ow to Easily Deploy and Support a Universal Design for Learning Strategy with the ReadSpeaker Learning Tools  in Brightspace by D2L; Michael Hughes, ReadSpeaker

1. May 31, 2018
Nova Scotia Community College – Ivany Campus
Way More Than Just
“the Right Thing to Do”
How to Easily Deploy & Support a
Universal Design for Learning
Strategy with the
ReadSpeaker Learning Tools
in the Brightspace by D2L
Learning Environment
Michael Hughes
ReadSpeaker
Newmarket, ON

2. Connecting the dots:
Voice Technology to Outcomes, Retention & Graduation
▪ Who is ReadSpeaker?
▪ Un-visible Disabilities in Canada
▪ Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
▪ UDL & Accessibility/Disability
Models
▪ Retention, Graduation & Important
Modifiable Factors:
“Course Self-Efficacy”
▪ ReadSpeaker in Brightspace:
Universally available for all to use
▪ Questions and discussion

3. 3
Who is ReadSpeaker?

4. Winnipeg School Division: Inclusive Education
https://www.winnipegsd.ca/Education%20Services/InclusiveEducation/Pages/default.aspx
Mohawk College: International Students – Academic Support
https://www.mohawkcollege.ca/international-students/international-student-services/academic-support
Kids Help Phone:
https://kidshelpphone.ca/article/feeling-homesick-heres-how-cope
Industrial Health & Safety Association:
https://www.ihsa.ca/Training/Health-and-Safety-Representatives.aspx
Society for Teaching & Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) Conference 2016, 2017
http://www.stlhe2016sapes.ca/ http://www.stlhe2017sapes.ca/
We’ve been improving voice quality since 1999…
Let’s Check Out A Demo or Two on websites

5. Premier Provider of Text-to-Speech Technology
ReadSpeakerdevelops
text-to-speech technologies and
services to interpret and audibly read
text in a synthetic yet naturalized,
human sounding voice, entirely
managed on its own proprietary
technology infrastructure
5,000+
Websites and
Mobile Apps
50+
Languages
200+
Voices

6. Technology Advantage: Our End-to-End Platform
Means You Get the Best Quality Voices
ReadSpeaker’s end-to-end platform control
allows for real-time adjustments, which leads
to better quality voices & user experience
ReadSpeaker
Enterprise
Platform
Enterprise
Highlighting
docReader
TextAid
Web API’s
Production
services
Third-Party
Providers
rSpeak
ReadSpeaker’s
Proprietary
Voice Engine
TTS Packaging
Speech Server
SDK’s
SAPI OEM
Product
Offerings
Web Reading
Learning
Licensing/
Applications
Platform
Technology
Markets
Served
Suppliers
(Voices)

7. A sample of Education customers

8. Research: Best predictors of intention to graduate?
According to a 2014 Canadian study,
here are the key factors:
▪ The absence of social alienation on
campus
▪ Strong course self-efficacy
▪ School environment related
facilitators (e.g., good schedule,
positive attitudes of professors)
▪ Personal situation facilitators, such
as having friends and high levels
of personal motivation.
Fichten, CS et al, 2014. College and university students with disabilities:
“Modifiable”…factors related to grades and graduation
Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 27 (3), p. 273

9. Some of the “un-visible” disabilities
▪ Students with learning disabilities –
whether they have been approved
for special needs services or not
▪ Learners with reading impairments,
including dyslexia.
▪ Learners with concentration
difficulties, even if temporary or
situational
▪ Students with partial visual
impairments

10. How Many People Have Learning Disabilities?
And how many go unreported/undiagnosed?
• Research suggests that 1 in 5 have learning & attention
issues*, but only a small subset are formally identified
• US Public Schools: 1 in 16 children and youth has an IEP
re LD*. This is about 6.2%
• 1 in 5 = About 20% of US school-age children and youth
• Roughly, the number of US 5-to-18 year-olds with
unreported LD is about 2 to 3 times (200% to 300%)
the size of those formally identified!
* The State of Learning Disabilities, 2017
https://www.ncld.org/executive-summary

11. What Are Learning Disabilities?

12. What about Adults? Doesn’t LD get better, go away?
Here’s just one authority,
the US Government’s
National Institutes of
Health, on this question:
No. Research shows that Learning Disabilities are life-long.

