DALE can provide support to students who require accessible educational materials (AEM). AEM are print- and technology-based educational materials, including printed and electronic textbooks and related core materials that are designed or enhanced in a way that makes them usable across the widest range of learner variability, regardless of format. Students with a disability that requires AEM are encouraged to register for accommodations through DALE.
For faculty, a great place to start to learn about how to make your course materials accessible is with National Center on Accessible Educational Materials.
Common Terms:
- Audio Book: a print book that is read out loud by a human. Audible and Apple Books have many titles though generally no textbooks
- Digital Text: any text that can be retrieved and read by a computer or other electronic device
- E-Book: a digital version of a print publication
- Text-To-Speech (TTS): a type of assistive technology utilizing artificial intelligence to create a human sounding voice (think siri) that reads digital text aloud. It’s sometimes called “read aloud” technology
Many students with print disabilities read print materials with Text To Speech (TTS). TTS interprets renderable text and uses an AI voice to read the text aloud. Word documents (doc, docx) are accessible. PDF documents may, or not be, accessible. A scan of a document, though saved as a PDF, is a picture of text rather than renderable text, and cannot be read using TTS. A PDF is generally accessible if text can be highlighted using a cursor (cut/copy to paste). A PDF is not accessible if a crosshair is visible and text cannot be cut/copied. If the PDF is searchable, using the find option; it is accessible. Within accessible documents, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) can be used to convert every symbol on a page of print into sounds, which allows the text to be read aloud via TTS.
In order for DALE to assist a student or faculty member with converting copyrighted material into an accessible PDF, it must have explicit permission to do so from the copyright holder or reasonably be able to demonstrate adherence to academic copyright fair use laws. For more information, see The College’s Copyright LibGuide.
Additionally, students may also require assistance with (or faculty may assist with implementing an accommodation for) converting documents into alternate or more accessible formats, such as braille, audio, or e-books.
For e-books, VitalSource and RedShelf are sources available to rent/purchase e-books, and e-books from these sources include TTS (check the digital rights link to ensure read aloud is included). Also, Kindle may have e-books, but individual titles may not include TTS capability (check Kindle product details to determine if TTS is included).