Otter Voice Meeting Notes

Technology is improving everyday and it seems like nothing is improving faster than speech to text.  AISence Inc. is a startup on a mission to make voice conversations more valuable for everyone.

AISence has created a program called Otter, that will now record and take meeting notes for you in real-time.  Otter helps you capture and manage verbal communication through meetings, video conferences, school lectures, and other important conversations.

There is a free version of Otter and a Premium version.  With the free version you get 600 minutes of transcription every month and the plan does not expire.  The Premium plan offers 6,000 minutes per month.

Download Otter Voice Meeting Notes for:

Android  (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aisense.otter)

iOS  (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/otter-ai/id1276437113?ls=1)

Or, create an account in your Google Chrome browser at otter.ai.

To learn more about Otter go to otter.ai.

Be My Eyes

Lend you eyes to blind person with Be My Eyes.
Be My Eyes is an app that lets you lend your sight to individuals who are blind or have low vision, through a live video connection. Be My Eyes is a global network of volunteers that connects blind and low vision individuals with sighted volunteers who can assist them with a variety of tasks.
Blind and low vision users can request help directly from his/her phone. The app is available for Android (https://tinyurl.com/uh8pebd) and iOS (https://tinyurl.com/tcchgez). Using the app a live audio-video connection is established with the first volunteer that accepts the request. Through the camera on the phone the blind of low vision user shows and item or subject and the sighted volunteer can provide a visual description.
Be My Eyes offers assistance in over 180 languages, from any location, 24 hours a day. Be My Eyes can be used for "simple tasks, like checking expiry dates, to more complicated situations, like navigation or finding a lost item".

Claro MagX

Claro MagX is a FREE app that turns your wireless device into a powerful high-definition visual magnifier. It is available for iOS, Android and for Chromebook.

There are NO in-app purchases and NO in-app advertising.

Claro MagX offers a wide range of magnification (maximum 16x times zoom), high contrast and color viewing options to make the text easier to read.

It is easy to use, simply pinch to zoom in and out. You can also take a photo, freeze the image and choose which mode you prefer for viewing. Claro MagX offers four options for viewing: normal, invert, two-color and greyscale.

Check out Claro MagX for yourself and learn about all of the viewing options through exploration.

Claro MagX for Android(https://tinyurl.com/yy3tkvv2)

Claro MagX for iOS

(https://tinyurl.com/yxzrmtxl)

Claro MagX for Chrome

(https://tinyurl.com/y458qdaj)

Accessibility at a Glance

Microsoft has created a YouTube channel video series called Accessibility at a Glance.

Accessibility at a Glance  (https://tinyurl.com/y2a9qz7y) is a series of short videos built to help you learn how to create an inclusive digital experience for people with disabilities.  While many of the videos highlight Microsoft's built in accessibility features, there are a couple of sub-series, like Inclusive Interviewing, that contain great, universal information that can benefit everyone.   

Free Audiobooks for Teens is back, again!

Overdrive has paired with SYNC to offer 14 weeks of Free Audiobooks for Teens for the third year in a row!

Individuals will have the opportunity to download 2 FREE audiobooks each week, starting April 25th and running through August 1st!
 

You can register and sign up for e-mail reminders or text reminders at http://www.audiobooksync.com/.

Listen to the books by downloading the Overdrive app (https://rebrand.ly/overdrive).  The app is available for iPhone®, iPad®, Android, Chromebook, Windows 8 & 10 and Kindle Fire HD.

Check out the SUMMER 2019 SYNC TITLE PAIRINGS (https://www.audiobooksync.com/2019-sync-titles/) page for the list of available books this summer.

This is a great opportunity to provide some fun summer reading for our students!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For younger students, check out the audio book options I discussed in a previous blog post,
Audio books (https://at-udl.blogspot.com/2016/12/audio-books.html)

CALL Scotland: Communication, Access, Literacy and Learning

CALL Scotland: Communication, Access, Literacy and Learning is a great site designed by the University of Edinburgh. They have an "App Wheel" Series (https://www.callscotland.org.uk/downloads/posters-and-leaflets/) that attempts to identify useful, relevant apps that can be used as tools for teaching and learning. Each wheel in the series in interactive, so all of the links take you directly to the App Store!

CALL Scotland has recently updated their Complex Needs Apps Wheel (https://www.callscotland.org.uk/common-assets/cm-files/posters/ipad-apps-for-learners-with-complex-additional-support-needs.pdf). There are some fantastic apps on this wheel and some of them are FREE. I will be reviewing some of the free apps over the next few weeks as my Blog post.

If you would like to see what other posters, leaflets or "App Wheels" CALL Scotland has to offer please visit the Posters and Leaflets page
(https://www.callscotland.org.uk/downloads/posters-and-leaflets/) of the website.

