[Athen] RFBD Software & DAISY Players

Teresa Wells Haven tlwells at uark.edu
Mon Nov 20 06:14:33 PST 2006


Hi, Patrick. I have a selection of several RFBD DAISY players available
for my students to check out: Victor Classic+, Telex Scholar, and
Visuaide Vibe. As RFBD is transitioning away from tape, I have had an
increasing number of students requesting information on players. My
standard operating procedure is to lend a hardware player to a student
for one semester so that they can try it out; if they want, and if I
have extras available, students can swap out and try different players
during that one term to find the best match for them. I ask them to be
ready to purchase a player of their own by the end of that semester so
that the loaners can go on to other students who need them; I also
provide the students information on other players that I don't have on
hand, such as software players, and talk to them about the advisability
of purchasing their players directly from RFBD to avoid the re-keying
issue. Most students either purchase a player themselves or get Rehab
to purchase it for them; if I know for sure that a student has no
financial support I go ahead and let them keep checking out the player
for subsequent terms, but still advise them that they will have to come
up with something themselves if they will need access after graduation.
So far the system seems to work well, both for my office and for the
students.

As a general rule, I've found that the Victor Classic+ is better for my
students with very low or no vision, while the Scholar and Vibe are ok
for my students with LD or other print disabilities not directly related
to vision. If I were to settle on a single player at some point in the
future, it would probably be the Classic+ or a similar player; it's
larger and more expensive, but easier to learn to operate and more
rugged than the others.

Hope this helps,

Teresa Haven
University of Arkansas

+++++++++++++++++++++
Teresa Wells Haven, Ph.D.
Assistant Director for Assistive Technology
Center for Students with Disabilities
ARKU 104
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR 72701
479-575-3104 (voice)
479-575-7445 (fax)
479-575-3646 (tdd)
ada at uark.edu
+++++++++++++++++++++


-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Patrick Burke
Sent: Friday, November 17, 2006 4:06 PM
To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network
Subject: [Athen] RFBD Software & DAISY Players


Hi everyone,

I'm interested to know what other adaptive tech programs are doing
about providing RFBD-compatible DAISY players or software. Has anyone
purchased multiple systems for students to try? Or have you settled
on one system that works best for you (in terms of price, ease of
management, etc.)?

On our campus, the vast majority of our e-text efforts have gone into
producing Kurzweil-readable files in recent years. I have only had
one inquiry about RFBD players recently, but I suspect the digital
revolution will hit this area pretty soon.

Thanks for your comments & experiences,

Patrick


--
Patrick J. Burke

Coordinator
UCLA Disabilities &
Computing Program

Phone: 310 206-6004
E-mail: burke at ucla.edu


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