[nabs-l] College Course Material: Accessible eTextBooks, Braille, and Tactile Graphics
Jorge Paez
computertechjorgepaez at gmail.com
Fri Apr 1 23:57:08 UTC 2011
How much does Court Smart charge?
Thanks,
Jorge
On Apr 1, 2011, at 7:51 PM, Kevin R. Fjelsted wrote:
> I use CourseSmart very successfully to read a Java textbook for one of
> my computer science courses. The off-line version for the Mac works
> very well with VoiceOver under 10.6.7. Infect there was a recent
> update for the CourseSmart Mac program that I downloaded yesterday
> which has many improvements including seamless Braille and speech
> reading support. One can use the table of contents navigation table to
> immediately go to any section of the book. One can set book marks.
> Even if one quits and forgets to set a bookmark when the program is
> opened the cursor is moved to the exact place where the person left
> off. THis is a little thing but one of my biggest pet peeves with the
> Daisy Readhear program regardless of the platform. I tried CourseSmart
> for the IPhone and to date that program does not work well. One can
> read the actual text but the table of contents is not navigable. If
> that issue were resolved then the IPhone would work very well. I too
> tried the on-line version and although it is usable I found that for
> the times that I am not able to get a good internet connection it puts
> me at a disadvantage.
> I also found with the online version that the ability to finly hone
> the use of bookmarks is not viable. The final thing is that Braille is
> not nearly as seamless with the online version. -Kevin
>
> On 4/1/11, Kevin Chao <kevinchao89 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Greg and All,
>>
>> I've been a very excited and happy user of CourseSmart eTextBookssfor
>> past 6 months.
>>
>> We'll work off possible problems you've encountered off-list.
>>
>> Kevin
>>
>> On 4/1/11, Greg Wocher <gwblindman1 at gwblindman.org> wrote:
>>> Hello Kevin,
>>> That is strange. I tried using an online book from there a few months ago
>>> and I could not get it to work at all. How did you get it to work? I
>>> could
>>> not find any of the text for the book I tried.
>>> Thanks,
>>> Greg W.
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Kevin Chao" <kevinchao89 at gmail.com>
>>> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Friday, April 01, 2011 3:00 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] College Course Material: Accessible eTextBooks,
>>> Braille,and Tactile Graphics
>>>
>>>
>>>> Online is most accessible and actively developed
>>>>
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>
>>>> On Apr 1, 2011, at 7:55 PM, "Greg Wocher" <gwblindman1 at gwblindman.org>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hello Kevin,
>>>>> I have been looking at course smart for a little bit now. Do you use
>>>>> their online books or do you use their downloadable reader?
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> Greg W.
>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kevin Chao" <kevinchao89 at gmail.com>
>>>>> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
>>>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>>>> Sent: Friday, April 01, 2011 2:36 PM
>>>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] College Course Material: Accessible eTextBooks,
>>>>> Braille, and Tactile Graphics
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Yes, I've used CourseSmart and AMAC and find them to be absolutely
>>>>>> invaluable resources.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The various aspects that I really enjoy about CourseSmart and AMAC
>>>>>> will be detailed below.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> CourseSmart
>>>>>> * Mainstream access to eTextBooks
>>>>>> * Affordable, timely, and true access
>>>>>> * in-book, chapter, or section searches.
>>>>>> *Very effectively and easily navigate table of contents (chapters,
>>>>>> sections, etc)
>>>>>> * Jump to specific page
>>>>>> * Highly tagged/marked-up: headings 1-5 for structured navigation,
>>>>>> alttext for description of graphics, table for formatted
>>>>>> representation of data, and lists for nicely formatted bullet points.
>>>>>> * Accessibility at CourseSmart.com is extremely committed, fast, and
>>>>>> great about resolving everything.
>>>>>> * Works with Windows (NVDA and JAWS); Mac OS X and iOS (VoiceOver);
>>>>>> Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Alternative Media Access Center (AMAC)
>>>>>> * DSS, institutions, organizations, and companies have no excuse to
>>>>>> provide braille, tactile graphics, or other alternative media.
>>>>>> * Affordable, timely, and extremely high-quality
>>>>>> * Fantastic and wonderful support
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Kevin
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 4/1/11, Arielle Silverman <nabs.president at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>> Has anyone used either of these two products discussed below?
>>>>>>> If so, did you find them accessible and easy to use?
>>>>>>> Arielle
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 4/1/11, Kevin Chao <kevinchao89 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>> I would like to share two fantastic resources for any college student
>>>>>>>> or instructor, which I think should be advocated for, encouraged, and
>>>>>>>> utilized by all.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Like most, I've used human readers, scanned books, used RFB&D, and
>>>>>>>> worked with disabled students services to get eTextBooks from
>>>>>>>> publisher. All these things served their purposes and time, and it's
>>>>>>>> time to move on.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> In fall of 2010, I broke away from the status quo, which includes:
>>>>>>>> not
>>>>>>>> using RFB&D, not scanning textbooks, and not having to be so reliant
>>>>>>>> on disabled student services. Two companies have made this possible:
>>>>>>>> CourseSmart and AMAC. This has allowed equal access, independence,
>>>>>>>> and a true forward studying experience. It's never been possible for
>>>>>>>> us as blind students, instructors, or even providers to use an
>>>>>>>> innovative eTextBook service.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> * CourseSmart for mainstream, accessible, and highly marked-up 60%
>>>>>>>> off
>>>>>>>> eTextBooks
>>>>>>>> * Alternative Media Access Center (AMAC) for affordable,
>>>>>>>> high-quality,
>>>>>>>> and efficient braille and tactile graphics for textbooks, exams,
>>>>>>>> handouts, assignments, etc
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> http://www.CourseSmart.com is a mainstream accessible eTextBook
>>>>>>>> rental
>>>>>>>> service, which all students can take advantage of. This includes
>>>>>>>> students with or without print-related disabilities (blind, low
>>>>>>>> vision, learning disabled).
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> http://www.amac.uga.edu Alternative Media Access Center (AMAC) will
>>>>>>>> work with institutions to provide braille, tactile graphics, and
>>>>>>>> remediated eText. AMAC has very high-quality and standards and will
>>>>>>>> lift
>>>>>>>> stress off DSS, allowing DSS to focus on providing service, not
>>>>>>>> content.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> This is the now and future of how students, instructors, and all in
>>>>>>>> post-secondary education will obtain, work with, and enjoy accessible
>>>>>>>> course material.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Kevin
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Arielle Silverman
>>>>>>> President, National Association of Blind Students
>>>>>>> Phone: 602-502-2255
>>>>>>> Email:
>>>>>>> nabs.president at gmail.com
>>>>>>> Website:
>>>>>>> www.nabslink.org
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> nabs-l mailing list
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>>>>>>
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>>
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>
>
> --
> Kevin Fjelsted
> B Harris, Inc.
> http://www.bharrisinc.com
> kevin.fjelsted at bharrisinc.com
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinfjelsted
> Phone: 612.424.7333 EX. 301
> Direct: 612.424.7332
>
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