Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Frankfurt Book Fair: Ray Kurzweil Teams with Baker & Taylor on New eReader Software

By Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 10/15/2009 2:37:00 PM

Baker & Taylor announced a partnership with acclaimed scientist, inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil, CEO of Kurzweil Technologies, to supply digital content for K-NFB Reading Technology, a newly developed e-book reading software created by Kurzweil in collaboration with the National Federation of the Blind. The software will be offered to consumers for free. B&T unveiled the software at the Frankfurt Book Fair with plans to launch the new reader in the U.S. at the end of November.

Although Kurzweil is a pioneer in creating technologies to assist the blind with reading, his new and as yet unnamed software product is aimed at both the general e-book reading market as well as the blind. In a phone interview with Kurzweil from his company’s headquarters in Massachusetts, he said not only can consumers use the software to read e-books, but the technology will allow the device its installed on to read the text aloud, in synch with a display of the text that highlights each word as it is spoken. On top of all that, he intends to offer the software for free via both downloads and CDs and told PW he expects to make money through the sale of books using the K-NFB e-reader. The software also offers high quality graphics and fonts and will even read plays aloud using different voices for different roles.

The Text to Speech function has been controversial and Kurzweil acknowledged that, “there are a small number of publishers who feel that TTS will compete with their audio books. For blind and dyslexic users they have a right to use TTS to gain equal access to print information. We believe this issue will be resolved soon in favor of universal TTS.”

“Our partnership with K-NFB Reading Technology is an exciting development in our strategy to work with best-in-breed digital media innovators to deliver the content that our customers and their end-users want,” said Tom Morgan, chairman and CEO of Baker & Taylor. “K-NFB’s new e-reader will certainly make waves in the industry.”

Kurzweil said consumers can buy e-books directly through the application and he said that there will be “a full featured online store including metadata, advanced search features, inference engine and more.” He also said the co-venture will work with major retailers and allow the software to be branded with their corporate identity. Kurzweil said the venture will offer access to a “million” public domain titles and a “million” for-pay books. “A number of first tier publishers signed up today on the first day of the Frankfurt Book Fair,” he said. “We take in books from different publishers in a variety of formats and convert it to our own format,” said Kurzweil.

Kurzweil explained that the K-NFB e-reader software will run on laptops and desktop computers (PCs and Macs) as well as netbooks and mobile phones—Windows mobile and the iPhone right away with other mobile phone operating sytems added as quickly as possible. The software can read any format from straight text to PDF and ePub.

He also described the new e-reader as, “the ultimate expression of my work over the years. It will have wide distribution and will be available not only to the general reader and to the blind, but to the millions of people who suffer from Dyslexia.”

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Dragon app for iPhone By Christopher Lee, PhD. Director AMAC, Georgia University and AccessText Network

Dec 18, 2009

Here is a quick reference for Dragon on the IPhone: http://justanotheriphoneblog.com/wordpress/iphone-software/some-tips-for-dragon-dictation
There are limitations on the app.

- Record time: 30 seconds
- You cannot save your work
- Session is lost if you receive a call or leave the app
- Cannot have app running in the back ground

In order to send SMS or emails, you have to use the dragon app and tell the app to send to email, messages, or copy to clip board.

There is also another app called Voxie Pro Recorder that will record any length of audio (1MB per minute for audio) and sent to transcribers to convert into text.

The app costs $1.99
$5 for 250 words
2.5 cents per additional word

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Assistive Technology and the LD Resources Foundation provide students with LD a better chance to succeed

Assistive Technology and the LD Resources Foundation provide students with LD a better chance to succeed
By Jason Luchs, Director
Student Disability Services at The New School
December, 2009


