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Path: Universal Design for Learning: Theory & Research: Publications: Presentation Materials: eText On-Line Handout for eText Presentation http://www.cast.org/IAS/reference Founded in 1984 as the Center for Applied Special Technology, CAST is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to expand opportunities for individuals with disabilities through the development of and innovative uses of technology. We pursue this mission through research, product development, and work in schools and educational settings that further Universal Design for Learning. Through its applied research program, CAST investigates the needs of diverse learners and the effectiveness of Universal Design for Learning teaching tools and strategies in a variety of real-life contexts. Research is conducted in classrooms, homes and community organizations, and, increasingly, via the Internet. Support for this research comes from government agencies, foundations, corporations, other not-for-profit agencies, and individual donors. Applied research informs CAST's concept development and product design. Product development at CAST focuses on the creation of accessible curricula and software that are defining the evolving standards of Universal Design for Learning. Current CAST products include a soft ware tool designed to support learners of all ages who may lack the skills needed to read materials independently; evaluation tools for World Wide Web accessibility; and supported learning tools and curriculum in the areas of literacy, mathematics, science, and social studies. Products are developed in house as well as in partnership with major educational publishers and university-based researchers. For more information about CAST and its work: http://www.cast.org/ National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum (NCAC) In a collaborative agreement with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs, CAST has established a National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum to provide a vision of how new curricula, teaching practices, and policies can be woven together to create practical approaches for access to the general curriculum by students with disabilities. This five-year project brings together OSEP and five key partners: Boston College, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), Harvard University, and the Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights (PACER) to effect change that will improve learning outcomes for all students. December 1, 1999 and November 30, 2004, Agreement Number H324H990004 Bonnie D. Jones, Project Officer, U.S. Department of Education David Rose, Principal Investigator, CAST Chuck Hitchcock, Project Director, CAST For learn more about NCAC: http://www.cast.org/ncac Universal Design for Learning - What is UDL? Drawing on new brain research and innovative media technologies to respond to individual learner differences, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a new paradigm for teaching, learning and assessment. For UDL to become a reality in schools, we need flexible materials from curriculum developers; policies that support individualized goals, learning methods, and assessment; professional development practices that support educators in the UDL approach. But implementing UDL is ultimately the province of teachers. With true learning and engagement for each student as the goal, teachers reframe learning goals, teaching techniques, materials and assessment, individualizing for each learner with the help of flexible learning tools and media. No single curriculum or software program can provide all of the flexibility needed to create a UDL environment. This requires assembling a variety of tools, programs, materials, and Web sites that can be used in different combinations for different learners and for different teaching purposes. The flexibility comes in part from the collection itself, which enables varied approaches for reaching a given instructional goal, and in part from the inherent flexibility of each component. To learn more about UDL: http://www.cast.org/udl/ UDL Tools and Resources Education requires both challenge and resistance, and Universal Design for Learning (UDL)- the framework developed by CAST for teaching, learning, and the development, selection, and use of curriculum-requires careful attention to the goals of any given learning experience when selecting curriculum materials. UDL, as conceptualized by CAST, strives to make the curriculum adjustable for students with varied abilities and learning styles rather than forcing students to work with a set curriculum with inflexible materials. The tools and resources described on these linked pages support UDL concepts. For UDL Tools and Resources: http://www.cast.org/udl/ToolsResources3.cfm CAST eReader Available both in Macintosh and Windows versions, the CAST eReader adds spoken voice, visual highlighting, document navigation, or page navigation to any electronic text. The software can take content from any source--the Internet, word processing files, scanned-in text, or typed-in text-and combine it with the most powerful features of talking and reading software. For additional information, contact Gabrielle King 39 Cross Street, Peabody, MA 01960; Toll Free: 888-858-9994; Fax: 978-531-0192; E-mail: gking@cast.org To find out more about the CAST eReader: http://www.cast.org/udl/index.cfm?i=211 Bobby The leading Web-based program for helping designers make sites accessible to the largest possible number of people, including those with disabilities. Bobby identifies accessibility problems on Web pages and teaches how to correct these problems so that sites are more accessible. It also illustrates how Web pages will look via different browsers. Bobby is a free public service supported by these year 2000 corporate sponsors: IBM's Special Needs System, Microsoft Accessibility, Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation, Sun Microsystems Enabling