| Home | Site TOC | Site Search | Education |

Information Access in Education:
Textbooks, Technology, and the Future

by Jim Allan, Presented at Texas Focus, June 1999

Textbooks (5 types)

• Paper
• Audio Tape
• MultiMedia CD-ROM
• Internet/Web delivered
• Hybrid Textbooks & Future Developments

Paper Based Textbooks

• must be converted into braille or large print
  • disks from textbook publishers
  • clean up and format for braille production
  • delivery to student
• science, math, and other non-literary subjects have trouble with timely delivery
  • mostly transcribed by hand
  • shortage of specialty braille code transcribers
• Very bulky, cumbersome, etc., etc....

Solutions/Future

• Publishers slowly changing production software that allows easier (more useful) export for braille files
  • clean up and format takes less time
• Publishers beginning to use special tools for developing non-literary subjects
  • less transcribing by hand (more automation)
  • faster delivery of books to students
• Publishers beginning to publish in 2 or 3 media types (paper, CD, and Web)
  • cheap and more efficient to develop book once and publish in many media types
  • standardize tools and tagging
  • easier more efficient export for braille in literary and non-literary subjects

Audio Tape Textbooks

• delivered on 4-track cassette
  • need a special player
  • difficult to search for section
  • difficult to jump between sections
  • others...

Solutions/Future

• Digital Talking Books (http://www.daisy.org/)
  • Standards Based: NLS, NISO - http://www.niso.org/commitaq.html  
  • special players available
    • Victor - http://www.visuaide.com/victor.en.html,
    • Plextalk - http://www.plextor.co.jp/ereader/er_1.html
  • desktop/laptop software players available
    • Daisy Playback - http://www.labyrinten.se/english/playback.html
    • lpPlayer - http://www.prodworks.com/productsindex.htm#lpplayer
  • easy searching
  • easy navigation
  • may contain full text and graphics
• Other Digital books (talking??)
  • Open E-Book - http://www.openebook.org/

MultiMedia/CD-ROM Textbooks

• Lots of graphics and sound
• Generally, INACCESSIBLE via keyboard commands, speech or braille output
• Usually work with Screen Enlargement software
• Becoming more prevalent in Texas (40% of recent math adoptions were software/multimedia titles)

Solutions/Future

• Publishers beginning to publish in 2 or 3 media types (paper, CD, and Web)
  • cheap and more efficient to develop book once and publish in many media types
  • standardize tools and tagging
  • generally more accessible
• Recommendations have been established by Texas
  • CHAPTER VI: ACCESSIBILITY OF INFORMATION IN ELECTRONIC TEXTBOOKS FOR ALL STUDENTS
• Other recommendations and evaluations
  • NCAM-CD-ROM Access Project
  • NCAM-CD-ROM Software Selection Guidelines
  • Guidelines for Developing Accessible Educational Multimedia

Internet/Web Delivered Textbooks

• Usually work on all computers
• Easy to update and keep current
• Students can access from home
• Varying degrees of accessibility
• Becoming more prevalent in Texas
  • Logal (http://www.logal.net) 

Solutions/Future

• Publishers beginning to publish in 2 or 3 media types (paper, CD, and Web)
  • cheap and more efficient to develop book once and publish in many media types
  • standardize tools and tagging
  • generally more accessible
• Recommendations have been established by Texas
  • CHAPTER VI: ACCESSIBILITY OF INFORMATION IN ELECTRONIC TEXTBOOKS FOR ALL STUDENTS
• Other recommendations and evaluations
  • World Wide Web Consortium - Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/)
  • NCAM-Web Access Project
  • NCAM-Captioning and Audio Description on the Web

Hybrid Textbooks & Future Developments

• Combination of paper, CD-ROM, Internet
• Distance Education
• See above accessibility considerations for different media

Solutions/Future

• Publishers beginning to publish in 2 or 3 media types (paper, CD, and Web)
  • cheap and more efficient to develop book once and publish in many media types
  • standardize tools and tagging
  • generally more accessible
• Work in progress to make student tools (browsers) and authoring tools more accessible
  • W3C Authoring Tools Working Group - http://www.w3.org/WAI/au
  • W3C User Agent Working Group (browser) - http://www.w3.org/WAI/ua  
• Existing work in accessible Distance Education
  • SNOW - Special Needs Opportunity Window Online courses and a wealth of information for special education teachers.
  • Adding Feeling, Sound and Equal Access to Distance Education
  • The Courseware Accessibility Study A preliminary study evaluating Courseware Products for their support of accessible design and access to persons with disabilities.

Agency Contact Information | Texas State Homepage | Texas State Wide Search

Please complete the comment form or send comments and suggestions to: Jim Allan (Webmaster-Jim Allan)