Assistive Technology has become synonymous with success for students with disabilities in higher education. Without many of the programs that are familiar to those in the disability services field, a multitude of students with documented learning disabilities would be unable to appropriately access their course work. Some of the most notable software programs that are designed to assist this population are:
• Kurzweil 3000 (K3000)
• Premier Assistive Technology’s Key to Access
• Texthelp’s Read and Write Gold
• Dragon Naturally Speaking and MacSpeech Dictate by Nuance
There are more programs available than these, but for the purposes of this article, I am going to focus on these to narrow the discussion, and also because I have working knowledge and experience with them. I don’t specifically endorse or recommend any program over another.
Learning Disability Assistive technology Software
The first three programs listed have very similar goals and capabilities. They are designed to assist individuals with reading or writing problems due to a learning disability or other condition that affects reading and writing, such as attention based disorders (ADD or ADHD). Each program has a robust feature set that includes options to highlight words while reading them aloud to the user. Predictive text and talking word processing capability are also shared by each of the programs. K3000 differs from Premier’s and Texthelp’s software in that the program opens in a new window and does not use a floating toolbar design like the Key to Access or Read and Write Gold.
Each of the programs can assist students with learning disabilities, but I have seen some preferences among students. There are students who prefer using a word processing program they are comfortable with like Microsoft Word, while being able to have the floating toolbar of either Read and Write Gold or Key to Access available when they need it. With K3000, the user must type directly into the program interface to use its features. However, it is worth noting that with new updates to each program, more user-friendly methods of interaction become available which in the future may include a floating toolbar and opening the program in a new window.
Given the choice, I’d guess more students in higher education would choose either Read and Write Gold or Premier AT over K3000 because it seems to be geared more towards younger students. Read and Write Gold and Premier AT suite can be used discretely in open labs via a floating toolbar and the student can pick and choose which portion of the technology they need whereas K3000 must be fully open.
I have recently demonstrated Premier AT for students and they have been most interested in its ability to read PDF documents and e-text aloud. College students are increasingly required to access electronic articles via the web or interfaces like Blackboard and a hard copy may not be available. These students also have an interest in being able to convert text to audio, but this is better in theory than in practice. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) still has some work to do before it can accurately recognize all words and properly pronounce them, especially homonyms or words that may have different pronunciation depending on context, such as “I like to read (reed) often” or “I read (red) the book yesterday.” Additionally, some of the voices sound much too monotone, synthetic, or distracting to be useful. Developers are continuing to improve the voices associated with their respective programs, but none of them are totally human-sounding at this point. Currently, I think that artificial voices by Cepstral, a leader in synthetic voice development are some of the better ones available as they do a relatively good job of approximating human speech. While I am not discussing Mac accessibility in depth here, it is worth noting that the Mac OSX accessibility features are quite robust and the included voice-over feature dubbed “Alex” is excellent.
Cost and Alternatives to Purchasing – LD Resources Foundation Awards Program
The cost of assistive technology can be daunting for the individual as well as a disability services office with a modest budget. Many times it can be the determining factor as to what technology is available for student use. K3000 is the most expensive out of the three program suites discussed here, followed by Read and Write Gold and Premier AT Key to Access or Accessibility Suite. Since the cost of these products can be problematic for some students, trying to acquire a demo version via the product website is a good first step. Some university disability services offices have demo versions or lending programs available as well. I highly recommend checking vendor websites to see if trial versions of their products are available. Each of us have different preferences and levels of computer savvy, especially students who may have not used assistive technology before so it’s a good idea to give software a test run.
Students who may not be able to acquire software on their own should also look into the awards program offered by LD Resources Foundation (LDRF). Based on economic need and disability status, the LDRF awards program seeks to assist students who are most likely to need assistance acquiring software that can help them succeed in college. During my tenure at The New School, LDRF has awarded the Key to Access program to approximately ten students, with more applying for awards each semester. Students who aren’t sure if they will qualify for an award are encouraged to still apply because LDRF works on a sliding scale. The goal of the organization is to try to provide awards and assistance to as many students as possible, so they have flexible guidelines that allow them to work with individuals with all kinds of backgrounds, and will even provide assistance in completing an application.
In the past three years, LDRF has made 35 presentations and awarded portable assistive technology and tools to over 100 students in multiple universities. Over 60 permanent assistive technology systems were provided to libraries as well. Most recently, LDRF added speech recognition software to their list of AT products available. Students can apply for the Speech Recognition award and request Dragon Naturally Speaking for PC or MacSpeech Dictate for Mac. Both are excellent products developed by Nuance and with minimal training, the user can dictate papers, emails and even control some navigation functions on their computer. Students interested in completing an application for an award can find it via http://www.ldrfa.org/awardprogram.php on the LDRF website. The application is available to print out and complete by hand, or in a fillable PDF that can be emailed or printed.
Voice Recognition and Dictation Software
Dragon Naturally Speaking has undergone many improvements with recent versions, most notably with version 10. The training time is now minimal and voice recognition is very accurate, even for students with accents or limited computer experience. I demonstrated this software for a number of students who cited difficulty with typing or handwriting assignments but who had a much easier time verbally expressing themselves. One student recently told me that he thinks the use of a program like Dragon Naturally Speaking could significantly change his life. He was unaware of the existence of voice dictation software and when I demonstrated the program for him, he said it would definitely be helpful. The student has difficulty writing or typing as a result of dyslexia, but he can express himself quite well verbally. This is exactly the type of student who can excel using voice recognition software. Using a good quality noise canceling microphone like an Andrea or Plantronics headset, a user who types around 40 words per minute can possibly double or triple that speed with dictation.
What the Future Holds for Assistive Technology
This is a very exciting time for those of us interested in new developments in assistive technology. Not only are existing programs regularly updated, but new and previously unseen technology is on-route to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. With the advent of e-book readers like the Kindle, Sony E-reader, and most recently the Nook released by Barnes and Noble, there could be another wave of new methods for people with learning disabilities and other conditions to access books. While not all of the devices have text-to-speech capability, some of them do, and if it proves useful, other producers of e-book readers will probably follow suit and adopt that utility.
Resources for acquiring electronic textbooks
The usefulness of Assistive Technology programs for students is directly tethered to the availability of appropriate electronic text resources. In a forthcoming article, the Co-Founder of www.ldrfa.org, Zahavit Paz and I will be exploring the many directions that students can take to acquire electronic texts that are compatible with their AT program of choice.