13. How Does “1 in 5 People” Become Invisible?
Great Question! Complex answers…including
coping strategies, societal stigma, parental
avoidance, and more…all lead to hiding the issue
Okay, let’s remember the unreported group
proportion! 200 to 300% bigger than reported
Now, let’s take a look at something just as
remarkable, in “reported” Learning Disabilities:
There’s a stark gap, in both the US and
Canada, between school-age Children/Youth,
and Adults. It’s like they fall off a cliff!
“Mind the Gap!”

14. Reported Learning Disabilities in Canada:
Magic at 16?
0.0%
1.0%
2.0%
3.0%
4.0%
5.0%
6.0%
7.0%
8.0%
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Sweet 16: When reported Learning Disabilities Disappear (from view?)
Age 16 – 44: Statistics Canada 2001 PALS Survey
Age 16 – 44: Statistics Canada 2012 LD Survey
Age 6 – 15:
Statistics Canada
National
Longitudinal
Survey of
Children and
Youth, 1994 -
2010
Age
PercentagewithLearningDisabilities

15. Incoming Freshmen w SpecEd in High Schools: Nearly
2/3 don’t report or disclose to their Colleges
▪ Half the students exiting special education into PSE in the US indicate
they no longer believe they have a disability, while a further 14% choose
not to disclose their disability (Getzel, 2014)
▪ Statistics Canada reports that International student enrolments
accounted for almost 10% of the total post-secondary student
enrollment rose in 2013/14,
▪ The majority of these students were from Asia, with China as the main country of
citizenship.
▪ International student enrolments have been steadily increasing for almost two
decades, and rose 2.5% in 2013/14
15

16. Who else benefits? People whose English or French skills
may be passable, but perhaps not fast
▪ One example group are some
international students
▪ Learners who are non-native speakers of
the language in which they are studying
▪ Students can be more efficient in their
studying – and save time in not having
to re-read as often -- by taking
advantage of bimodal reading

17. Who benefits? People who value being mobile
▪ Busy people who can save time by
listening to important content while
they’re on the go – on transit, say, or at
the gym
▪ ReadSpeaker is device-independent, so it
works on mobile devices like smartphones
and tablets, as well as computers, and is
not tied to any particular browser
▪ Better yet – the “download as mp3”
feature means students can – and do! –
choose to simply listen off-line as well

18. Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
▪ UDL is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and
learning for all people based on insights into how humans
learn.
18

19. Universal Design for Learning:
“The Myth of the Average Learner”
▪ The most consistent finding to emerge
from the interdisciplinary study of
learning is that when it comes to
learning, natural variability is the rule,
not the exception.
▪ What is perhaps most important to
understand about learner variability is
not that it exists, but that not all of it
is random.
▪ Because some variability is systematic,
you can design for it in advance.
▪ This approach is called Universal Design
for Learning (UDL).
Source: udloncampus.CAST.org

20. UDL: Make the Opportunity to Choose to Listen
as Barrier-Free as possible!
UDL flips the model of
assistive technologies by
offering benefits of digital
technologies to all students,
allowing them to choose
the digital tools that fit
them best.
20

21. UX: General Principles
• User is the Center
• UX is Holistic
• Great UX is Invisible
• UX is a Lifecycle
• Context is King
• Give User the Control
• UX is a Conversation
• Great UX is Simple
Ying Jiang | UX Designer
GingerStudio.com

22. What Factors Can Schools Modify to Improve Outcomes?
▪ 2014 Canadian study recommends enhancing course self-efficacy to
increase student success
▪ “Findings on the Course Self-Efficacy Scale suggest that enhancing one’s belief that
one can effectively research a term paper, do well on exams, manage time
effectively, take good class notes, keep up-to-date with school work, and
understand the material in textbooks may improve academic performance and
increase the likelihood of graduation….
▪ “Findings on the CEQ School Environment measure suggest that campus
IT departments can help by ensuring that information on campus web sites is
accessible and by providing adequate assistive technologies in the diverse
computer labs on campus. Training on computer technologies both on and off
campus, and ensuring the availability of course materials (alternate formats)
can also facilitate success.”
Fichten, CS et al, 2014. College and university students with disabilities:
“Modifiable”…factors related to grades and graduation
Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 27 (3), p. 286

23. Let’s See ReadSpeaker in
action in Brightspace!

24. ReadSpeaker for Brightspace:
Overviews and Video Tours
Video Overview: ReadSpeaker for Brightspace
Video overview: ReadSpeaker docReader in Brightspace
Video Overview - ReadSpeaker TextAid LTI for D2L: Quizzes & More

25. What do I have to do to turn this on in our D2L?
How do we get started?
Here’s the 1 page guide from D2L:
▪ 1. Get a ReadSpeaker customer ID
▪ 2. Enter this ID in Config Variable
Browser in Admin Tools in
Brightspace
▪ 3. In Organization Tools, switch
ReadSpeaker to “ON”.
You’re done!

