How can text-to-speech technology enhance the learning experience for your students? This session will focus on speech technology in relation to Blackboard. Presenting your information in both audio and visual formats at the same time (bi-modal learning) allows for better retention and comprehension of information. ReadSpeaker’s text-to-speech technology makes it possible to speech enable the textual content and documents within the VLE. In addition the benefit of increased comprehension and retention amongst all students, ReadSpeaker’s text-to-speech technology improves accessibility for those with learning or other disabilities. Are you curious how ReadSpeaker can enrich your Blackboard-platform? Join this break-out session!

1. Text To Speech Technology:
Enriching the VLE, enhancing
the learning experience.
By Maarten van de Koevering and Richard Risholm

2. Welcome
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3. Agenda
 Introduction ReadSpeaker
 What is Text To Speech?
 Universal Design for Learning
 Accessibility
 Demo Blackboard (by Richard Risholm)
 Implementing in Blackboard (by Richard Risholm)
 Questions
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4. Introduction ReadSpeaker
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ReadSpeaker is now present in 60 countries

5. Introduction ReadSpeaker
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6. What is Text To Speech?
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The ’70s The ‘80s
The Future2015

7. Universal Design for Learning
 Universal design for learning is a framework to improve and
optimize teaching and learning for all people bases on scientific
insights into how humans learn.
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8. Universal Design for Learning
 Presentation
 Multiple Media
 Graphics and animations
 Highlight critical features
 Activate background knowledge
 Action and Expression
 Give students plenty of options to express what they know
 Engagement
 Give students choices to fuel their interest in curriculum
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9. Universal Design for Learning
 How ReadSpeaker fits in Universal Design for Learning
 Giving students choice how they want to study the subject will help to
improve the individual learner’s outcome.
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10. Universal Design for Learning
 How ReadSpeaker fits in Universal Design for Learning
 Bimodal learning
 Improved word recognition skills and vocabulary
 Improved reading comprehension, fluency, accuracy and concentration
 Improved information recall and learn/memory enhancement
 Highlighting
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11. Universal Design for Learning
 How ReadSpeaker fits in Universal Design for Learning
 Anywhere and Anytime (all devices, browsers, ops systems)
 Barrier Free (Click & Listen, no downloads)
 Focus on highest voice quality (best voices in the market, own TTS
developments)
 Applicable on all digital content
 Customizable (by client and by end-user)
 Universal Design for All
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12. Accessibility
 Low literacy
 ± 10%
 Dyslexia
 ± 5%
 Low vision
 ± 5%
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13. Accessibility
 Several academic studies have shown that Text-to-Speech
technology is a valuable element in making digital content
more accessible for struggling readers and thereby improving
learning outcomes
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From “More than Words: Text-to-Speech Technology as a Matter of
Self-Efficacy, Self-Advocacy, and Choice”, Michelann Parr,
Ph.D. (McGill), Ph.D. Dissertation, 2008, p. 206:
“A regular classroom implementation requires that
text-to-speech technology be perceived as an alternative text format
or another media genre. In this way, all students have access to the
technology and therefore diverse texts in a non-threatening, non-
stigmatized way, in a manner that allows them to intuitively explore
and interact with electronic text in much the same way as they would
enter into a transaction with print text (Rosenblatt,1994)”

14. Customers
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Publishing
Educational Institutions

15. Demo Blackboard
 Demo Liverpool Course
 Demo basic tools
 Demo docReader
 Login Blackboard
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16. Implementing in Blackboard
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17. Implementing in Blackboard
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18. Implementing in Blackboard
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19. Implementing in Blackboard
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20. Implementing in Blackboard
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21. Questions
 Please visit our website for more information about
ReadSpeaker: www.readspeaker.com
 Or send an email to: education@readspeaker.com
 Please visit our booth to arrange a test license for your
educational institution
 ‘The future of Education’ www.readspeaker.com/education
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