Friday, November 20, 2009

The development of Technology and Assistive devices

By Zahavit Paz, Co-founder and Chairperson of LD Resources Foundation.

Presented at the 12th Annual Accessing Higher Ground: Accessible Media,Web and Technology Conference.

November 13th 2009 panel, “From Clay Tablets to the Kindle – implications of the new e-book technology (in particular, it's implications for accessibility)”

http://www.colorado.edu/ATconference/confsched2009.html

Accessing Higher Ground
focuses on the implementation and benefits of Assistive Technology and Accessible Media in the university and college setting. Other topic areas cover legal and policy issues, including ADA and Section 508 compliance. The creation of accessible media and information resources, including Web pages and library resources are a particular focus of the event.

The development of Technology and Assistive devices


In the last 20 years, the advancement of the personal computer and other technologies has changed the way most people live, work, shop and communicate. The Internet has changed the world. We have more access to millions of documents, which, before, were inaccessible. The Internet has connected Americans to sources of information throughout the world in a matter of nanoseconds.

It has also helped in U.S. politics. In 2008, all the American Presidential candidates have used the Internet to raise over a billion US dollars to fund their campaigns and to get their message across. The Internet, and cell phones, smart phones such as the I-phone and Blackberry can now communicate and market campaign information in the United States and around the world.

In colleges, many students are required to upload their assignments from their college website, and email the completed questions and assignments to their professors. They also work on assignments with distant peers. Some universities started to use E-readers such as Kindle DX to upload their textbooks.

With this increasing reliance on technological developments, no adult with a reading disability “should be left in the technological dark.” Assistive technology is affordable and should be accessible to everyone.

Thanks to assistive technology and the rapid development of Assistive devices, the literacy needs of people with learning disabilities can be met, because everyone can and should have access to the information they need!

For comments, email: zpaz@ldrfa.org

E text readers and E text books

Ms. Zahavit Paz, Executive Director of the LD Resources Foundation at the 12th Annual Access to Higher Ground : Accessible Media, Web and Technology, Conference.

November 13, 2009 Panel: “From Clay Tablets to the Kindle – implications of the new e-book technology (in particular, it's implications for accessibility)”

(http://www.colorado.edu/ATconference/confsched2009.html).

My overview today is not only speaking as an organization that assists college students with LD & ADD, but also as an individual with LD who is dependent on assistive technology.

E- readers & E-text books have potential promise closing the gaps for Students with learning disabilities.

E-reader devices have been around for at least a decade. Today's E-reader devices are in the news almost daily, because they are more mainstream. Its exciting news for post-secondary students with learning disabilities the manufacturers promise easy download solution within seconds for textbooks with text to speech option.

General overview of the E-readers market and price trend

Forrester Research Inc, an independent research company suggests most consumers will buy digital devices when the price drops to $100. However, I read another report that predicts holiday sales for e readers will be up by fifty percent. (http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,53825,00.html).