Technologies Program, and HalfthePlanet.com. For more information about Bobby: http://www.cast.org/bobby The Strategic Reader: Textbooks Today, Web Tomorrow To support higher level reading comprehension in high school students with learning disabilities, this formative research project is refining and further developing the CAST eReader as a strategic reading tool, providing text mark-up guidelines for publishers of digital textbooks, and creating instructional techniques for the use of the resulting tool and enhanced content. This project is supported by the Office of Special Education Programs of the U.S. Department of Education. Engaging the Text: Reciprocal Teaching and Questioning Strategies in a Scaffolded Learning Environment This research project seeks to determine the effectiveness of the highly regarded Reciprocal Teaching Method (RTM) for developing active reading comprehension strategies in combination with the use of traditional curricular content that has been significantly enhanced (using the CAST eReader) through digital text-to-speech and speech-to-text technologies. This project is expected to a yield the design of a new instructional approach to improve reading comprehension in middle school students with learning disabilities. This project is supported by the Office of Special Education Programs of the U.S. Department of Education. eTrekker - A Web Learning and Productivity Software Tool This two-year research and development project is creating a product, eTrekker, for Web-based learning and productivity. The software tool is expected to help students with learning disabilities to plan, search, analyze, read, organize, and present information from the Web. Professional Development Guided by the framework of Universal Design for Learning, representatives of CAST assist teams of regular and special educators, administrators, and instructional resource coordinators to effect systemic change at the district, state, and national levels. National Consortium on Universal Design for Learning CAST recently announced the formation of the National Consortium on UDL, a community of educators and other professionals dedicated to developing systemic practice models that better serve the educational needs of all students, including those with disabilities. The principles of Universal Design for Learning are central to the mission of the National Consortium. WiggleworksTM The Scholastic Beginning Literacy System is an inclusive early literacy curriculum co-developed by CAST and Scholastic Inc. Universal design features make WiggleWorks a flexible tool for teaching literacy skills to diverse learners and working with mixed ability groups in classrooms. For more about Wiggleworks: http://www.cast.org/udl/index.cfm?i=216 Reading in the Computer Age "In Learning to Read in the Computer Age, authors Anne Meyer and David Rose provide a thoughtful book that will help educate teachers in the theories and uses of computers for the teaching of reading. It presents rich knowledge both about computers and about the process of learning to read, relating computers to theories of the brain and to the teaching of reading skills and strategies. It also shows how computers can enhance student motivation and engagement." (from the preface by Jeanne S. Chall, Series Editor and John F. Onofrey, Editor). To read the book on-line: http://www.cast.org/udl/index.cfm?i=18 The Future is in the Margins: The Role of Technology and Disability in Educational Reform This paper was prepared under contract to the American Institutes for Research on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology (Contract 282-98-0029). To read this white paper: http://www.cast.org/udl/index.cfm?i=542 eText Sources The Online Books Page http://www.ul.cs.cmu.edu/ A directory of books that can be freely read on the Web, plus an index to thousands of online books & text archives. The Children's Literature Web Guide http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown "An attempt to gather together and categorize the growing number of Internet resources related to books for children and young adults. Much of the information that you can find through these pages is provided by others: fans, schools, libraries, and commercial enterprises involved in the book world." Project Gutenburg http://promo.net/pg/ The Project Gutenberg philosophy is to make information, books and other materials available to the general public in forms a vast majority of the computers, programs and people can easily read, use, quote, and search. The Texas Text Exchange (TTE) http://tte.tamu.edu/ A consortium of disability service providers who share electronic texts (e-texts) with each other. These e-texts are used to accommodate students with disabilities. The TTE also provides information on the creation and use of e-texts. The TTE maintains an online digital library of e-texts, accessible only by TTE consortium members. The Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts http://www.infomotions.com/alex A collection of digital documents collected in the subject areas of English literature, American literature, and Western philosophy. Digital Libraries Page by The Bay Area National Digital Library Project (BANDL) http://basrc.wested.org/basrc/bandl/library.html Closely associated with a K-12 outreach project of the Library of Congress National Digital Library. The National Digital Library uses the Internet to provide a vast repository of high quality digital primary sources of information on American history and culture. The National Academy Press (NAP) http://www.nap.edu/ Created by the National Academies to publish the reports issued by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council, all operating under a charter granted by the Congress of the United States. The National Academy Press is the first publisher to provide its books entirely on-line, in full text format. TeleRead http://www.teleread.org/ "Teleread is a non-partisan plan to get electronic books into American homes--through a national