.

Having the ability of the teachers and the student to have access to Webspiration really was very empowering. I will be going back to the district in a couple of weeks to do a follow training to see how everything is going. In the interim please take a look at Webspiration and see how you can begin to use it with the students that you work with.

Glance to the Rescue

2009-10-22T21:43:00.005-04:00

While I have used Glance in the past to do webinars and to do screen sharing, I have never had the opportunity until yesterday to use it to remotely control someone's computer. One of my students called me on my cell phone and shared with me that she was having trouble doing APA formatting in Microsoft Word. I suggested that we do a session using Glance and that I would take control of her computer. I quickly shot off an email with the log-on link to her colelege email address and within seconds we were up and running. I was able to take control of her PC and show her how to use the Reference Tools within Microsoft Office 2007 to create her citations and bibliogrpahy. My student, to say the least was fascinated by the support and my ability to remotely take control of her computer. The whole support call lasted about 10 minutes but after we were through we resolved all of her technical issues and she was then able to focus on her Action Research project. Having tools like Glance at your disposal was a god send.

Creating Interactive Handouts with Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Extended

2009-10-19T09:36:00.003-04:00

Earlier this week I spoke about how you could easily create printed handouts from your Captivate 4 projects. While this is certainly an added benefit and a good approach when you are doing workshops-wouldn't it be even better if you could show your participants how to accomplish the skill in an interactive handout. Why not take the printed handout an add a video demonstration to it to make it even more engaging for your learners. If you have Adobe Acrobat Pro9 Extended it is easy to add a video to your Microsoft Word document and then convert it to a PDF file and distribute it electronically.

In this example I created my video demonstration using Captivate 4 and embedded the SWF file directly into Microsoft Word handout from the Adobe Acrobat Tab within Microsoft Word. Once I have slected the SWF file I can set the Poster view for the video that the user will see when they open up the handout. Because I am creating a PDF file I can be confident that the end user will be able to view the contents of the PDF with nothing else but the free version of Adobe Reader 9.1. Using this technique is a great way to explain and demonstrate to your participants how to accomplish a task on the computer. You now have the best of both worlds- you can print out your handouts or electronically distribute them with embedded videos. Either way I'm sure your workshop participants will appreciate your efforts, having the various level of supports available to them during and after your workshop. If you need a place to host your PDF you should take a look at Acrobat.com a free way to upload your PDF and share them. So go ahead and download my handout and sit back and watch the video demonstration on page 1. Just a tip if you Right click on the video when it is running you can view the video in Full screen view.

New Livescribe Pulse Smartpens Announced

2009-10-19T09:22:00.003-04:00

OAKLAND, CALIF. – Oct. 19, 2009 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Livescribe Inc. announced the expansion of its line-up of award-winning Pulse smartpens, a computer in a pen that digitally captures and syncs handwriting and audio together. Customers can now select a 4GB and 2GB model in a new, stylish titanium color. The 4GB model holds more than 400 hours of recorded audio and provides ample storage for consumers to add applications such as, entertainment, education and productivity tools to their smartpen when Livescribe launches its Application Store later this year. The 4GB Pulse smartpen has a retail price of $199.95 and the 2GB model is $169.95.

Also, released today is the Pro-Pack bundle, a new option for the business professional. The Pro-Pack includes the 4GB Pulse smartpen in an exclusive black color, an A5 size starter notebook, a premium leather carrying case, handwriting to text transcription software, and the new Pro Charging Cradle. This special bundle is initially available at Livescribe.com for $249.95. The Pro Charging Cradle has a stylish ink-well design and charges Pulse from an electrical outlet or computer.

To meet growing demand and provide greater purchase accessibility, Pulse can be found at several new retail outlets, including Best Buy, select Apple stores nationally and Apple.com. Starting in mid-November, the Pulse smartpen will be available at Staples stores nationwide. Pulse continues to be available at Target and Amazon.com.

“We are thrilled to have broadened not only our product line, but also our retail distribution to reach people wherever they shop for electronics. We know that many people like to see things in person before purchase and our new retail relationships with Best Buy, Apple and Staples will help demonstrate how Pulse can positively impact their lives professionally, academically and personally by never missing a word,” said Livescribe CMO Byron Connell.