According to The International Digital Publishing Forum’s (IDPF) Mike Smith, “The sweet spot maybe $100, but the educational market will support a higher price, since students, who will typically be in undergraduate programs, will need to use it for 4 years saving the cost of purchasing actual books and eliminating the burden of physically caring for books. The access to a search capability rather than having to look up information in an index, as well as readers that offer copy and paste capabilities, will save lots of time for students working on their assignments.”

IDPF Trade and Standards Association for the digital publishing industry, just announced that eBook industry wide sales statistics for the first quarter were up by 228.3%, and calendar year to date revenue increased by 154.8% (http://www.idpf.org/)

E-Readers:

There are so many e-readers on the market today. Rumors are, according to Mitch Ratcliffe’s blog on ZDnet, by the end of 2010, that 52 e-reader devices will be on the market in the next 12 months. (http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ratcliffe)

Listed are some e-readers below:
  1. Amazon Kindle - http://www.amazon.com/kindlestore/
  2. Barrens & Noble Nook - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook
  3. Sony eBook Reader - http://ebookstore.sony.com/reader/
  4. Franklin eBookman eReader - http://www.franklin.com/
  5. Elonex eBook - http://www.elonex.com/
  6. Irex Digital Reader Series - http://www.irextechnologies.com/irexdr1000
  7. Interead Cool-er - http://www.coolreaders.com/
  8. Fujitsu FLEPia - http://www.frontech.fujitsu.com/en/release/20090318.html
  9. Bookeen Cybook - http://www.bookeen.com/ebook/ebook-reading-device.aspx
  10. Plastic Logic Que - http://www.plasticlogic.com/ereader/index.phpPremier
  11. Key to Access VPod - http://www.readingmadeez.com/products/ktavpod.html
  12. Apple Tablet - http://store.apple.com
Amazon Kindle (http://www.amazon.com)

The E-reader industry, realizing postsecondary schools are potentially a lucrative market, are trying to lure colleges to purchase their e-readers.

Amazon Kindle (http://www.amazon.com) has the largest market share today of a little more than 60 percent (http://www.epapercentral.com/forums).

Amazon is trying to market the Kindle e-reader to post-secondary institutions with note-taker capability. As with any other new technology, the technical glitches need to be worked out.

This fall, students at seven universities were given a large screen (9.7”) Kindle DX weighing about one pound and at a cost of $489. These students (at the following seven universities (Darden Graduate School of Business, the University of Virginia, Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, Princeton University, Reed College, Pace University and University of Washington) are currently testing the product. So far, the results have revealed some problems with reading PDF files, no Page numbers, folder organization, web accessibilities, etc.

Overall, some students liked it. There is room for adjustment as a functional navigation as textbook when you need to search by page number.

The Author’s Guild (http://www.authorsguild.org/)

Interestingly, I asked the director of the Author”s Guild about their position on speech to text for text books. He said they do not have an objection since it would not be offered to students as audio books. That is exciting news for college students with LD.

iPhone as e-reader
(http://www.apple.com/iphone/)

Greg Krause of LecShare (http://www.lecshare.com/) gave me a demonstration of their new application of text to speech, with easy navigation by page numbers and highlighting, for the iPhone. It will be on the app store by the end of November at a cost of ten dollars.

An advantage to the iPhone, or PC screen, is that it refreshes very quickly and could be useful for augmented reading, rather than the slower E-Ink screen technology.

NOOK & Kindle

The comparison between the Amazon Kindle & the Barnes & Nobel Nook is that the Kindle is facing stiff competition from the Nook. The Nook offers a color touch screen, an easy-to-read and use display, bookmark capability, text highlighting, notes and a memory card, which can be upgraded to store 17,500 books. Nook owners can lend their eBooks to another Nook friend for 14 days free. The Nook will on sale on November 30th. On November 2, Spring Design sued Barnes and Noble to protect the intellectual properties of the Alex E-book.

What does all this mean to people with disabilities?

Almost all books will be available for download for people with disabilities. However, the design of these devices does not meet the accessibility needs of people who are legally blind or have print disabilities or motor skills problems. If they need to use assistive technology these books may not be available to them. We have to remember that a student with print disabilities, who needs to get using a new device, requires a learning curve, and costs associated with acquiring the device.

Assistive Technology is not one tool that fits all!