digital library and small, sharp-screened computers-in an era of declining literacy...Many educators and librarians love the idea of a national digital library full of electronic books. But they wonder if the business community would object to the tax money spent. The answer is: TeleRead would actually benefit business by massively popularizing the use of electronic forms-and driving down the cost of processing the paperwork of consumers. The same machines that were ideal for e-books could excel for e-forms. And business is starting to catch on to the benefits here." The Library of Congress http://lcweb.loc.gov/ This list is not meant to be comprehensive. The resources listed provide a wealth of information on the state of digital libraries today. Electric Library http://www.elibrary.com/ Contains only copyrighted content from reliable sources. Electric Library will deliver full-text documents from "natural language" inquiries. Search strings are automatically spell-checked, and the reading level of each document is noted. Sources include magazines and newspapers like TIME, U.S. News & World Report, People, The Economist, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, and The Los Angeles Times; scholarly journals like the Journal of Social History, Journal of Social Psychology, American Demographics, Journal of Economic Issues, and the Journal of Educational Research. A commercial site, but a very strong resource for students. WizeUp http://www.WizeUp.com/ Digital textbooks are professor-required, publisher endorsed content. Textbooks are supplied with the "WizeUp" application that features note-taking inside the book with full search, sort, and print capability, an integral highlighter, the ability to bookmark hyperlinks to the book, the Web, instructor notes, multimedia and more. Collaborating publishers include Wiley, Norton, Harcourt, Addison-Wesley Longman. WebCT http://www.webct.com/ WebCT is "courseware", a delivery system for Internet-based curriculum, assignments, assessment, etc. and has developed strategic content agreements with the following publishers: Pearson Education, including Addison Wesley Longman, Allyn & Bacon, Prentice Hall and Pearson Professional, Reference and Technology imprints; Thomson Learning, including its publishing companies Brooks/Cole, Course Technology, South-Western College Publishing, and Wadsworth Publishing; Archipelago; Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishing Group; Cambridge Physics Outlet; Harcourt College; John Wiley & Sons; McGraw-Hill Ryerson and W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. Ostrich Software's Road Runner http://www.ostrichsoftware.com/ Can read any text-based file: e-mail, Internet on-line newsletters, Web pages-any on-line reading material-even books and scanned material. With the generous three Megabytes of nonvolatile storage you can store up to 2,000 pages of text in the palm of your hand. Audible http://www.audible.com/ Audible's broad collection of audio books, audio magazines and daily audio digests of leading newspapers from over 100 content providers will be available for seamless PC- based playback using the Windows Media Player, representing a significant addition to the listening options available to users of Windows Media. In addition, downloaded programs are played back through the Audible MobilePlayer or MobilePlayer-Plus, 3.5-ounce, handheld playback peripherals, or through a computer's sound system. To Learn More About Emerging Standards for eBooks Open eBook Forum http://www.openebook.org/ The purpose of the Open eBook Forum (OEBF) is to create and maintain standards and promote the successful adoption of electronic books. The Open eBook Forum (OEBF) is an association of hardware and software companies, publishers, authors and users of electronic books and related organizations whose goals are to establish common specifications for electronic book systems, applications and products that will benefit creators of content, makers of reading systems and, most importantly, consumers, helping to catalyze the adoption of electronic books; to encourage the broad acceptance of these specifications on a worldwide basis among members of the Forum, related industries and the public; and to increase awareness and acceptance of the emerging electronic publishing industry. NISO Digital Talking Book Committee http://www.niso.org/commitaq.html Currently, talking books for the visually impaired are distributed on audio cassettes. The next-generation technology for this application will be digitally-based, bringing many improvements in sound quality, document navigation, and searching. The NISO Digital Talking Book (DTB) Standard will ensure compatibility among the many systems expected to be developed. The core of the standard will be the file specification, describing how the various functions of a DTB will be coded. Other portions of the standard will address the features desired in a DTB and describe the critical elements of the user interface of a DTB player. Daisy Consortium http://www.daisy.org/ The DAISY Consortium is establishing the International Standard for the production, exchange, and use of the next generation of "Digital Talking Books". The DAISY Consortium is made up of organizations world-wide serving persons who are blind or print disabled. World Wide Web Consortium http://www.w3.org/ The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential as a forum for information, commerce, communication, and collective understanding. Text-to-Speech Supported Reading Software Comparison eReader HearIt HELP Read Read & Write Type & Talk Text Aloud Text - Edit Plus Platform Macintosh X X X Win 95/98 X X X X X Category Supported Reading X X Text-To-Speech Utility X X Text Support Utility X X Text Utililty X Functionality System-wide TTS X X X Application-specific TTS X X X X MP3 Audio Output Synchronized hiliting X word-by-word X X X X X X by Sentence X X X X X Age Range Grade 2 - Adult X X X Grade 3 - Adult X X X K-12 X Other Readers for Digital