I'm Steve Griffiths; I'm a development officer in RNIB's digital accessibility team.
Robin: I'm Robin Spinks; I work as principle manager for digital accessibility at RNIB.
Steve: We've touched on the main accessibility features that are useful for users with low
vision or no vision, and now we'd like to put them into an educational context.
So Robin, perhaps you'd like to talk about some of the apps that are useful for learners
using the iPad.
Robin: So iBooks is an online bookstore and book reading application for the iPad.
It's very useful in a learning situation there are more than a million books and growing
day by day.
It's a very simple interface and we can use it with magnification, with large text and
also with speech.
We've got a library which tells us about all the books we have on the device.
We can flip over and go into the bookstore, where we can download content and purchase
it and download it to the device.
So flip back, I'm going to open up a book here which is called Made in Britain.
Taking a look around the interface using magnification first of all, we've got some very simple buttons
that allow us to go into the library -- back into the library from the individual book.
Navigate the structure of the book, we've got the title across the top, we've also got
here the font size so we can take the font size up or down.
We've also got a search button on the right hand side we've got a book marking button.
We can also read the book using the Voiceover screen reader.
So I'm going to triple click.
Voiceover: Voiceover on.
iBooks.
Library button.
Page 20.
This is a book that for anyone who is interested in Britain's economy.
Robin: I'm going to pause it, and I'm actually going to slow it down, if I use the Voiceover
rota control, and I'm doing that simply by pretending that there is an old fashioned
dial on the display of the device.
Voiceover: Language [unclear] speech rate.
Robin: As I turn round you'll hear a little ticking sound.
Then you'll hear the announcement of a function, so language, speech rate.
In this case we're on speech rate.
If I flick upwards.
Voiceover: 35 per cent.
40 per cent.
Robin: The speech rate goes up.
If I flick down.
Voiceover: 35 per cent.
30 per cent.
Robin: I'm going to continue reading.
Voiceover: This is a book for anyone who is interested in Britain's economy.
Robin: iBooks is a really useful app for learners of any subject and the range of material on
the iBook store is being added to constantly.
We are now going to turn to another app, and this is really I guess useful in a learning
context, particularly for younger learners, this is an app called Barefoot Atlas.
This is an interactive atlas, now you'll notice that there is a soundtrack with this app,
so it's completely multimedia.
What we're able to do is explore the globe in a three dimensional form, simply using
our fingers.
So we're going to find a specific country.
So we've come to Spain, and if we want to find out about a particular place, we can
read down the right hand side of the screen.
We can read lots of data about land area and population, currency.
Against some of the items on the map on this app we have an actual audio input.
Voiceover: The western highlands of Scotland receive as much as nine feet of rain each
year.
Robin: We can then move around.
Voiceover: Viking long ship, Iceland.
Robin: One feature of tablets which is a real distinguishing feature for blind and partially
sighted learners is that the on-board camera.
So I'm using it just now to focus on some text which happens to be on a table in front
of me.
I can snap a picture of the text and then pinch it up afterwards, or I can email it.
So using a camera and a tablet can be really helpful if you have low vision.
It can allow you to actually focus on what's being displayed and read it in real time and
reduce another barrier to learning.
Steve: As well simply using the camera, there are increasing numbers of apps that can be
used in conjunction with a camera, such as Tap Tap C, that can enable a blind person
to recognise an object in front of them.
Indeed there is a large number of apps that are being designed for blind and low vision
users for instance, Big Browser, Flexi which is a typing application and VIA which is a
great way of finding out what new apps are out there and what apps people are using.
Another one is JoinMe, which enables someone who's using an iPad to see what is going on,
on the teacher's computer.
Robin: There are many things that you can do to make the iPad a really useful tool in
the classroom, for learners of any age.
We mustn't of course forget Apple TV that allows us to connect the iPad and mirror the
image that's on screen up onto a large high definition screen.
Much like a smart board would be used, and it gives us a really good alternative which
is flexible and allows us to integrate into the classroom setting.
Lots of resources there to allow you to learn about the iPad and how it can be customised
to make it user friendly with students with a visual impairment or indeed for staff.
We're constantly developing resources and adding them to RNIB's website, you can take
a look at the tablets in the classroom section of RNIB's website to find out more and please
don't forget to get in touch and share your story of where the iPad's worked particularly
well or perhaps where it's not worked well in an education setting.