Advantages of E-Reader
  • Green environmentally-friendly
  • Students have access, 24/7, to the books.
  • Less eyestrain from overuse of computer LCD screens.
  • Zoom capacity.
  • No glare, since most readers use E-Ink displays
  • E-Readers have a long battery life.
  • Less back and carpal tunnel injuries caused by overuse of the computer.
  • For students with learning disabilities it has the potential to level the playing field by using a mainstream fashionable gadget.
Disadvantages of E-Reader
  • Students will not be able to sell their textbooks after the term ends.
  • Would Colleges and Universities support the e reader devices? Would they give a loaner to a student when his/her kindle is down? If yes, what would be the turnaround time of service for the kindle?
  • Navigation using I-ink E-Ink displays can take a second or more to refresh.
In closing, competition is a good thing after all! The mainstreaming of readers going to the post-secondary institutions is going to increase. We are closing the gaps by using a universal design learning UDL approach.

For comments, email: zpaz@ldrfa.org

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Zahavit Paz, Executive Director of LD Resources Foundation, will be making a panel presentation at the Access to Higher Ground Conference

Zahavit Paz, Executive Director and Co-Founder of LD Resources Foundation, will be making a panel presenting regarding e-book technology at the “Access to Higher Ground” Conference in Westminister, Colorado, on Friday, November 13, 2009.
The title of Ms. Paz’s presentation will be, “From Clay Tablets to the Kindle – implications of the new e-book technology”. The Access to Higher Ground Conference is sponsored by the University of Colorado in collaboration with AHEAD, EASI, ATHEN, and WebAIM. This Nationwide Conference is for individuals who design or provide accessible Web media, web based information resources and web access technology in the academic environment.

As a panel participant, Ms. Paz will speak on how current E-book technology affects students with print disabilities on postsecondary universities.

Highlights of what Ms. Paz will focus on:

 Access to textbooks, via e-book technology, which can be accessed everywhere students may be located, such as in trains, buses, transportation depots, libraries, and other public or private spaces.

 What the downsides are of this breakthrough technology when it comes to students with a print disability.

 The need for developing e-book standards to institute compatible “across the board” e-reader technology, so that students have access to any book they need regardless of the publishing source or the bookseller.

 Why are the costs of this technology prohibitive for those in the lower socio-economic sphere?

The full text of Zahavit Paz’s speech will be in an upcoming blog at blog@ldrfa.org.

For more information regarding the Access to Higher Ground Conference go to: www. Colorado.edu/ATconference/html.

For more information on e-book technology, go to:http://www.ebookweek.com/ebook_gallery.html#2

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Zahavit Paz, Executive Director of LDRF, invited to speak on the use of Assistive Technology for people with LD at the College of Emek Yezreel

Zahavit Paz, Executive Director and Co-founder on LD Resources Foundation Inc. (LDRF), will be speaking on Sunday, September 13, 2009 at the Israeli Assistive Technology Forum. The forum, held at the Max Stern Academic College of Emek Yezreel, (http://www.yvc.ac.il/template/default.asp?maincat=24) will look at assistive technology and its role in assisting postsecondary students with learning disabilities. Ms. Paz will speak on Digital Literacy and Technology in the 21st Century. Her talk will focus on how assistive technology in the United States is utilized for students with Learning Disabilities and Attention Deficit Disorder (LD/ADHD). She will give a live demonstration of the Key to Go USB drive, an extraordinary cutting edge assistive reading tool used by our technology award student recipients (for more about our award programs go to: http://www.ldrfa.org/awardprogram.php). In this fast-paced world, having the right tools to learn is essential. For students with learning disabilities, it is all the more important that these tools be portable and accessible. Premier Assistive Technologies Inc., a partner with LD Resources Foundation Inc, (LDRF), developed the Key to Go USB drive. Ms Paz’s presentation will include an overview about how people with a reading disability can access their textbooks at college and access the Internet.

For her PowerPoint presentation and other links and resources, please visit: http://ldrfa.org/?pID=24

In 2008 LDRF started operating two programs in Israel at Open University- http://www-e.openu.ac.il/ and Tel Hai College http://www.telhai.ac.il/english/ Both are members of the Israeli Assistive Technology Forum.

One of the other speakers is a representative of LESHEM (http://leshem.telhai.ac.il), the Association for the Advancement of Learning Disabled Students in Higher Education.

