eLearn (e-Learning Support)

EduApps - free software for staff and students

http://www.eduapps.org

"EduApps is an initiative developed by the JISC Regional Support Centre Scotland North & East and expands on the already very successful AccessApps. EduApps extends the AccessApps philosophy of free portable software in your pocket to include bundles of applications specifically designed for teachers 'TeachApps' and learners 'LearnApps'. Currently we host over 90 open source and freeware software applications which can be entirely used from a USB stick on a Windows computer."

Ever wished you could have some software that helps you read the computer screen, or even reads the text on the screen for you?  Well with EduApps you can have this and many many more for FREE!

EduApps is a collection of free software (some requires you to register for a free account) that you download to a USB memory stick.  Once on the memory stick you can just plug it in to any PC (will probably not work on Trust PC's) and without installing anything you can use these applications.

EduApps has three pre-packaged groups of application you can choose from or you can choose the ones you want and create your own package.  The following is a very small sample of the applications you could use:

DSpeech

DSpeech is a TTS (Text To Speech) program with functionality of ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition) integrated. It is able to to read aloud the written text and choose the sentences to be pronounced based upon the vocal answers of the user. It is specifically designed to quickly and directly provide the functions and improved practical usefulness that are requested by this kind of program. In the meantime, the invasiveness and resource consumption is minimal.
(DSpeech does not install itself, is very light, starts in a second and doesn't write anything to the registry). Some notable features of DSpeech are:

1. Allows you to save the output as a .WAV, .MP3 or OGG file.
2. Allows you to quickly select different voices, even combine them, or juxtapose them in order to create dialogues between different voices.
3. DSpeech integrates a vocal recognition system that, through a simple script language, allows you to create interactive dialogues with the user.
4. Allows you to configure the voices in an independent way.
5. Thanks to apposite TAGs, it allows you to dynamically change the features of the voices during the playback (speed, volume and frequency), to insert pauses, emphasize specific words, or even to spell them out.
6. Allows you to capture and reproduce the content of the clipboard.

RapidSet

Allows quick and easy changing of the background and font colours on your computer screen, without having to go through the Screen Properties dialogs.  This can greatly support persons with dyslexia.

Wink - Screen Capture

Wink is a Tutorial and Presentation creation software, primarily aimed at creating tutorials on how to use software (like a tutor for MS-Word/Excel etc). Using Wink you can capture screenshots, add explanations boxes, buttons, titles etc and generate a highly effective tutorial for your users.

FreeMind - free mind mapping software

Current users of FreeMind use it for the following purposes:

• Keeping track of projects, including subtasks, state of subtasks and time recording
• Project workplace, including links to necessary files, executables, source of information and of course information
• Workplace for internet research using Google and other sources
• Keeping a collection of small or middle sized notes with links on some area which expands as needed. Such a collection of notes is sometimes called knowledge base.
• Essay writing and brainstorming, using colours to show which essays are open, completed, not yet started etc, using size of nodes to indicate size of essays. I don't have one map for one essay, I have one map for all essays. I move parts of some essays to other when it seems appropriate.
• Keeping a small database of something with structure that is either very dynamic or not known in advance. The main disadvantage of such approach when compared to traditional database applications are poor query possibilities, but I use it that way anyway - contacts, recipes, medical records etc. You learn about the structure from the additional data items you enter. For example, different medical records use different structure and you do not have to analyze all the possible structures before you enter the first medical record.
• Commented internet favourites or bookmarks, with colours and fonts having the meaning you want.

Who should I talk to at Keele if I need help?

Tim Smale is currently promoting EduApps and is will to help staff and students to uses this resource.

IrfanView - Image Viewer and Editor

http://www.irfanview.com/

IrfanView is a freeware/shareware image viewer for Microsoft Windows that can view, edit, and convert image files and play video/audio files. It is noted for its small size, speed, ease of use, and ability to handle a wide variety of graphic file formats, and has some image creation and painting capabilities. The software was first released in 1996. IrfanView is free for non-commercial & Educational use; commercial use requires paid registration.

http://www.irfanview.com/