Context Organizer- One Strategy for Students with Reading Disabilities

2009-10-17T18:00:00.007-04:00

For the past 1 1/2 I have been working closely with Henry Lewkowicz at Context Discovery to help get the word out about his innovative software application, Context Organizer. Context Organizer is Windows based application that can very quickly summarize information from various sources. In today's information age all of us are bombarded with information that is coming at us from all angles at the speed of light. But in order to keep up we must have access to this information and be pretty good at skimming and reading quickly all of the text. If we are on the web or reading a Word or PDF files we must be able to read quickly and absorb the information if we are to keep up in our fields. This is where Context Organizer comes in-imagine that you had this reading agent that could go through the document or the web site and summarize the information and pull out all of the relevant information and contextualize it for you. Well you no longer have to wait- you see Context Organizer is here and is your humble reading servant. For example you can go to a web site and click on the Context Organizer icon on your browser and voila- the web site contents are summarized for you to read. If you find that you need to delve more into the web site simply click on the link to take you there. Likewise, you can instantly send the summaries from Context Organizer to Microsoft Word for further review or editing. You see, Context Organizer is an invaluable and transformational tool and could be a god send for students and adults with reading disabilities who have to process a great deal of text. By combining Context Organizer with a text to speech tool, students could process that much more text, and get to the heart of the matter that much more quickly. Context organizer can also be used to search and summarize the contents of your Google searches eliminating the need to go to each and every site that Google suggests. If you like what you see in the search, read the summarization, if not discard it and move to the next summary. It is really that easy. If you would like to try out Context Organizer you can download a 30 day Trial from Context Discovery. You can also check out this video that I put together on using Context Organizer on the web.

Free Webinar: Technology Supports for Writing

2009-10-16T17:50:00.000-04:00

Technology Supports for Writing

Join authors Brian Friedlander, Ph.D and Joan Green M.A.CCC-SLP for a free webinar to learn about their new interactive video ebook.

Space is limited.

Click Here Reserve your Webinar seat now or go to

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/440908155

Learn about a new interactive guide to cutting-edge technology tools, strategies and resources to improve the writing process. This video ebook is now available at www.ittsguides.com.

We plan to record this webinar and make it available for viewing for one week after the session. Please register here even if you can't participate live and we will notify you about how to view the recorded session after it takes place.

Everyone who registers will be given a coupon code for 20% off the price of Technology Supports for Writing.

Title: Technology Supports for Writing

Date:
Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Time:
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

Creating Handouts from Adobe Captivate 4

2009-10-10T15:35:00.008-04:00

I have been creating a lot of training videos in Captivate 4 lately for some of my upcoming workshops and one of the features which is often overlooked is the ability to quickly create printed handouts for your participants. This coming week I will be doing a training on how to create a blog using Blogger. For the workshop I created a video that demonstrates how to setup the Commenting features in Blogger . In order to address the various learning styles, I decided to provide my participants with a handout so that they can jot down notes and give them another reference point when I do the demonstrations.

While I have published a number of posts about creating demonstration and simulations in Adobe Captivate 4, you will find it very easy to create handouts from your demonstration videos- with a just a couple of clicks. Since Adobe Captivate 4 merely takes screen shots it is very easy for the Captivate 4 to create a Word document by formatting the screen shots and text captions as you will see. I put together this short video demonstration about how to create printed handouts in Adobe Captivate 4 with a click of the mouse. Let me know what you think!

Clickfree Transformer Cable Backup Solution

2009-10-04T11:49:00.003-04:00

If you have worked with computers for any length of time you know just how important the data that lives on our computers are to us. From our music, to photographs to financial data we all rely on those files being there when we boot up our computers. So the question is, "When was the last time you backed up your computer?" You see it is not a question if your hard disk will fail but a question as to when will it fail. While we go our merry way thinking that our computers will work as they should, there will come a time when you boot up and you get the dreaded error message that your computer will not start up. If a technician can't get the system up an running you will be faced with the option of having to reformat your hard drive and lose all of you files. Wouldn't it be nice if you had prepared for this event and had a backup that you could access to restore all of your data files.? I know the answer to this question, and have been working with a number of products from Clickfree to see how well they work. Clickfree has a number of products that let you easily backup your data files without the need to install any software. Clickfree tries to make the process of backing up your hard drive as fuss free as possible and in this regards- they have accomplished their goal.

I had a chance this week to take a look at Clickfree's Transformer Cable, which turns any external USB drive into a Clickfree backup solution. The Clickfree Transformer Cable is a small USB cable with the attached Transformer pod on it that you simply plug into your computers USB port. Once the Transformer is plugged into your computer you can plug in your external USB drive and within seconds the Clickfree Backup software runs finding, organizing and backing up all of your files. It is really that easy- with no software to install. With the price of external USB drives coming way down in price there is no excuse not to have your data backed up. Clickfree Transformer Cable works with Windows Vista®, Windows® XP and Mac OS X 10.5 or later.

I have to say that the Clickfree's Transformer Cable worked as advertised. I was able to back up my Dell XPS 1210 using the Clickfree's Transformer Cable in a couple of minutes and all I needed to do was plug in my external USB drive into the Clickfree's Transformer Cable. Now I have the peace of mind that my files are safe should my hard drive crash. The Clickfree's Transformer Cable backs up all of your data files and includes a Restore function should you need to restore your files. You can also search for files using the Clickfree Backup Software and access individual files should you need them. Clickfree saves your data files in the native application's file format so that it is easy to access should you need to copy or move them to another computer. The Clickfree Solution backs up over 400 difference types of files from your hard drive so that you can be rest assured that they will be there when you need them. Clickfree Transformer also ships with a small application which you can install to your computer which will remind you to backup your files- you can also set it up the Clickfree Transformer for Unattended Backups as well. You should note that the Clickfree's Transformer Cable Backup Solution does not backup your software applications or your operating system. If this is important to you, you may want to look at another solution (I hope to share this solution with you in another post shortly). But for the peace of mind of having all your data files backed up, the Clickfree's Transformer Cable solution worked as advertised. If you need a simple no fuss method to back up your computer files then this is the way to go- trust me you will be happy you did!