For further information about LDRF’s award programs and advocacy work of LD Resources Foundation, go to http://www.ldrfa.org.

For further information about Premier Assistive Technology Inc., go to http://www.readingmadeez.com.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Post high school students with disabilities in postsecondary institutions

The National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) released a study on June 2nd. The study, “The Post-High School Outcomes of Youth with Disabilities up to 4 Years after High School,” surveyed high school students with disabilities, ages 17-21 on life after high school.

One aspect of the study focused on students with disabilities enrolled in postsecondary institutions. Some of the findings were:

Ø Forty-five percent of high school students went to college. Out of the forty-five percent, 32% were likely enrolled in a two year community college versus 14% enrolled in a four year college.

Ø Students with disabilities who attended a two year college were enrolled in an academic (57 %) than vocational (29 %) programs.

Ø Students who were identified as having a disability in high school, 55% of students did not consider themselves as having a disability while in college. Thirty-seven percent of students self-identified as having a disability in college or in a postsecondary certificate program.

Ø Eighty-nine percent of students with disabilities enrolled in college reported they were working towards a degree or certificate. Twenty-nine percent had graduated or completed their postsecondary certificate program.

To see the report in its entirety, go to http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Activities and fundraing for the LD Resources Foundation

Dear supporters,


* This year: we served and awarded more than 20 college students and 38 college staff.
* We ran 16 programs in colleges ,libraries and organizations.
* Our advocacy, awareness programs and our support group workshops have attracted hundreds of participants .
* LD Resources Foundation has just moved to a new office.


All this we were able to achieve with the generosity of our volunteers and supporters .


This year, we need to hire paid staff in order to serve our students and run our programs .
Due to the economic downturn and higher demands for our services your support is needed more than ever.


Please help us help our students achieve a college education and ultimately improve their chances for a better career .


Your contribution is very important to us
You can make your donation online
at: https://www.ldrfa.org/~ldrfaorg/donate_paypal.php


or mail it to:
LD Resources Foundation
31 East 32 Street Suite 607
New York, NY 10016


Your contribution is tax deductible
The LD Resources Foundation Inc., is a not for profit organization under IRS section 501(c)(3)


Thank you your support is greatly appreciated"

Thursday, July 9, 2009

DIGITAL EDUCATION REVOLUTION by Ken Grisham

In the academic world of the 21st century, the inexorable march that we know as the “digital classroom revolution” presents challenges unlike others that have ever been faced in the history of education. With a very “deliberate speed” (almost always too slow), the majority of schools are making the shift to a digital world. Many schools have been led (naively) to believe that the digital classroom revolution is just a matter of more PC’s and software in the classroom. While that is certainly a start in the right direction, how many schools have we seen that purchased new computer hardware and software only to have much of it be “underutilized”, or worse, NOT UTILIZED AT ALL? Even those schools who believe they are going the right direction, often don’t fully appreciate the task in front of them or how to approach it, and certainly don’t realize the magnitude of the tasks they will be facing. Much of this failure to recognize the magnitude of the those tasks is the direct result of not being able to recognize and anticipate the speed of emergence and evolution of the “digital universe of tools and content”. This galactic shift in the world of information must be considered when evaluating the overall framework of the digital education environment of the future. To be successful, every school MUST develop a “digital classroom strategy” that addresses each of the aforementioned issues.

TEACHER VS. STUDENT – WHO’S WHO HERE ??? Ken Grisham President / CEO Premier Assistive Technology

