Resources
Websites and Wikis
Tech Ease 4 All
My latest project at the Florida Center for Instructional Technology is Tech Ease 4 All. Funded by a USF Technology Fee grant, this site provides tutorials on assistive technology topics to help faculty provide accommodations to students with disabilities. In developing the content for this stie, I have taken special care to follow universal design for learning principles. Thus, each tutorial is presented in a variety of formats to meet different learning styles and disabilities, including: closed captioned videos available in two different sizes, large print PDFs that are tagged for screen reader access, and accessible HTML.
Wikispaces Mobile Learning Community
I maintain this wiki as a repository of information related to accessibility and mobile devices such as the iPad. The wiki includes video tutorials, ebooks, case studies, app lists and more. More than 10,000 people have visited in the one year since I created this wiki, and more than 300 have become members. All of the resources are free.
Screencasts and Video Tutorials
These screencast collections are hosted on USF on iTunes U. Clicking on any of these links will open iTunes and take you to the USF page on iTunes U. If you do not have iTunes installed, you can download it for free from the Apple website.
- OS X
- Podcasting
- Universal Access (Tech Ease resources)
- ePub (iTeach at USF resources)
For my screencasts on IOS accessibility, I have created a channel on YouTube. These tutorials also show some techniques for developing more accessible materials such as ePub ebooks that can be opened in iBooks.
eBooks
I have written three ePub ebooks focusing on accessibility. The first one focused on the accessibility features of all Apple mobile devices, ranging from the iPad to the iPod shuffle. That ebook is organized according to different needs (vision, hearing, organization, etc.) and each section includes some practice activities to help the reader become more comfortable with accessibility features.The ebook is available for download on my Mobile Learning 4 Special Needs wiki.
- The Universal Design of Apple Mobile Devices (ePub, 58 MB)
- The Universal Design of Apple Mobile Devices (PDF on Scrib)
I also wrote an ebook on ePub accessibility for a presentation at ISTE 2011, as well as another ebook on closed captioning on the Mac. Both ebooks are available in the ePub format supported by the iBooks app on IOS devices:
- ePub Accessibility Best Practices (ePub, 40 MB)
- ePub Accessibility Best Practices (PDF on Scribd)
- Closed Captioning 101 (ePub, 35 MB)
- Closed Captioning 101 (PDF on Scribd)
Presentations
I am really passionate about helping people create better presentations. I believe that well-designed presentations can not only improve communication, but also make information more accessible to everyone. Below is an example of a slide deck I used for a recent workshop on presentation design:
App Lists
I have started using Appolicious to keep some lists of my favorite apps. Since I specialize in accessibility and the use of IOS devices in special education, my Appolicious lists also focus on apps for students with special needs.
