#56-Accessible Educational Materials

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Accessible Educational Materials make it an exciting and promising time for those with print disabilities. Luis Perez points us to the many available resources.

Luis Perez is the technical assistance specialist at the National Center on Accessible Materials at CAST. He has multiple degrees and publications. He is an Apple distinguished educator, a Google certified educator, president elect of the inclusive learning network, and selected as the 2016 outstanding inclusive educator by the International Society for Technology in Education.

Mentioned in This Episode

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  • CAST is a nonprofit education and research organization that works to expand learning opportunities for all individuals through Universal Design for Learning

  • Book share, Daisy Talking Books, and ePub are a few of the many free materials available for students with qualifying disabilities. Luis tells us about some of the features these materials offer.

  • The Voice Dream Reader app has a huge range of features including special fonts for dyslexia. It is compatible with Book Share

  • ISTE inclusive learning network advocates for technology in educational settings and has a list of standards and best practices including UDL, learner empowerment, variability, content creation, and more.

  • AEM has taken guidelines for developers and made them applicable to teachers and people working alongside individuals w disabilities to offer suggestions to make content more accessible. 

  • An ideal inclusive learning environment is when technology tools, AEM, and sound pedagogy all come together.

  • CAST offers a free online corse every 7 weeks with 5 modules that can be accessed at three levels depending on current understanding and experience with AEM.

  • Luis hosts a Twitter chat focusing on universal design for learning every other Wednesday. Use the hashtag to #UDL. Luis can be found on twitter as @eyeonaxs

  • Luis has several publications including two books. Dive into UDL shows K-12 educators how to incorporate UDL in their instructional design and engage in continuous professional growth. Learning on the Go provides savvy tips and strategies to turn the iPad's transformative potential into effective classroom practice.

  • In addition to his work in educational technology, Luis is an avid photographer whose work has been featured on Better Photography magazine, Business Insider, the New York Times Bits Blog and the Sydney Morning Herald. His photos can be found on Instagram.

This show is part of a 12 episode disability technology series. Listen to other topics in the series via your favorite podcast app or directly on the LOMAH website

Kim Albrecht