26. In a word, YES!
ReadSpeaker offers a wide variety of solutions & toolsets
▪ Generally our streaming solutions (like the integrated
ReadSpeaker for Brightspace by D2L) come with a
one-time setup fee and an annual service fee that
includes all upgrades and maintenance.
▪ For educational institutions, ReadSpeaker’s pricing
brackets are structured by the number of students
ReadSpeaker TextAid is priced separately and can be
individual or institutional/managed in your LMS.
Our Production and TTS Licensing offerings are generally
based on consumption and a wide range of use case
models
Is it affordable?
How do ReadSpeaker Pricing Models Work?
ReadSpeaker
for Learning Management Systems Standard Pricing
Tiers*
1 -500
501-1000
1001-2000
2001-5,000
5,001-8,999
9,000-15,999
16,000-31,999
32,000-54,999
55,000-72,000
72000 +
* Typically full-time equivalent (FTE) students

27. Let’s Sum Up:
Whether it’s JK, Graduate School, Professional Training or
Continuing Education, Retention and Success Matters!

28. STRATEGY
UBIQUITOUS ANY Where ANY Time ANY Content
Compatible with all
browsers and devices
Device-independent
45 plug-ins for CMS/LMS
Expert development team
Any Device
99.92+% uptime
Scalable for 10,000+
customers
Customers can and do
have millions of listens
per day
Online & offline
Web pages, online
documents and forms,
apps, digital books,
eLearning materials,
devices, and more

29. STRATEGY
VOICESPECIALISTS
Powerful TTS The Best Voices Linguists
 More than 40 languages and
150 of the best voices on the
market
 We build our own voices
 Pronunciation fine-tuning
and corrections based on
feedback (names, acronyms,
special words…)
 Multi-layer pronunciation
correction per language, voice,
client
 Customizable dictionaries
 Web-based services have no
capacity limit compromises
 Our linguists are experienced
scientists with global experience
 Improvements at various levels
from engine to dictionaries and
library
 25% of the team’s time is spend
on R&D

30. ▪
And ReadSpeaker goes that extra
mile….

31. ▪
…we provide implementation,
deployment and statistics....to support
you and provide proof of value
delivered.

32. Thank You!
Michael Hughes, Business Director, Canada
ReadSpeaker
Toronto, ON
Canada
M: +1 416 455 7658
E: Michael.Hughes@ReadSpeaker.com
T: @ServeLeadChange
Questions & Discussion

33. BACKGROUND SLIDES

34. Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
& the Social Model of Disability
▪ Key Idea: “environments and practices can equally enable or
disable individuals.
▪ “UDL moves the focus away from individual characteristics to the
environment’s own ability to widen or restrict access”.*
▪ “UDL then should be “seen as the procedural translation and
application of the social model of disability, and not as a
stand-alone technique of access”.*
* Fovet, Jarrett, Mole and Syncox,
McGill University, 2014

35. Canada & Ontario:
Educational Attainment & Disabilities in PSE
▪ As can be seen in the chart here, while a
higher share of people have
postsecondary credentials, the gap
between those with disabilities and
those without has not closed over time.
▪ Canadian sources suggest proportions
of the student population with
disabilities range from 5% to 15%, with
universities and college proportions
significantly different
▪ McCloy and DeClou’s 2013 report
provides a quite comprehensive view to
the Ontario situation, and to a lesser
extent, that of Canada as a whole.
McCloy, U. and DeClou, L. (2013).
Disability in Ontario: Postsecondary education participation rates, student experience and
labour market outcomes. Toronto: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario.

36. “Un-Visible” Disabilities, Ontario JK-12 example
▪ 16.6% of Ontario’s JK-12 student population in
2013-14 was receiving special education services;
99% fully accessed the provincial curriculum*
▪ For secondary students, the proportion is over 19%, nearly
1 in 5
▪ Ontario’s 72 DSB’s reported in 2013-14 that over 41%
of students identified by IPRC’s had learning
disabilities