Books LpPlayer (for digital audio and Daisy Books) http://www.prodworks.com/issound/catalog/catalog_lpplayer.html/ "LpPlayer is stand-alone playback software for the Windows 95, 98, and NT environments which provides support for synchronized mixed media documents which incorporate text, audio, images, and video. LpPlayer utilizes the W3C HTML and Synchronized Multi Media Integration Language specification (SMIL) to provide navigation and playback through materials created using these standards." Talking Browsers (similar to the eReader but designed for those with visual impairments) PwWebSpeak http://www.prodworks.com/issound/catalog/catalog_pwwebspeak.html PwWebSpeak is the award-winning non-visual Web browser that provides you efficient and direct auditory access to Web pages and the resources of the Internet. pwWebSpeak understands HTML, the language of the Web, and lets you navigate and browse through the pages by reading them back to you under your control. Home Page Reader http://www-3.ibm.com/able/hpr.htm/ "Home Page Reader (HPR) is a spoken on-ramp to the Information Highway for computer users who are blind or visually impaired. This innovative product provides unprecedented Web access by quickly, easily, and efficiently speaking Web page information. HPR provides a simple, easy-to-use interface for navigating and manipulating Web page elements and utilizes the tremendous capabilities of IBM's ViaVoice Outloud text-to-speech synthesizer for speaking." Screen Readers Jaws for Windows 3.7 http://www.hj.com/JAWS/JAWS37.htm/ JAWS (Job Access With Speech) provides speech technology that works with your Windows 95/98/Me or Windows NT/2000 operating system to provide access to today's popular software applications and the Internet. JAWS uses an integrated voice synthesizer and your computer's sound card to output the content of your computer screen to speakers. JAWS also outputs to refreshable Braille displays. This technology provides access to a wide variety of information, education, and job related applications. Window-Eyes http://www.gwmicro.com/windoweyes/index.htm Window-EyesT is our screen access program for Windows 95 and 98. Window-Eyes allows a blind or visually impaired person access to Windows and Windows applications. Window-Eyes includes a free copy of the Microsoft text-to-speech. If you are using Windows 9X and have a compatible sound card this speech is an excellent alternative to expensive dedicated voice synthesizers. Books on Tape Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D) http://www.rfbd.org/ Celebrating their 50th Anniversary as the nation's educational library for people with print disabilities RFB&D has a 77,000-title library of taped textbooks, reference and professional materials for people who cannot read standard print because of a disability. Internationally, they serve nearly 78,000 people with "print disabilities" (which include blindness, visual impairments, learning disabilities or other physical disabilities), and have titles available for students in kindergarten through post-graduate studies. The library includes a broad selection of titles from literature to history to math and the sciences. They also have a large selection of reference and professional materials available for members. AFB Talking Books http://www.afb.org/talkingbks/tbstory0.html/ The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) has recorded tens of thousands of titles for the U.S. Library of Congress onto millions of records and cassettes. AFB's full digital and analog recording, editing, duplication, and packaging services are now available to a whole new audience that has recognized the reach and convenience of a spoken-word audio product. Portable eBook Display Devices without Speech Rocket eBook http://www.rocket-ebook.com/Products/index.html About the size of a paperback book, but weighing only 22 ounces, the Rocket eBook goes anywhere you go: to work, on trips, to the beach, or to bed. Read it just as you would a paper book. Make margin notes, underline special passages, and bookmark pages. What's more, you can search the contents of any RocketEditionT on your Rocket eBook. SoftBook Reader http://www.softbookpress.com/enterprise/reader.asp The award-winning SoftBook ReaderT 250e is an information appliance that seamlessly integrates the Internet into your document distribution solution for easy, effective reading of reports, books, periodicals, and other long documents. Designed for complex, formatted business documents, it holds up to 100,000 pages on each removable Compact Flash card. The built-in modem and Ethernet connection allows you to easily, quickly, and securely download documents-without a PC. Microsoft Reader Software for a PersonalPC (handheld), Desktop or Laptop http://www.microsoft.com/reader/ Microsoft Reader offers the pleasure of reading enhanced by the benefits of technology. It's designed to make the on-screen reading experience as close as possible to reading a printed book, while adding active reading capabilities, instant access to content and storage of a personal library. eBook Software for Desktop PC's and Laptops ERocket http://www.rocket-ebook.com/eRocket/index.html eRocket gives you the experience of the Rocket eBook right on your PC. Download the eRocket and read thousands of FREE titles in RocketEdition. Create your own titles or download them from Rocket-Library.com and read them on eRocket. CAST Contacts Chuck Hitchcock Chief Education Technology Officer and Director, National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum CAST, Inc. 39 Cross Street, Peabody, MA 01960 Email: chitchcock@cast.org Voice +1 978-531-8555 Ext. 233 TTY +1 978-531-3110 Fax +1 978-531-0192 David Rose, Co-Executive Director and Principal Investigator, National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum CAST, Inc. 39 Cross Street, Peabody, MA 01960 Email: drose@cast.org Voice +1 978-531-8555 Ext. 237 TTY +1 978-531-3110 Fax +1 978-531-0192

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