Closed Captioning in Google Slides

Google Slides offers a Closed Captions option.  This can be used to help anyone read what is being said by the presenter or what is being said during a presentation video.  

If the microphone is good enough it will also pick up any questions asked by audience members.  

Closed Captioning in Google Slides can be added to the top or the bottom of the presentation.  Adding the captioning to the top could be used in other ways as well.  Think about having a presentation open and running above a video that doesn't have closed captioning available.  

To use Closed Captions in Google Slides check out this easy to follow tutorial.

Google Slides - Closed Captions (https://bit.ly/43Q2YMg)

Presentation Skills Toolkit

Learning presentation skills has been identified as essential for building one’s capacity to plan, facilitate, and share any content in oral presentation form.

The REMC Association of Michigan has great resources teachers can use to help build these skills within their students, during classroom lessons.

PRESENTATION SKILLS TOOLKIT (https://www.remc.org/classroom-resources/presentation-skills-toolkit/)

This REMC toolkit offers students and educators learning resources, reflection points, and exercises to improve presentation techniques, for all grades and ages.  There are lessons available in 5 different categories: collaborator, audience-centric design, establishing credibility & purpose, and presenting with clarity & confidence.  

Apps for Complex Needs: Creativity

The Learners with Complex App Wheel (https://www.callscotland.org.uk/common-assets/cm-files/posters/ipad-apps-for-learners-with-complex-additional-support-needs.pdf) from CALL Scotland (https://www.callscotland.org.uk/home/) is divided into 6 large sections, each of which may have smaller sections as well.  The 6 larger sections are:

• Cognition
• Self-Regulation
• Creativity
• Communication
• Emergent Literacy
• Emergent Numeracy

Each section has a minimum of one app that is free.  This week I am going to briefly talk about the free apps in the Creativity section.

Under the Creativity section of the App Wheel, six of the apps are completely free.

     Puppet Pals HD  (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/puppet-pals-hd/id342076546?mt=8): Simply pick out your actors and backdrops, drag them on to the stage, and tap record. Your movements and audio will be recorded in real time for playback later.
     Sock Puppets  (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sock-puppets/id394504903?mt=8): Create your own lip-synched videos and share them. Add Puppets, props, scenery, and backgrounds and start creating. Hit the record button and the puppets automatically lip-synch to your voice.
     Clips  (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/clips/id1212699939?mt=8): Lets you make fun videos to share with friends and family.
     Finger Paint with Sounds  (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/finger-paint-with-sounds/id586598528?mt=8): Explore touch with color, sounds or music. Finger Paint with Sounds offers a fun alternative to help children with special needs and others to practice their first interactions with a touch screen. Simply choose a colour and draw with music, fun sound effects or no sound at all.
     Quiver - 3D Coloring  (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/quiver-3d-coloring-app/id650645305?mt=8): Combines physical coloring with state of the art augmented reality technology.  Print pictures from the app to color and then use the app to watch them come to life.
     Keezy Drummer  (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/keezy-drummer/id933630069?mt=8): Simple to use programmable drum machine. The app includes 12 percussion sounds, up to 9 layers of sound at a time, and one or two bars per layer.

The Case Crusaders Presents "I Messages"

Not all assistive technology options are high-tech.  Some are low-tech and some are incorporated into UDL strategies.  The Case Crusaders present short videos on strategies for working on positive social-emotional health.  

The Case Crusaders Presents "I Messages" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYf3H70qldI) is a short YouTube video on how to use "I Messages" to talk with friends and classmates.  

The link here (https://goo.gl/rf9YZH) is a replica of the "I Message" format used in the video, that can be copied and used in your classroom.

Epidemic Sound

When creating presentations for class or work it is fun to add sound to enhance your presentation. 

In my Blog post from May 15, 2018 I shared a link to some Free Sound Effects (https://at-udl.blogspot.com/2018/05/free-sound-effects.html) provided by BBC (http://www.bbc.com/). 

Sound effects are great but sometimes we want a song or a portion of a song. Check out Free Copyrighted Songs at Epidemic Sound 

(https://www.epidemicsound.com/).  This site has tracks recorded by independent musicians and that are made available for the general public to use. Now you most likely will not find a song by your favorite artist or a group in main stream music right now but, you might be able to locate something in the same or similar style.

Check out Epidemic Sound 

(https://www.epidemicsound.com/) and see what you can find for yourself.

Free Sound Effects

Are you planning a filming assignment for your students? Are you working in class on a project that could use some sound effects?

BBC has recently released just over 16,000 sound effects for FREE. The Sound Effects are BBC copyright, but they may be used for personal, educational or research purposes, as detailed in the RemArc License.

Check out bbcsfx.acropolis.org.uk for the extensive list of sounds and download a few today.