Technology to Support Your Studies

Published on Accessibility Resources & Service (https://ars.unc.edu)

Home > Printer-friendly PDF > Technology to support your studies

Technology to support your studies

Digital textbooks

Investigate to see if the book you are looking for is available in a digital format by searching the Accessible Textbook Finder. [1] This service helps providers, students, faculty, and publishers find the products, services, and up-to-date accessibility information they need. AccessText is available to everyone; no membership required. AccessText may indicate that the textbook being sought is available from its own repository or from another source including:

Bookshare [2]- FREE to qualifying members, Bookshare provides books in a range of formats including Word, EPub, DAISY* and Braille Refreshable Format (BRF). ARS will certify qualifying members. Learning Ally [3] - has a library of audio-books books in audio format and DAISY for members who qualify. ARS has an organizational membership. VitalSource [4] Gutenburg Project [5] Academic Ebooks [6] Hathi Trust Digital Library [7] - login using your onyen and password The Online Books Page [8]

ARS connected students needing assistance obtaining a digital textbook should complete the Alternative Format / E-Text - Information, Procedure and Request Form [9]. If no electronic copy is available from any of the sources ARS can convert a 'hard-copy' into a digital copy; please Please note that such requests will take a minimum of 10 Business Days to fulfill. Textbooks converted by ARS may need to have the binding broken to be scanned. The UNC Student Stores Coursepack office will put a spiral binder on the book at no charge; however they may not be willing to buy back the book at the end of the semester once the binding has been broken.

Operating system accessibility features

MAC - MAC in-built accessibility features - includes text to speech, zoom, etc [10]. Windows - Windows in-built accessibility features - includes text to speech, zoom [11]

Planning and organization of homework

University of Minnesota - Assignment Calculator [12] University of Arkansas - Paper Wizard [13] Indiana State - Assignment Calculator [14] SJSU Library Assignment Calculator [15] University of Toronto - The Assignment Calculator [16] UNC-Greensboro - Assignment Calculator [17] Also check out: Trello [18] Monday.com [19]

Supporting writing and reading

Text to speech

ClaroRead [20] - MAC & Win - is the primary component of the ClaroRead suite and has a text to speech feature. It is available at no cost from ITS. Windows 10 has Narrator [21]. The macOS has the VoiceOver text-to-speech feature built into the operating system: look in System Preferences, Accessibility, VoiceOver for options. Immersive Reader [22] is part of the Learning Tools suite and is available in Word, Word Online [23], OneNote, OneNote Online [24], Outlook Online, and Microsoft Edge [25]. Natural Reader Online [26] is free and reads many types of documents including DOC, TXT, PDF. Word Talk is a free Word plugin, which also allows saving to MP3 which can be listened to anywhere. Speech to text

Voice typing [27] in Google Docs - in Chrome Otter.ai [28]

Mind mapping - these programs allow content created visually to be exported as plain text; this can be a good way of getting started with a skeleton of a plan for an assignment, paper, notes, and research.

ClaroIdeas [29] - from the ClaroRead suite Coggle [30] Bubbl [31] Mindomo [32] X-Mind [33] Freemind [34]

Grammar and spelling

Grammarly [35] Hemingway Editor [36] Ginger [37]

Supporting notetaking and recording lectures

GLEAN [38]- can be used for in-person classes and over Zoom - available from ARS for students with this accommodation - contact ARS for access OneNote [39]

Page Type: Resources [40]

Source URL: https://ars.unc.edu/students/technology-support-your-studies

Links [1] https://www.accesstext.org/accessible-textbook-finder [2] https://www.bookshare.org/home [3] https://portal.learningally.org/Browse-Audiobooks [4] https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/user/signin [5] https://www.gutenberg.org/ [6] https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/subjects/academic/ [7] https://www.hathitrust.org/ [8] http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/ [9] https://ars.unc.edu/students/request-forms/alternative-format-e-text-information-procedure-and- request-form [10] https://www.apple.com/accessibility/ [11] http://www.microsoft.com/enable/ [12] https://www.lib.umn.edu/ac [13] https://libraries.uark.edu/reference/wizard/ [14] http://panther.indstate.edu/calc/ [15] https://libguides.sjsu.edu/calculator [16] https://ctl.utsc.utoronto.ca/assignmentcal/ [17] https://library.uncg.edu/acalc/ [18] http:// https://trello.com/platforms [19] http://Monday.com [20] http://software.sites.unc.edu/software/claroread/ [21] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/start-or-stop-narrator-99c201e7-fa7a-9b0b-f947- dee965c1375b [22] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHJJCLV-DNg [23] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7X0haud0xE [24] https://www.onenote.com/learningtools [25] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/use-learning-tools-in-the-edge-browser-78a7a17d- 52e1-47ee-b0ac-eff8539015e1 [26] https://www.naturalreaders.com/online/ [27] https://support.google.com/docs/answer/4492226?hl=en [28] http://Otter.ai [29] https://software.sites.unc.edu/software/claroread/ [30] https://coggle.it/ [31] https://bubbl.us/ [32] https://www.mindomo.com/ [33] http://www.xmind.net/download/mac/ [34] http://freemind.en.softonic.com/ [35] https://www.grammarly.com/?q=brand&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=brand_f1&utm_content=329885936576&utm_term=grammarly&matchtype=e&placement=&network=g&gclid=CjwKCAiA_eb- BRB2EiwAGBnXXmI12sDhXt8O7iOVN16iHKq1-cl_Zk5ZWF- xajOYQDPm7gmVmpjEMRoCWEkQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds [36] http://www.hemingwayapp.com/ [37] https://www.gingersoftware.com/ [38] https://glean.co/ [39] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/video-take-notes-in-onenote-d3185d6e-1d35-4665- 9849-d1013339052b [40] https://ars.unc.edu/page-type/resources