How do I find ~ Assistive Technology Resources

Notability is an app available through Apple for the iPad. A feature that stands out for this app that Google Docs does not have is its handwriting capability. There are also not many useful add-ons or plugins with this feature. Therefore, if you are a student who would like to handwrite notes, Notability is for you! http://gingerlabs.com/. It has some of the same features as Google Docs, but allows you to be a lot more interactive, especially if you do prefer handwriting your notes. Here is a link that walks you through using Notability in addition to the tutorial information provided in the app once you’ve downloaded it and begin using it: http://eisdedtechs.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/1/9/13198293/notability_user_guide_p1-8.pdf. If you own an iPad, you will receive a $10.00 gift card so that you can purchase the app. You may also request the use of a college-owned iPad.

Sonocent is a popular notetaking software that students may use if they would like to utilize audio recording features as well as strong organizational capabilities. Unlike Notability, it is compatible on PCs and Macs. Want to learn more about how this software may be perfect for you? Click here: https://www.sonocent.com/en-us/usages-note-taking. There is a cost for this software. For a permanent purchase, it costs $250. For just a year, you can pay $180. For Hamilton students who would like to use this software, the licenses for it will be distributed through Dean Harrison and the Accessibility Services team. There are PC and Mac computers available and, as a student, you will have the license for the semester(s) you need it for.  

Optical character recognition (OCR) software allows you to scan printed items such as books, magazines, and documents to create audio files. You can use this software to also just have a computer read long assignments from a pdf, for example. This can assist with the tedious task of powering through reading-intensive work. For more information on this software, follow this link: http://h71036.www7.hp.com/hho/cache/608037-0-0-39-121.html.

Smart pens are tools that connect audio directly to your notes. These pens record surrounding sounds once you press record, and as you write or draw diagrams, it links what you are doing on the paper to what is said in the space you’re working in. Does this sound too abstract to you? Then go the following link for some videos showing how smart pens are used specifically for notetaking, homework, and examinations! The page has a brief overview of what smart pens can do and the videos are toward the bottom of the page: https://www.livescribe.com/en-us/solutions/learningdisabilities/.

This section elaborates on how to convert speech to text. Speech to text software can be helpful for students with disabilities, learning new languages, or doing transcriptions. This software can also improve how fast you work.

Here are two additional resources to the Google Doc features mentioned earlier that we recommend for speech to text.

If you come across a YouTube video that you would like to transcribe a script for, one option is to use the Google Docs voice typing feature and record while a YouTube video is playing. Watch this instructional video, "A Simple Way to Automatically Transcribe Video/Audio to Text" and give it a try! 

Dragon is the world's best-selling speech-to-text software. Hamilton students can access Dragon Naturally Speaking software through laptops loaned by the Dean of Students Office. Contact their office for more information!

This adaptive technology adjusts to your specific voice, work environments, and is 99% accurate. You can also use Dragon with other software such as those available in Microsoft Office.

Follow this link to learn more about Dragon: https://www.nuance.com/dragon.html#standardpage-mainpar_backgroundimage_copy