Vitals

Do you have students with visible, or invisible, disabilities or conditions that could benefit from an alert system that can share secure information with first responders, providers & educators in real time? Vitals (https://thevitalsapp.com/) might be just what they need.

Vitals is a FREE app (https://goo.gl/XNszGr) that gives individuals, and their caregivers, the ability to create and manage a profile of personal information that can help first responders, care providers & educators.

Create and manage a personalized Vitals profile:

Include critical information for first responders: name, photo, age, height, weight, primary conditions, behavior triggers, de-escalation techniques and caregiver contact information.
Add as many emergency contacts to your Vitals profile as you need - giving first responders easy access to a phone number in an emergency situation.
Include personal audio and visual messages and techniques designed to help first responders interact in a crisis situation.
See a map view of where a Vitals interaction occurred between the first responder and Vitals beacon.
Add or change information anytime anywhere
All for Free!

Sign up for Vitals  (https://info.thevitalsapp.com/vitalsmn) today and get your first Beacon for free!

Free Audiobooks for Teens is back!

Overdrive has again paired with SYNC to offer 13 weeks of Free Audiobooks for Teens!  

Individuals will have the opportunity to download 2 FREE audiobooks each week, starting April 26th and running through July 25th!
 

You can register and sign up for e-mail reminders or text reminders at http://www.audiobooksync.com/.

Listen to the books by downloading the Overdrive app.  The app is available for iPhone®, iPad®, Android, Chromebook, Windows 8 & 10 and Kindle Fire HD.

Check out the SUMMER 2018 SYNC TITLE PAIRINGS (https://audiobooksync.com/2018-sync-titles/) page for the list of available books this summer.

For younger students have them check out the audio book options I discussed in a previous blog post,
Audio books (https://at-udl.blogspot.com/2016/12/audio-books.html)

This is a great opportunity to provide some fun summer reading for our students!

Google Keep

Google Keep is a helpful tool that can be used for taking quick notes or making lists. You can save notes on the Google Keep dashboard or export them to Google Drive.





You can quickly capture notes, lists, documents and photos to Google Keep.  You can also record a voice memo in Google Keep.  

Google Keep notes can be shared with others for easy collaboration on any activity.

Keep notes can be color coded or labeled for easy organization.  

Google Keep is available as:
a Chrome Extension,
(https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-keep-chrome-extens/lpcaedmchfhocbbapmcbpinfpgnhiddi?hl=en_ )
a Google App,
(https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-keep-notes-and-lis/hmjkmjkepdijhoojdojkdfohbdgmmhki?hl=en)
an iOS app 
(https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-keep/id1029207872?mt=8)
and on the Google Play Store
(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.keep&hl=en).

Natural Reader

Natural Reader (https://www.naturalreaders.com) is a professional text to speech program that converts any written text into spoken words.  It offers downloadable software, available for both Mac and PC, an online version, as well as Android or iOS apps.  

The free downloadable version of Natural Reader offers: 

• Text to Speech
• Works with PDF, Docx, TXT and ePub
• Change speed and speaker
• Floating bar to read text in other applications

The free web version offers:

• 20 minutes per day for Premium Voices
• Unlimited usage of Free Voices
• Supports PDF, Docx, RTF and TXT documents

With the free web version you can drag and drop your files, or type, paste, and edit text directly in the box on the page.  You can also convert files using the bookmark bar icon.

The free Android or iOS apps offer:

• support for PDF, Word documents, eBooks, HTML files, and PowerPoint
• provides a variety of ways to import text, including a built-in browser and copy and paste input
• access to Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive 
• synchronization with the NaturalReader desktop software 
• import function to access documents from your Android’s micro-SD 

Bookshare: New apps for Reading

Bookshare is now available on new FREE apps for both iOS and Android devices.

For iOS you can now use: 
Dolphin EasyReader
By Dolphin Computer Access Ltd

For Android you can now use:

Go Read

by Benetech

Both apps allow for a variety of voice options, text color, background color and highlighting color options.  They both also offer users the option to change the reading speed.

Check out more information about these apps and others that are supported by Bookshare at:

Member Preferred Tools.

Free Audiobook Downloads for Teens!

Overdrive has paired with SYNC to offer Free Audiobooks for Teens!  

Simply go to http://www.audiobooksync.com/ to register and sign up for reminders.  Teens will have the opportunity to download 2 FREE audiobooks each week, starting April 27th and running through August 16th!

To listen to the books, download the Overdrive app.  It is available for iPhone®, iPad®, Android, Chromebook, Windows Phone, Windows 8 & 10 and Kindle Fire HD.

This is a great opportunity to provide some fun summer reading for our students!

Android Apps Are Coming To The Chromebook In 2017

The district that I work in does not have many Chromebooks, but I know that many schools do.  Attached is a link to an article in Forbes titled, Android Apps Are Coming To The Chromebook In 2017.  There is some good information in the article that I thought was worth sharing.