There is a aphorism about old age to the effect that “The child becomes the parent and the parent becomes the child” referring to a time in our lives when our parents take care of us, then we grow up and, in turn, may take care of our parents as they grow old. Even as recently as the late 1990’s, the primary conduits for learning had always been through our parents and teachers…..authority figures who effectively ruled most of our lives, at least until early adulthood when we ventured out on our own. Virtually nothing could be learned that parents and teachers did not already know and they were expected to “pass” that information down to the next generation as part of the overall education process. Generally over time, younger generations came to respect the older generations because they were, for all practical purposes, the “only real path to knowledge” and growth. In today’s world of digital information and access, we see happenings that are analogous to the “parent-child / child-parent inversion, but perhaps in a more unsettling way….a way that presents a major hurdle to migration to a digital world. As access to independent sources of information have become more affordable and widely available, it is much easier for children to discover, learn and apply knowledge without working through parents or teachers. One of the emerging consequences of this new digital reality is a “loss of respect” for authority figures because children can acquire knowledge and skills WITHOUT going through an authority figure, thereby diluting their implied “authority power”. We continue to see children who are far more adept at using multi-tasking devices like cell phones, MP3 players, CD/DVD players-recorders, video recorders, access to the Internet and complex video gaming systems. In those instances, children effectively don’t NEED the adults to show them ANYTHING. The children acquired their knowledge on their own and KNOW MORE THAN THE ADULTS. Even worse, many adults (including teachers) now clearly articulate that they DON’T WANT TO KNOW (AND HAVE NO INTENTION OF LEARNING) about those technologies…thereby, further eroding the child’s confidence that they should turn to adults to acquire knowledge. The student has become the teacher and the teacher has become the student!! There are 3 major elements of the digital classroom strategy. 1. Digital reading tools. Literacy software and hardware that can directly access and work with digital sources of information. 2. Digital content. Digital content can be create in one of several ways: a. Acquire directly from publishers b. Acquire from public sources (e.g. Internet sites, blogs, wikis) c. Acquire from 3rd-party services (Bookshare, RFBD, AMX) d. Create internally by generating new documents or scanning hardcopy materials. 3. Integrated digital curriculum. Digital literacy tools combined with digital content are meaningless unless they can be effectively integrated into an overall curriculum that is the mainstay of the day-to-day classroom environment. All three of these elements MUST BE PRESENT in order to have a successful digital education environment.

A Council Candidate Who Knows It's 'Hard to B.S.' Sonia Sotomayor

A Council Candidate Who Knows It's 'Hard to B.S.' Sonia Sotomayor By Reid Pillifant

Jo Anne Simon, a City Council candidate from Brooklyn, has a Sonia Sotomayor story. Years ago, in a case that produced what will be one of Sotomayor's more closely scrutinized rulings as she prepares for her Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Simon was the lead counsel for the plaintiff, and, ultimately, the winner. The case centered around Simon's client, Marilyn Bartlett, a severely dyslexic law student. Simon was arguing that Bartlett had a right to additional time on the state bar exam under the Americans with Disabilities Act. “It was very clear to me, very early on, that she was extremely bright and extremely careful about the way her court was run,” Simon said of Sotomayor, in an interview. “She was very demanding, but she was also very fair. It was hard to B.S. her.” When Bartlett v. New York State Board of Law Examiners began in 1993, Simon—who is now running in a crowded Council primary in David Yassky’s district on the Brooklyn waterfront—was three years removed from Fordham Law School, and Judge Sotomayor was in her first full year as a district court judge. “I didn’t know anything about her at all,” Simon said. (This would change when the case dragged on for about eight years.) Simon said Sotomayor had had no prior experience with the legislation, which had not been heavily litigated at the time. “This was cutting-edge case law and there wasn’t a lot of it on this issue when we started,” Simon said. According to her, it "would have been easy" for a court to rule in favor of the attorney general's office. "She didn’t,” she said. “She wanted to know more.” “Early on, when there was a question about whether or not we’d be able to delay certain discovery, [Sotomayor] was concerned that it would take a long time. Her question was: ‘This is this woman’s life, how does she feel about this?’” Simon recalled. “It was very clear that it mattered to her what the plaintiff’s plans for her life were. There was a recognition on her part, and it clearly mattered that there was an important person behind this case,” said Simon. After Sotomayor ruled in favor of Simon’s client, the case become one of three controversial decisions that came up in Sotomayor's fifteen-month confirmation to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in 1997 and 1998. (The case was not resolved until 2001, after two trials and subsequent appeals.) At the time it was treated as something of a radical ruling, Simon said: “I remember reading something about just how crazy this decision was—that it was just a totally crazy decision—but I don’t think it was as crazy as it was made about to be.” But the decision stood the test of time. When Congress amended the Americans with Disabilities Act last summer, it specifically tailored the act to be consistent with the Bartlett case. (Simon testified at the hearings, and calls the case’s impact on the amendments “a very proud moment.”) The 33rd Council district is a particularly liberal one, so Simon’s status as the lead counsel in a case associated with President Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee can only help. Simon expects that the association, via Bartlett, won’t hurt Sotomayor either. “I think she will more than be able to handle herself in her hearing,” Simon said. “She’s exactly what we need on the Supreme Court.”