[Athen] Hacking Learning Ally book

[Deborah Armstrong]

When shopping for hardware Daisy players,  read or at least skim the manual. Look at pictures of the device. Some of the small ones have more modes, tiny buttons are generally harder to learn but have more features. Know whether the student enjoys mastering the technology; if not, pick a player that is easiest to use.

Do not buy a player without a good website with firmware downloads, manuals and FAQS. The Victor Reader Stream is my personal gold standard but others are equally good and some are easier to use.

I have big, simple old-fashioned ones, and itty-bitty ones with tiny buttons. I have players with screens and players without. I always tell the student that they need to decide if they want more features or easier to use.  I’m a big fan of Learning Ally for audio learners, but when they are confused about how to use it on their iDEVICE or computer, I like to loan them a hardware player right away so they can get to work studying with their book and use the iDEVICE or computer for taking notes or homework.

Even though I’m a power user, I often find it easiest to practice the thing I’m learning on my PC or take notes on my laptop while I use a hardware Daisy player to read the book. Though I am quite capable of using a software player, I find switching tasks between my notes, and/or my project and the player is an extra level of complexity I have no interest in dealing with.

--Debee

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Leyna Bencomo
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2018 9:56 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Hacking Learning Ally book

Thanks so much for your response and others’.  I will look into getting a DAISY player asap.  She doesn’t like carrying her laptop with her.

Leyna Bencomo
Assistive Technology Specialist
Office of Information Technology
University of Colorado Colorado Springs
1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway, EPC 215
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
(719) 255-4202 / lbencomo at uccs.edu<mailto:lbencomo at uccs.edu>
http://www.uccs.edu/~it/<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.uccs.edu_-7Eit_&d=DwMGaQ&c=WORo6LNFtQOb4SPVta8Jsg&r=K_2Yg4I05GGnHlSOevlp3QeE5-JEqtmoUnmP0YVj9ZM&m=RcFJOlAhBbltON2YFBoQYG4KfXT_a7aTkEKWXq17Ucs&s=UStsLHgbxykNmuHXMHRgpsz7DEEXJMa-MV1guvVawe8&e=>
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From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Deborah Armstrong
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2018 10:25 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Hacking Learning Ally book

It’s not possible to hack the audio, but if you have a Daisy player you should be able to copy it on to the player and loan that to the student. Most modern Daisy players play Learning ally or can be certified to play the books.

I personally find it difficult to deal with large books from Learning Ally on an iDEVICE anyway; a dedicated Daisy player works much, much better.

If the student is a visually or physically disabled U.S. citizen they can obtain the NLS Daisy player free from their regional library and that plays Learning ally books just fine.

If your student is LD it’s a good idea for your DSS department to have loaner players available for just this type of situation. Or the student can use Learning ally link on a Mac or PC.


--Debee


From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Leyna Bencomo
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2018 3:56 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: [Athen] Hacking Learning Ally book

I think y’all know this one.  I have a gigantic anthology on Learning Ally that my blind student has to read from.  She “loves” Learning Ally but this particular book reads very slowly on her iPad.  It is quite large and she is only required to read specific chapters.  Is there anyway to hack into the audio and choose certain chapters?  Its listed as “Classic Audio” rather than Daisy or anything I can decipher.

I’ve never had to do this.  Suggestions?

Leyna Bencomo
Assistive Technology Specialist
Office of Information Technology
University of Colorado Colorado Springs
1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway, EPC 215
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
(719) 255-4202 / lbencomo at uccs.edu<mailto:lbencomo at uccs.edu>
http://www.uccs.edu/~it/<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com_-3Furl-3Dhttps-253A-252F-252Furldefense.proofpoint.com-252Fv2-252Furl-253Fu-253Dhttp-2D3A-5F-5Fwww.uccs.edu-5F-2D7Eit-5F-2526d-253DDwMGaQ-2526c-253DWORo6LNFtQOb4SPVta8Jsg-2526r-253DK-5F2Yg4I05GGnHlSOevlp3QeE5-2DJEqtmoUnmP0YVj9ZM-2526m-253DBjqSG4Jw9-2Dc3tL-5F4BqvMV1JkD-2D2NT3LyX2R-5FFSehqz0-2526s-253DYT-5Fc6HWvmd5smztubfMgBhgTUIWooBtAWqkmzdWxy44-2526e-253D-26data-3D02-257C01-257Clbencomo-2540uccs.edu-257C043bf6fe892e481f2c7308d61cbacdc7-257C529343fae8c8419fab2ea70c10038810-257C1-257C0-257C636727985985919510-26sdata-3DwxTpCxb3NXnBnOGQTjqbuG9y0FCf7veM-252BxYvH4zi5Mw-253D-26reserved-3D0&d=DwMGaQ&c=WORo6LNFtQOb4SPVta8Jsg&r=K_2Yg4I05GGnHlSOevlp3QeE5-JEqtmoUnmP0YVj9ZM&m=RcFJOlAhBbltON2YFBoQYG4KfXT_a7aTkEKWXq17Ucs&s=9nnF1MZVon8m_le7divexsQlJ7AoGDgbFYrZb-SNXx8&e=>
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