Microsoft Adds a Timeline View to MS Project 2010

2009-10-02T12:49:00.009-04:00

A couple of months ago I wrote a blog post about Gantt Charts and Timelines You Decide which raised the issue with regards to which views project managers and their stakeholders prefer. While I didn't get a large number of readers to complete the survey-most readers seemed to lean towards using the Timeline View to communicate the status of the project. It would seem that if you are not a professional project manager that reading Gantt Charts could pose a problem. There is a great deal of clarity that can be derived from looking at a Timeline and the information is much more digestible. In the original post I talked about how MindView 3 Business Edition from Matchware enables you to communicate the information in either a Gantt Chart, a Timeline or a Combination Timeline/Gantt Chart View. So depending on your audience you can decide how to share the information visually, that is best suited for your stakeholders.

In light of my July post it was interesting for me to come across the blog post from the Microsoft Project Team Blog that announced that they had added a Timeline View to MS Project 2010. From the post it looks as if there will be lots of ways to customize and format the Timeline. The post also noted that you will be able to copy and past the Timeline information into the other Office Products. It is my understanding that the Timeline will come in as Office Art shapes that will then allow you to format it to your hearts content. So I would like to believe that my post swayed the large Seattle company called Microsoft to add the Timeline view- but who am I kidding! In any case it is great to see that tools like MS Project 2010 will give users a flexible tool for communicating project information and status.

Searching Google with Context Organizer

2009-09-27T12:18:00.012-04:00

One of the tools that I have been relying more and more on is Context Organizer. With the increase of information that we all need to process it is great to have a tool like Context Organizer to help me make sense of the information and summarize it for me. I have explained in past blog posts how Context Organizer can be used with MindManager 8 to build a map from URL's, PDF files and Word Documents. But one of the most powerful features is being able to do Google Searches and within seconds have the sites that are found summarized with key words and relevancy at my disposal. Context Organizer allows me to do my Google searches and processes them with a click of the button. If you want to see what I'm talking about then take a look at the video below to give you an idea of the power of this tool.

While not specifically developed for individuals with reading difficulties just think of how this can be used to help students deal with the mountains of text that they encounter each and every day. Using Context Organizer, information can be quickly summarized for students and then using a text to speech software the information could be read. There is also the ability to send the summaries to Microsoft Word which could make this a great research tool for students with reading and writing disabilities. Think of this as cognitive assist for students with reading disabilities and a great tool for doing research. You can download a trial of Context Organizer at their website.

Subscribing to the AssistiveTek's Podcasts

2009-09-26T16:52:00.009-04:00

For the past five years I have had my blog posts automatically converted to text to speech using the Odiogo service. Odiogo takes my RSS feed and automatically converts any new posts on my blog to high quality text to speech. You probably have see the Listen Now button before each blog post that allows you to access the Odiogo controls to have the post read. If you have not tried it out I urge you to do so- having the Odiogo feature on my blog allows anyone to access the information that I am sharing in a different output. Additionally, if you would like you can download a blog post to a MP 3 file or save a post to your iTunes Library. However, if you would like to subscribe to my blog and have every new post automatically delivered to your iPod or iPhone in a format you can listen to I have put together a demonstration video to show you how you can subscribe to my blog in iTunes. It is fairly easy to subscribe to my blog and once you do you will automatically get each new post delivered to your iPod or iPhone when you plug it into your computer. For those of you who are familiar with how to subscribe to a podcast in iTunes - all you need to do is paste this URL [http://podcasts.odiogo.com/assistive-tehnology/podcasts-xml.php] into the Subscribe to Podcast dialog box. That's all there is to it. To view the demonstration video on how to subscribe to my podcasts click here.

Tweetchat- A New Twitter Service

2009-09-26T15:24:00.003-04:00

I was reading some blogs today and Brent Schlenker had mentioned a new Twitter service called Tweetchat which sounded pretty interesting. In a nut shell you log into your Twitter account and then Tweetchat will automatically track tweets with a specific (#) hashtag. This really adds to the educational use of Twitter and allows multiple users to have an online chat in real time, discussing a topic. All users have to remember to do is include the hashtag somewhere in their tweet so that it can be tracked. The nice part of Tweetchat is the ability to quickly reply to a tweet and follow the thread of the conversation. I will definitely want to explore this new Twitter tool and see how I can use it in the work that I do to communicate with my graduate students.