Open Source & Free Technologies

for Study Skills

Mrs E.A. Draffan

Where we are now…

• Support for students taking HNC, HND, Degree or

equivalent level courses - specialist software,

computers but not equipment that all students on

a particular course require.

• Statutory Code of Practice for Services, public

functions and associations “where a provision,

criterion or practice places a disabled person at a

substantial disadvantage, and this relates to the

provision of information, …it is reasonable to

…ensure that the information is provided in an

accessible format (p 102).

Adapted thanks to Alistair McNaught (JISC) and Abi James

• Creative Commons – free content?

• Open Source – free software?

• Commercial options – freemium,

premium and subscription ?

• Provide information – social

media?

What can we use?

• Open Educational

Resources (OERs) -

consideration

of Intellectual

Property Rights (IPR),

and copyright

• Images

• Third party resources

Creative Commons

So OERs are…helpful?

• “ensure that the information is provided in an

accessible format”

Adapted thanks to Alistair McNaught (JISC) and Abi James

5

text rich resource

image rich resource

video rich resource

audio rich resource

Supporting multiple formats

• Structured Word document (using headings and styles

e.g. Microsoft Accessibility Checker)

• Accessible ebook checker – preferably ePub3 format

• Accessible web content - testing online pages –

Automated tools available from W3C WAI

• Accessible PDFs – Simple guide to Creating Accessible

PDFs – Try the free checker PAVE

• Synote for accessible audio and video recordings

Open source software

• Quality of code – can be superb?

• Documentation – should be perfect?

• Maintenance – always up to date?

• Training – always on hand?

The 2015 Future of Open Source Survey Reveals 78% of companies make use of open source, yet many lack formal policies to manage legal and security risks – In 2015 JISC also offered advice on open source software. https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/how-can-my-institution-use-open-source-software

Tools for tasks

• Text to speech

• Spell checking

• Graphical mapping

• Reminders

• Speech Recognition

• Scanning and OCR

• Dictionaries

• Calculators

• Note taking

• References

Think skill, strategy & setting first then tools

Text to Speech

Open Source

• ClipTalk

• Good for instant speech feedback

Portable

• Dspeech & Balabolka

• Useful when on the move if USB access available

Free

• NaturalReader 14

• Good for simple text to speech – free Windows

Phone

• Vod Lite iPhone app and Speak it! for Android Free Daisy & TTS or Built-in

Commercial

• Texthelp, Claro, Dolphin, Don Johnston etc.

Online

• Voz Me and ATbar

• Copy and paste or browser based option

Spell checking

Open Source

• Aspell

• Basic used in many apps for Windows

Portable

• OpenOffice.org and dictionaries

• Portable Wordprocessor

Free

• FreeSpell

• Based on Aspell but works with clipboard and hotkeys

Phone

• Speller iPhone app

• Spell Checker for Android

• Built-in

Commercial

• Oribi VeritySpell

• specialist checker integrates with text to speech

Online

• Ghotit, Ginger, Google and ATbar

• Web or browser based and as mobile apps

Graphical mapping

Open Source

• XMind

• Keyboard friendly & has spellcheck

Portable

• Freemind

• Basic compared to Xmind but less MB

Free

• M8! - Mind Map

• Windows 10 –app store

Phone

• SimpleMind+ iPhone and Android app

• V. easy link with Dropbox

Commercial

• Inspiration, MindView, iMindmap, MindGenius, Mindmanager, ClaroIdeas, Spark Learner etc

Online

• MindMeister, Gliffy and many others

• Keyboard or mouse and as apps

Reminders

Open Source

• TaskCoach to do lists and reminders

• Tasks and to do lists

Portable

• Portable Stickies

• Always with you – colour, fonts, print, languages

Free

• VueMinder Calendar and Rainlendar Lite with alarms

Phone

• AnyDo: Reminder works with Siri and Talkback

• To do list, voice recording

Commercial

• Calendars as part of the Operating System or Office Suite

Online

• Remember the Milk

• Task list, Google Calendar, SMS, email, IM reminders

Speech Recognition

Open Source

• CMU Sphinx

• Carnegie Mellon speech recognition project

Portable

• Android CMU Sphinx demo

Free

• Built in to OS

• Windows speech recognition & Mac dictation

Phone

• Built in or Dragon Mobile apps

• Need to be online

Commercial

• Dragon Naturally Speaking / SpeakQ

Online

• Google Voice recognition via browser or mobile app

• Based on location

Scanning and OCR

Open Source

• Tesseract-ocr

• For techy savvy folk!

Portable

• SnapReader for Windows 10 ($2.99)

• Keyboard accessible

Free

• SimpleOCR

• For techy savvy folk!

Phone

• Office Lens OCR for Windows, iOS and Android

• makes images readable

Commercial

• Lite versions come with the scanner

• ScreenShot Reader

Online

• SensusAccess or Free OCR for limited amounts

• Text from images and PDF

Dictionaries

Open Source

• Yadabyte portable dictionary

• Finds highlighted words

Portable

• Lingoes dictionary with translation, pronunciation

Free

• WordWeb Dictionary and Thesaurus (Win)

• Audio pronunciations

Phone

• Dictionary! iPhone app & English Dictionary for Android - Thesaurus

Commercial

• Concise Oxford English Dictionary with speech

Online

• Dictionary.com and HowJSay -talking

• Browser buttons - ATbar

Calculators

Open Source

• SpeedCrunch

• Helps with formulae – type expression, colours

Portable

• Converber Portable

• Unit converter

Free

• FRS Talking Calculator

• Simple sums, speech and large buttons

Phone

• Built in & Fusion Calculator Lite iPhone & Speak n Talk Calculator Lite Android

Commercial

• Premier Talking Calculator

• See the whole sum

Online

• Online-calculators for many different settings

Note taking

Open Source

• Laverna -Windows, Mac etc

• Collect & organise notes, images and links etc

Portable

• Evernote

• Jot notes and sort, tag and organise

Free

• IdeaRover

• Outline structure, links research papers, PhD level

Phone

• Evernote iPhone app

• Jot notes and sort, tag and organise

Commercial

• Microsoft OneNote

• Links with OneDrive and apps

Online

• Zoho Notebook

• Similar to Google Docs

• Google Keep – Chrome.

References

Open Source

• JabRef

• Good for Science – LaTeX -BibTex

Portable

• Zotero with Portable Firefox

• Easy to use bibliography

Free

• Zotero

• Synch data with web and make notes next to citations

Phone

• Mendeley Lite app

• Import papers and provide citation

Commercial

• EndNote, MSWord

Online

• CiteULike

• Collections of papers with export features.

Provide information – social media?

Thank you – Any questions?Slideshare download https://www.slideshare.net/eadraffan/open-source-and-free-technologies-for-study-skills-75506065

MOOCS for further information

FutureLearn Digital Accessibility https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/digital-accessibility OER versions http://tinyurl.com/hexsly2

Coming soon – Inclusive Learning and Teaching Environments.

Email: ead@ecs.soton.ac.uk

Projects: https://access.ecs.soton.ac.uk/