I've had to experiment with posting podcasts to make sure that my students who are blind are able to listen to the shows. I've used GarageBand on a Mac, and then converted the files to iTunes files (with an m4a extension), then posted them at my webpage: Room B1
Since the speech software, JAWS, that my students use only works on PCs, I found that they were having difficulty accessing the files. So, using an online file conversion site called Zamzar (www.zamzar.com), I converted the files to mp3, which can then be played using Windows Media Player or Real Audio. My student who is blind and in 4th grade is now able to listen to the files at home. He is more tech savvy than many of his general education peers!
I find that it's a constant challenge making sure that projects we do are accessible to my students. I know that accessibility is also an issue for people who have hearing impairments. A suggestion for teachers who podcast is to post the text document along with the podcast. I learned this through an online class I took about accessibility and the web. I'd be interested in hearing other suggestions to help make the Web 2.0 as open as possible to all who surf it.
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing. Your pursuit of accessibility solutions for podcasting has actually put you at the forefront of what do with this technology when addresing visual impairment issues. Maybe one day there will be a standard for creating podcasts by major producers of such content that makes sure the information is accessible to all (e.g. including transcripts of the conversation).
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