Enhancing the Learning

Experience:

How ReadSpeaker Helps Students

and Educators

At Brightspace Ontario Ignite

Mohawk College, Hamilton

Michael Hughes, ReadSpeaker

October, 2015

E: michael.hughes@ReadSpeaker.com

M: +1 (416) 455-7658

T: @ServeLeadChange

Why should educators know about modern

text-to-speech technology?

What are the implications of Universal Design for

Learning (UDL) on campus and how does text-to-

speech (TTS) help learners and teachers?

Who and what is ReadSpeaker?

How does ReadSpeaker TTS work within

Brightspace by D2L?

What is involved in implementing ReadSpeaker

software?

Key Questions

But first a demo or two

Global News

http://globalnews.ca/news/2220695/global-news-text-to-

speech-converter-aims-to-help-canadians-access-the-

internet

Canadian Human Rights Commission

http://www.chrc-ccdp.gc.ca/fra/content/par-ou-dois-je-

commencer

Missiles of ligneous or petrous

consistency have the potential

of fracturing my osseous

structure, but appellations will

eternally remain innocuous.*

* Thanks to Michelann Parr, Ph.D. (McGill)

Schulich School of Education, Nipissing University

Why Educators Need to Know About Modern Text-to-Speech (TTS) Technology

Who benefits from adding speech to your online text content?

Accessibility

Low literacy: 42% of Canadian adults*

Dyslexia: 1 in 6 Canadians*

Low vision: ~1million in Canada*

Seniors: a fast-growing group

Foreign-born (~20% per 2011census)

Mobility/Convenience/Efficiency

Multi-taskers

Mobile users

Education

Learners of all ages

Universal Design for Learning

Together, Reach 15% to 20% More People!!

•

Literacy Levels in Canada

by Level and by Education Level, 2012

Source: Government of Canada,

http://www4.hrsdc.gc.ca/.3ndic.1t.4r@-eng.jsp?iid=31

Perhaps surprisingly, some 47% of those with some post-secondary education were below

adequate levels in 2012

Universal Design for Learning

Universal design for learning is a framework

to improve and optimize teaching and learning

for all people,based on scientific insights into

how humans learn.

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

Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education:

“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

User Experience Honeycomb

by Peter Morville*

Peter Morville, web U/X expert, explains these facets of the

user experience:

Useful. …We must have the courage and creativity to ask

whether our products and systems are useful, and…define

innovative solutions that are more useful.

Usable. …In short, usability is necessary but not sufficient.

Desirable. Our quest for efficiency must be tempered by an

appreciation for the power and value of image, identity, brand,

and other elements of emotional design.

Findable. We must strive to design navigable web sites and

locatable objects, so users can find what they need.

Accessible. Just as our buildings have elevators and ramps,

our web sites should be accessible to people with disabilities

(more than 10% of the population). Today, it’s good

business and the ethical thing to do. Eventually, it will become

the law.

Credible. Thanks to the Web Credibility Project, we’re

beginning to understand the design elements that influence

whether users trust and believe what we tell them.

Valuable. Our sites must deliver value....

http://semanticstudios.com/user_experience_design/

Some more recent research examples

• Csoli, K, Bennett, S, and Gallagher, T.S. (2009): Ready or Not, Here

They Come: Inclusion of Invisible Disabilities in Post-Secondary

Education• Success at Secondary School level means more students are choosing to attend

post-secondary. Universal Instructional Design (UID) is reviewed as an

appropriate teaching tool for the postsecondary level, as it allows for increased

access to meaningful learning experiences for students with and without

disabilities.

• Baker, F. (2015): “Emerging Realities of Text-to-Speech Software for

Nonnative-English Speaking Community College Students in their

Freshman year”

• East coast US college very recent example

• Gonzalez, M (2014): “Effect of embedded text-to-speech and vocabulary

book scaffolds on the comprehension of students with reading disabilities”• Scaffolds such as TTS narration can reduce the load on the readers‟ working memory (Grimshaw et al.

2008), which has been found to be one important aspect of successful comprehension (Oakhill, Cain, &

Bryant, 2003).

Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education:

Where TTS adds value

Synchronous:

Representation

• Accessible documents

(e.g. Powerpoint slides)

Asynchronous

Representation

• Accessible documents

(e.g. pdf’s, Office docs)

• TTS tools for use with

text-based content both

in HTML and in

documents

• Class websites with TTS

Mobile & Devices

Maximize study time-

efficiency (e.g. on transit

vehicles), or with derived

.mp3)

Source: udloncampus.CAST.org

The Reader as Navigator, & Where TTS Helps The Learner*

The Map Reader The Purposeful Traveller The Captain The Chartmaker

Recognizes and uses a variety of word solving strategies**

Selects texts and reads in a way that permits travel to different times and different places for different purposes.

Establishes a purpose for navigating a text.

Recognizes reading as atransaction among reader, author,andreading community.

Draws on a repertoire of known words and symbols and continually develops a reading vocabulary thatallows navigation of a variety of texts.

Is anchored in comprehension byknowledge of a variety of text features (e.g., story, poem, information).

Recognizes that the journey — thepurpose of reading — is the destination.

Explores, extends, and revises ideas, information, and perspectives in texts in order to help others travelto different times and different places for different purposes.

Recognizes and navigateslanguage conventions (e.g., sentencestructure, punctuation

Adjusts sails (reading strategies and reading rate) to match the textform and the purpose of travelling through the text.

Recognizes that reading always involves travelling through a text in search for meaning.

Engages in critical thinking, critical consciousness, critical literacy/ inquiry in order to facilitate future voyages.

Recognizes and uses visual information as a guide to comprehension.

Recognizes the author’s voice in a text. Knows and sails through a variety of comprehension strategies

Recognizes points of view,omissions, and multiple perspectives of travellers and texts they encounteralong the way.

** (including awareness of letter–sound relationships or decoding, word analysis, syntax clues, and context clues).

Travels successfully through a textby thinking metacognitively,connecting to previous voyages, andmaking meaning.

Checks in and self-monitors whilereading, recognizing when the route to comprehension breaks down and adjusts sails to restore it.

Responds to texts in a variety of ways, discovering new worlds and charting new course.

Sustains travel through text andcomprehension, and maintains interest over an extended time.

Responds to texts in a variety of ways, adjusting sails when necessary.

Excerpted from: Parr, M., & Campbell, T. (2012). Classroom Literacy Essentials: Weaving Theory into Practice for Successful

Instruction in Reading, Writing, and Talk. Toronto, ON: Pembroke Publishers (p. 66), as presented by Dr. M. Parr to International Reading Association conference

Introduction to ReadSpeaker

14

ReadSpeaker offers a broad range of text-to-speech

solutions

We have in-depth knowledge of the accessibility and

text-to-speech market, and our roots go back to 1999 in

Europe

10,000+ websites/online environments world-wide

Millions of users activating our “Listen” services every

month

40+ languages and 100+ voices

www.readspeaker.com

Who is ReadSpeaker?

ReadSpeaker Presence 2015

ReadSpeaker is now present in 60 countries

offices

clients

Extract of ReadSpeaker Client list : Education

er’s D2L Integration

Confidential | ReadSpeaker

ReadSpeaker Mission - Bridging the Digital

Divide

By Listening To Online/Offline Content That Matters to

Everyone Anytime and Anywhere

19

How ReadSpeaker fits in Universal Design for Learning

Anywhere and Anytime (virtually all

devices, browsers, operating

systems)

Barrier Free (Click & Listen,

no downloading software first)

Focus on highest voice quality

(best voices in the market, and

computational linguists on staff)

Applicable on all digital content

Customizable (by client and by

end-user)

Universal Design for All

How does it work?

1

2

3

4

Educational

Institution’s

ServerReadSpeaker

Server

Internet

The process takes only

a fraction of a second!

Our products are

webservices and

easy to implement

1

2

3

4

The end user browses on the institution’s website

Presses the Listen button; ReadSpeaker detects the page/text

ReadSpeaker collectsthe text and producesthe speech

And sends the audio to the enduser

ReadSpeaker: Measurable and Accessible

Barrier-free usage : No Downloads

Server based solution : always the latest voice

technology/quality available

Online Access to usage information YOUR site’s real usage !!

