Interview on “Twenty Minutes for Tech”

Posted on Aug 10, 2008

I’m deeply honored to have taken part in a conversation with Dave Solon on behalf of Twenty Minutes for Tech, a series of podcasts concerning topics related to technology in education. We had a great talk about web accessibility, Universal Design, Section 508 and virtual worlds; we also investigated best practices for schools looking to implement accessibility into their online learning programs.

The entire interview and support links are available at the TMFT website. Many thanks to Dave for being such a great host. His own website is also worth a look for those interested in advancing the use of technology in education.

3 Comments

  1. Jane
    August 11, 2008

    Hi Kel,

    I feel like a “lurker”, cant get enough of this “techi stuff”.

    Heard your comments on Dave Solon’s show. Being a digital immigrant, I have to admit that all of this technical “stuff” so often feels overwhelming. I liken it to learning to eat something, like ‘capers” that at first dont taste so great, but you just know, if you stay with it, they will taste great ..with fish, in salads, and out of the jar, all by themselves!

    Regarding screen readers, do you know of an open source program? I teach deaf and hard of hearing students and my school mostly budgets for listening technologies i.e. coclear implants and digital hearing aids. Yet I have a number of students who, inaddition to having hearing loss also have reading disabilities.

    I would like to them to try working with a screen reader. Thanks…J

  2. Kel Smith
    August 11, 2008

    Thanks for the kind words, Jane!

    You might want to investigate NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA), a free and open source screen reader for Windows. I have not used it myself; JAWS and WindowsEye are the two commercial products with the most brand recognition.

    http://www.nvda-project.org/

    Alternatively, you might want to look into the Fangs extension for Firefox. I’ve used this with success, although later versions of Firefox may balk.

    http://www.standards-schmandards.com/2004/fangs-release-05/

    Good luck!

  3. User-Centered Design and Web Accessibility Blog - AniktoBlog » Blog Archive » Web Accessibility for the Hearing Impaired
    August 16, 2008

    [...] to check it out. You might also find Maxine Sherrin’s post of interest. Having just been interviewed via podcast, it certainly occurs to me that podcast transcription services would be of great [...]

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