Scan The Book And Convert To Audio
A last resort would be to simply buy a physical copy of the textbook and scan it. By using a scanner you can take advantage of OCR technology, or text recognition software. Upon scanning, OCR software will take your scanned or other digital image and turn it into plain text that can be entered into any text-to-speech program.
A number of software products offer the ability to turn text into a downloadable audio MP3 file. Once you have downloaded the MP3, you can listen to the file on your PC, cell phone, iPod, or any other portable media player that supports the MP3 format.
You can scan the textbook into programs like Evernote and Microsoft OneNote that have built in OCR and text-to-speech technology. The advantage of scanning the textbook into Evernote is that it will allow you to search through the text of scanned documents, making it easy if you need to search for terms within the book.
Audio Books Which You Need To Listen Before Graduation
January 24, 2019 By
Over the years, technology has had a huge impact in not just the way students prepare for exams, but also how they read books. Today, audible books or audiobooks continue to gain traction in different quarters. For some, they are the best thing that has ever to bookworms as well as people whose hobby is reading novels. No more flipping over tons of pages sitting under a tree. However, while listening to a book narration is always going to shorten the time one would spend on Harry Porters Goblet of fire, not to mention that they make reading fun and engaging, there is a common agreement that audiobooks will never kill traditional print novels, at least not in the foreseeable future.
That aside, just like eBook readers such as Kindle, Google Books and Barnes, students who are hooked to audible books equally need something to make the experience easy and seamless. For example, Overdrive, Scribd, and Downpour are mobile-compatible Apps that will bring to your fingertips, access to thousands of audible books online. Some are free, and others will cost a small subscription fee every month. A good thing about most of the paid applications is that depending on your membership, say, Gold or Platinum, listeners has unfettered access to most online libraries and the best audio books youd ever wish to read at the click of a button.
Where Can Teachers Find Free Audiobooks For Their Students
Audiobooks are fantastic ways to bring stories to life in your classroom and keep students engaged. Reading Rockets explains, Audiobooks have traditionally been used in schools by teachers of second-language learners, learning-disabled students, and struggling readers or nonreaders. In many cases, audiobooks have proven successful in providing a way for these students to access literature and enjoy books. However, educators have found that audiobooks benefit all students!
Unfortunately, audiobooks are pricey, so you should not expect your students to have them at home. You should also not plan on spending large amounts of money to build your audiobook collection for your classroom. For instance, the widely popular Audible site for downloadable audiobooks is a subscription-based service, but it only allows you to choose one book per month. Instead, take advantage of the wealth of free audiobooks available for teachers and students.
The Library!
As you begin your search for free audiobooks for your students, begin at your school library. Most school libraries have access to audiobook services or schoolwide subscriptions available for student use outside of school. In addition to your school library, you should also venture to the public library. Public libraries have tons of free resources. By teaching your students how to use the public library, you can put a great amount of free resources into their hands .
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Audio Textbooks For Blind And Dyslexics
Students with a disability or visually-impaired students should have an easier time obtaining an audio version of a textbook thanks to laws that require accessibility to all students. Copyright rules can be bent in these circumstances and alliances between colleges and publishers have taken form to help these students obtain textbooks in their preferred format.
Your college is more than likely partnered with Learning Ally or AccessText to ensure students with a disability have easy access to materials. Students who have a documented disability should reach out to their colleges Services for Students with Disabilities office for help in accessing audio textbooks.
Learning Ally, formerly known as Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, is the largest source of recorded textbooks in the United States. There are currently about 150K titles in Learning Ally’s online catalog, and any title not available can be recorded on request. These files can be downloaded or put onto a CD.
Other Sources for Audio Textbooks
Also, don’t forget you can get a .
About the Author:
Use Audiobooks In The Classroom To Engage With Nonfiction
With the Common Cores increased emphasis on nonfiction, many teachers are looking for ways to integrate more informational text into the curriculum. Listening to nonfiction on audio can be a great way to pique the interest of students who may not be as familiar with biographies, science and history books as they are with novels and poetry. Playing audiobooks in the classroom can also help you illustrate key characteristics of nonfiction, such as the use of relevant details and domain-specific vocabulary. Sometimes hearing the concept can make it click better than seeing it in print.
Teaching tip: Look for nonfiction with vivid language and storytelling, such as Jim MurphysAn American Plague or Tanya Lee Stones Almost Astronauts.
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Achieving Success & Expanding The Digital Footprint
Lindenwoods digital library has experienced impressive results. Users have climbed every year since its launch, as have checkouts. Audiobooks in particular have seen tremendous success. While audiobooks make up only one third of Lindenwoods OverDrive collection, they account for two thirds of the librarys digital circulation.
When Lindenwood first started to build their digital collection, Huffman focused on classic literature because the nearby public library didnt offer many of these titles. Then he surveyed the universitys various academic programs and bought the core subject titles for each field. After those areas of the collection had been filled, he began branching out into popular fiction and bestsellers.
