Electronic textbooks available from RNIB in September 2010

This information is taken from the VI-Forum e-mail shot:

Quote :

We are pleased to announce that over 100 electronic textbooks will be available for print-impaired learners in September 2010.

A Department for Education (DfE) project has created electronic versions of over 100 commonly used textbooks which will be available from late September to every learner with a print impairment (including dyslexia and visual impairment). Schools and local authorities should check the list of books that can be ordered through RNIB before producing textbooks themselves for the 2010/11 school year.

The textbook files are provided in Word 2003 format at the request of schools in the project. They have been deliberately designed to be appropriate and flexible for students with a print impairment. They can be read as they are by the learner using a computer to change the settings (for example the background colour and font size), with access technology, or can be converted by staff or learners into large print, braille or audio. Many of the books also include descriptions of images including pictures, graphs and diagrams to help visually impaired learners.

These files were created by a year long pilot project funded by the DfE, led by the Dolphin Inclusive Consortium. The project delivered electronic versions of the textbooks needed by around 40 print-impaired learners aged 11-14 in nine schools. One legacy from this project is to make these files available to all print-impaired learners in the UK.

Further information about getting hold of the books and the titles available can be found on RNIB's website. Please note that the short URL (www.rnib.org.uk/textbooks) will be working from Monday, 19 July. In the meantime, please use the long URL to access the information http://www.rnib.org.uk/professionals/education/schoolbasedlearning/mainstream/etextbooks/Pages/etextbooks.aspx

If you have any questions please contact mailto:education@rnib.org.uk

In addition, http://www.altformat.org/mytextbook/index.asp is worth a visit regarding the above announcment.