Monday, March 31, 2014

Bookshare


Similar to WordQ is a program called Bookshare.  “Bookshare is an online library of digitial books for people with print disabilities.  It operates under an exception to U.S. copyright law which allows copyrighted digital books to be made available to people with qualifying disabilities” (Beneficent Technology, Inc., 2014).  This program allows one to search for a specific title or browse through their library which includes books, magazines, and newspapers.  Bookshare does require a membership, but once you are a member, you can download books to your computer.

Bookshare provides easy navigation such as short drop down menus and pages that have heading and subheadings to make it easier to navigate from section to section.  A link “Skip to Main Content” allows the reader to go straight to the main content and surpass all the navigation links.  Bookshare allows the reader to zoom in or out of a page or change the font size and images.  This is beneficial for students with low vision. 

Bookshare can be a helpful tool in the classroom that I hope to one day be able to utilize.  Students with visual impairments, physical disabilities, and learning disabilities all can use this program.

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