While the collection was originally started to supplement the academic needs of the students, Huffman notes that the high-moving titles are the same as the public library. Harry Potter. Game of Thrones. A lot more movement out of the popular titles than we expected.
The success of the OverDrive collection has even had an impact on the physical collection.
In fact, Huffman said, weve seen the hardcopy books level and off and actually decline, but when were doing assessment numbers, the electronic books like OverDrive have been an area of growth for us.
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Biography And Memoir Audiobooks
While reading history books is a great way to get a broader view of a particular time period or place, biographies and memoirs offer a way to get a more specific, personal experience.
Whether youre wondering what life is like in a professional kitchen or what it was like to co-found Apple, the books below will offer you a look.
Anthony Bourdain
Narrator: Anthony Bourdain
You probably know Anthony Bourdain from shows like Parts Unknown and No Reservations. But before he was a TV star, Bourdain was a chef and writer. Kitchen Confidential tells the story of Bourdains many adventures in the kitchen and around the world.
Plus, Bourdains narration is exceptional, so much so that Thomas called this my favorite audiobook.
Oliver Sacks
Narrator: Dan Woren
I devoured this book on a trip to Minneapolis, and it remains one of my current favorites. Oliver Sacks was a neuropsychologist, best-known for his case histories of patients with unusual mental illnesses and disorders.
But before any of that, Sacks lived a fascinating life. His memoir tells the story of growing up in England during WWII, traveling to the United States for medical school, his struggles with amphetamine addiction, and how he came to terms with his sexuality. The writing is brilliant, funny, and poignant.
Ron Chernow
Narrator: Scott Brick
Youve sung along to Hamilton! every morning in the shower, but do you know the true story that inspired the Broadway musical?
Walter Isaacson
Narrator: Dylan Baker
Kari Byron
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His Dark Materials Trilogy
Philip Pullman
Narrator: Philip Pullman + a full cast
I loved this series as a kid. It tells an epic coming of age story set across parallel universes with sentient animals, witches, and angels. Its a modern fantasy classic for a reason, and these recordings by a full cast are excellent:
The Art Of Creative Thinking By Rod Judkins
Creativity is an art, and for most people, it is a reserve of a few talented individuals. However, Rod Judkins tend to disagree, but not without failing to provide a solution. He explains how society can transform itself by, first of all, understanding how human creativity works. And, having crafted many a research paper on some of the worlds renowned creative thinkers such as Nobel Laureates, Rod Judkins, St. Martis College of Arts graduate, proffers extraordinary examples that will change your life for the better.
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Not Just For Pleasure
For those studying English as a second language, listening while following along with the text helps them to remember correct pronunciation, pacing, and other nuances of the language. This is the same case with learning English while watching TV series, except its much cooler. For heavy or casual readers like us, it brings a lot to the table, too. I love reading science fiction and fantasy. But sometimes there are a lot of proper nouns or terminologies within the book that may have weird pronunciations. Thankfully, I get everything right these days, thanks to the help of narrators.
Literary fiction is also something to be reckoned with. Sometimes, the prose is so artful that I pause for a while to take it in. Fortunately, literary fiction titles nowadays have audio counterpartsand it makes them less challenging to read.
Websites To Find Free Audio Books For The Classroom
While some students cant get their nose out of books, others need another format that will engage and entice them.
Audio books offer kids the opportunity to learn and improve reading comprehension in a way that may seem less intimidating and scary.
Here are some of the best ones that offer a range of books for different ages and interests.
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Business And Entrepreneurship Audiobooks
Ah, business, business, business. It may not sound exciting, but the books below will show you just how wild it can be. Whether youre looking to start a business or just learn more about some of the worlds most remarkable companies, theres a book for you below.
John Carreyrou
Narrator: Will Damron
What if you had a technology that could revolutionize medicine and change the world? And lets say you convinced a bunch of people to invest in this technology, to the point that people saw you as the next Steve Jobs? Sounds great, right?
The only problem is, your technology doesnt work, and your company is the biggest fraud since Enron. This book examines the remarkable story of just such a company, and the chaos that ensued during its downfall.
Gary Vaynerchuck
Narrators: Gary Vaynerchuck, Rich Roll, Amy Schmittauer
Love him or hate him, Gary Vaynerchuck is a major force in the world of online business.
In Crushing It!, he shows how anyone can use social media to build a powerful personal brand. Gary is a dynamic speaker, making the audiobook the best way to get the full experience. He even adds extra tidbits and asides that you wont find in the print book.
Tony Hsieh
Narrator: Tony Hsieh
Part-memoir, part-business book, Delivering Happiness tells the story of how Tony Hsieh founded Zappos, the online shoe store that changed the way people shop for clothes.
