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This is a great reading app. It can import text in many formats ( great with Dropbox) and even read PPT and Keynote presentations. You can change the size of text. Hold on a word to see its definition (doesn't read the definition). Hold on a word then select text to create highlights, bookmarks, and notes. These appear in a separate list which, when accessed, takes you back to the original spot in the text and begins reading from that point. Great voices. This is one of the better reading apps I've found...just wish the definitions would read and the highlighted text would actually highlight instead of ending up in a different location. $9.99

Excellent online timeliner recommended by iLearn website. See her July 22 2008 review for comments about using Capzles in the classroom to keep a log of your students' reading progress through the year! This timeliner has an extremely attractive interface and is easy to use. You have to upload photos, videos, and audio files that you want to use. You can add short captions and descriptions easily to those files. The descriptions box looks small but expands as you add more text. Once you're out of edit mode a person clicking on the picture sees the whole block of text. If you want to create a longer text entry, you can blog directly on the timeline. It's unfortunate that you can't create a blog entry and have a picture, too, as the text graphic is kind of plain. Very slick feature grabs the date from your uploaded photos and adds them to the correct place on the timeline. Ideal for classroom use if kids don't spend too much time fiddling with the themes options. The only problem for classroom use is that you can't embed live links which is necessary for linking to sources used or other important sites. Or maybe I just didn't figure it out.

SpokenText converts any text into clear natural sounding speech. Free account lets you paste in text or convert a webpage and either store it online for 7 days or export in several different formats including mp3 and ipod. Works great!

Text to speech site that accepts typed text, uploaded Word and .pdf files and creates an audio with a talking avatar. You can then download as mp3, podcast, email. Free account is limited to 30 second recordings but special teacher package is available.

Listen to work documents, homework, PowerPoint presentations, emails, RSS feeds, blogs and novels while you relax, commute or exercise. Proofread, learn a new language, multi-task, and use YAKiToMe! for entertainment. YAKiToMe! speaks multiple languages (English, Spanish, French, German, ...) with both male and female voices using the world's best text to speech (TTS) synthesis technologies.

Online resources to match pages in BC Science 8 Text. The teacher's section and home version sections are password-protected but if your school owns 30 copies of the print text you can have access to the home version. Home version includes downloadable chapters, pre-reading, worksheets, note-taking organizers, self-quizzes.

Ideas for importing text to wordle and using that text in a lesson to discover the "gist" of an article or poem.

This is a great free site for kids to create and share stories in comic form. I tried it and found it to be a very simple interface. You select a page layout and can add your own pictures or pictures from the web. You add your choice of talk balloons and double click to add the text. You can also add text for titles. There are some good examples of student work on the site, e.g. on the French Revolution.

Online text summarization tool.

How to convert word, pdf and text file to epub (standard etext) format so they can be used with ibooks and ipad

Maureen LaFleche spotted this great resource and here's what she has to say about it "Check out CK-12.org. It is a website that provides open-source content and technology tools to help teachers provide learning opportunities for students globally. Free access to high-quality, customizable educational content in multiple modalities suited to multiple student learning styles and levels, will allow teachers, students and others to innovate and experiment with new models of learning. CK-12 helps students and teachers alike by enabling rapid customization and experimentation of teaching and learning styles. Text can be read at two different levels - grade level and basic. You can download books and activities as pdf, epub or mobi." I have checked out several of the units and they look excellent for middle and high school.

This text to speech app is getting excellent reviews for it's features and ability to extract .pdf content.

Great TTS free app in Chrome. Select text on a webpage or in email to be read aloud. Can't get it to come up by searching in the Chrome app store though.

great super bowl ad to use in Kurzweil workshops talks about how he invented ocr and text-to-speech

Ray Kurzweil has designed a free screenreader with text-to-speech, tracking, highlighting, note-taking and lots of books for free or purchase. I am investigating whether it's possible to convert .pdfs and .doc files into the format it uses. PRCVI is investigating this reader as an alternative for students who don't have Kurzweil.

This browser add-in reduces clutter and visual distractions on a page. It enables text readers such as Click Speak (Firefox) to work better. It could also be used to strip iffy ads from websites teachers want to use with students. In addition, Paul Hamilton reports that it also strips clutter from pages you're importing to Kurzweil using the KESI Virtual Printer. Wow!

This is a toy for generating word clouds from text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, colours, and layouts. Take a screen shot to save your creation as there isn't a way to export as a jpeg. Wordles would make great title pages or slides and could be a fun class brainstorming activity or a way for kids to practice writing their spelling words.

This is SET-BC consultant Paul Hamilton's list of udl resources. These are mostly free applications such as text readers and digital story-telling resources that are a good fit with udl principles.

The CAST UDL Editions are a set of free public domain novels that have been engineered with UDL principles. They contain leveled supports for text-reading, vocabulary and comprehension as well as story elements such as character and setting. These inter

Excellent engaging and educationally sound instructional videos. This science site for grades 1-6 also has great accessibility options including visual, auditory and keyboard shortcuts. I learned about this from Paul Hamilton's October 20, 2008 post. According to Paul, Many of the activities include captioned video where the "captions" can be read aloud. Other activities use diagrams and interactive images to present material. All text can be read aloud, and can be repeated upon request.