ReadSpeaker Activations on KidsHealth

website

0

200.000

400.000

600.000

800.000

1.000.000

1.200.000

ma

y 1

0

jun

-10

jul-

10

au

g-1

0

se

p-1

0

oct 1

0

no

v-1

0

de

c-1

0

jan

-11

feb

-11

ma

r 1

1

ap

r-1

1

ma

y 1

1

# o

f m

on

thly

ac

tiv

ati

on

s

Listen to HTMLReadSpeaker Enterprise

Accessibility Compliance

100% valid with W3C recommendations

Fully keyboard-controllable player

Text-based Listen button

Zoom support

Easier to download audio

Support for dynamically-generated content (such as Ajax or

Javascript)

Support for multiple buttons and players on the same page

Stable style sheets that don’t conflict with websites’ existing

CSS

Customizable default behaviour and appearance

Auto-detection and support for HTTPS websites

ReadSpeaker Enterprise Highlighting: More Features

Since 2013, Integrated in BrightSpace by D2L

Our flagship, ReadSpeaker

Enterprise Highlighting, is

seamlessly integrated into

BrightSpace and continues

to help all learners expand

their comprehension and

allows for bi-modal

learning.

Now, BrightSpace includes

ReadSpeaker docReader

integration

Text-Aid works within D2L

BrightSpace

Course content is speech-enabled within Brightspace by D2L automatically

Listen to DocumentsReadSpeaker DocReader

ReadSpeaker docReader

For speech-enabling your online documents published on your

website

docReader can read/show text documents in PDF, Word, RTF,

ODT and ePUB3 format

Highlighting of words and sentences

Listen to the whole page or select text, “Click & Read”

For best user experience and performance, these documents

need to be created in an accessible way (Styled Word, Tagged

PDF for example)

Available as a ReadSpeaker Enterprise add-on (requires

ReadSpeaker Enterprise base subscription)

ReadSpeaker TextAid: Overview

Reading and Writing

• Listen to text in uploaded documents

• Read scanned documents and images

• One-click web-reading with the ‘TextAid Web Reader’

• Have the text highlighted as you read

• Adjustable reading speed

• Read in 12 languages

• Reading ruler and screen masking help focus on the

text

• Talking Calculator reads numbers and calculations

• Customizable text display provides more comfortable

reading, with different fonts including OpenDyslexic

• Have the text read back to you as you type.

• Download an audio file to listen to at any time

Researching

•Translate text into 12 languages.

•Save text and documents to your personal library and

retrieve it at any time

•Perform a web search on selected words or text

Extensive management and reporting tools:

•Coordinators can manage groups and users, share

documents, activate/deactivate certain features, and

appoint other coordinators.

•Access to full, detailed statistics for all users.

ReadSpeaker TextAid lets students listen to an audio version of

content while reading along with the highlighted text.

• This text can come from websites, emails, scanned documents,

textbooks, PDFs and more.

• Students can listen to any text with just one click of the ‘Listen’

button.

• 100% Web-based means Students can use Any Device

Institutional Users can integrate it into Brightspace by D2L and other

leading learning management systems

How do the pricing models work?

ReadSpeaker Enterprise Highlighting &

ReadSpeaker docReader business model

Integrated with major LMS platforms

annual fee based on student FTE’s

small one time set-up fee

ReadSpeaker TextAid (any device from anywhere)

Can be Integrated with major LMS platforms through LTI or standalone

Annual Fee for 5,10,25,50,100,250,500, etc licenses, or

Campus license (annual fee) or

Or Individual Purchase Per student

Moving Forward: Questions & Answers

What might it take to implement

ReadSpeaker?

Enterprise Highlighting & docReader are already

integrated in BrightSpace by D2L

• Once licensed D2L “enables it” on your instances!

• Automatically add the “Listen” button to your content!

ReadSpeaker TextAid integrated via LTI

Simple & Straightforward with most work already

done

Other Q & A”

Thank you very much!

Some background slides

Learners differ in the ways that they perceive and comprehend

information that is presented to them

People may require different ways of approaching content

For accessibility reasons:

those with sensory disabilities

learning disabilities (e.g., dyslexia)

language or cultural differences

Others may simply grasp information quicker or more efficiently:

through visual or auditory means rather than printed text.

Also learning, and transfer of learning, occurs when multiple representations

are used, because it allows students to make connections within, as well as

between, concepts.

Why is UDL necessary?

In short, there is not one means of representation that will be optimal

for all learners; providing options for representation is essential