Timothy Ferriss
Narrator: Ray Porter
Josh Kaufman
Narrator: Josh Kaufman
Options For Other Books In Audio Format
If you need a certain novel for one of your classes, audio books can be purchased at Audible.com. If the book you seek is in the public domain, like many of the classics, you can find them at Project Gutenberg where many titles are available in plain text that can easily be input into a text-to-speech program. Some book titles have already been converted to audio and can be directly downloaded from their digital library.
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A Perfect Fit For The Students Needs
When it came time to choose their partner in providing popular digital titles, Lindenwood selected OverDrive for two primary reasons:
CATALOG
Lindenwood can choose from an unrivaled catalog of millions of ebook and audiobook titles to meet both the educational and recreational needs of students. After exploring all of the options, Huffman said that OverDrive had the best selection.
24/7 ACCESS ON ANY DEVICE
Content is available on all major devices, including laptops, ereaders, tablets and smartphones. This is incredibly important for a large institution like Lindenwood where all of the students are bringing their own devices.
OTHER BENEFITS OF THE SERVICE INCLUDE:
- Lindenwoods digital collection is accessible through an easy-to-use app. Huffman said that OverDrive is the only one that is very simple to use and he and the other librarians will tell students if you want a book and you want to access it within minutes, OverDrive is the place to go.
- Flexible format options meet the individual requirements of the students. For athletes in particular, audiobooks can be listened to while working out, making them a perfect fit for the students needs and time limits, Huffman said.
The Joys Of Listening To Audiobooks While Reading Books
Its officialthe book world cant get enough of audiobooks. This makes a win-win situation for both publishers and bookworms. Audio sales are booming and keep the industry afloat, while we readers get to have our literary fix while doing other stuff like cooking, sewing, gardening, and driving, among other activities. While these are worthwhile activities, has anyone tried sitting down, listening to an audiobook while reading its print counterpart as well?
As much as we love audiobooks for a plethora of reasons, sometimes our comprehension suffers when we pair them with multitasking. Admit it. Im even guilty of it. When I listen to an audiobook while doing something else, my mind sometimes wanders and I lose my focus. This usually happens when I start a new audiobook, when the scenes are frustratingly slow, and when the audiobook underwhelms. I even have to keep going back 30 seconds or so to understand the parts I missed. But not anymore.
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Mastery By Robert Greene
Nothing inspires a young person like being able to access insider information regarding the lives of the worlds greats. In Mastery, an audiobook by Robert Greene, you get to learn about Charles Darwins life, arguably the worlds most famous naturalist, vital aspects of the 48 laws of power and how they fueled aspirations of other great people like Caesar Rodriquez, a former U.S fighter jet pilot, Henry Ford, Martha Graham, Malcolm Gladwell and among others. In the end, you will not gain historical understanding of these great men and women, but also acquire much-need psychological strength and preparedness to carry through lifes challenges.
Increasing Leisure Reading Among University Students Using E
Annie Jansen*
This article reports on a study investigating leisure reading among university students using Kindle devices. The study employed a pre-post reading engagement survey of a cohort of twenty-one college students. Students participated in the study by completing self-reported surveys before and after a semester-long reading engagement program. The program involved preloaded audio and e-books on Kindle Fire devices, giving students the option to read, listen, or read and listen simultaneously. The students were selected by their enrollment in either a reading improvement class or a comparative literature class contained within a multilingual student course cluster. All students either struggled with English language skills, based on SAT scores, or were ESL students. Students indicated in the presurvey results that they spent less than one hour weekly reading material. In the postsurvey results, analysis shows that students were more interested in recreational reading materials, noting that they were likely or very likely to read or listen to books outside of class material in the future.
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Ways To Boost Literacy Using Audiobooks In The Classroom
Who ever said you have to read to read?
Thirty second graders are sitting at their desks, entranced. The classroom lights are dimmed and the only sound is a suspenseful voice coming over a pair of speakers. The students are listening to the audio version of Michael Buckleys Sisters Grimm series, part of a special tradition in Browns classroom. Every day after recess, Browns students spend ten minutes listening to a shared audiobook and then discussing what they heard as a class.
Brown says that its one of her favorite moments of the teaching day, and her students love it, too. While a few of them could read Buckleys series on their own, most arent ready for it as independent readers. Yet the audiobooks allow everyone to participate in the experience, enjoying Buckleys vivid characters, challenging vocabulary and rich, imaginative world.
Exposing all students to complicated storytelling, no matter their reading level, is just one benefit of using audiobooks in the classroom. But the research shows there are many other advantages too, including an increase in reading comprehension, motivation and self-confidence.
Thats why weve gathered 10 teacher-tested ideas for using audiobooks in the classroom, from ways to help your struggling readers to strategies for gifted learners and students with special needs. Read on to discover how you can use this assistive technology to help all kids fall in love with reading.