Presented at the #D2LConnection at SAIT on March 9, 2018 by Michael Hughes of ReadSpeaker. How to Deploy & Support a Universal Design for Learning Strategy with TTS Technology within D2L’s Learning Environment.

1. March 2018
SAIT, Calgary AB
Good for Everyone
Necessary for Some:
Make Learning More Equitable
& execute on many
UDL Guidelines by Providing
Automatic On-demand Audio
in your Brightspace by D2L
Michael Hughes
ReadSpeaker
Newmarket, ON
@ServeLeadChange

2. Agenda
▪ How do these Connect? Universal Design for Learning, User
Experience & Text-to-Speech? (UDL, UX & TTS)
▪ First of all, why do this? Who benefits?
▪ Universal Design for Learning (UDL):
• It’s about Creating & Delivering Equitable Learning Experiences!
▪ Text to speech (TTS) technology, UDL & accessibility
▪ Who is ReadSpeaker?
▪ UDL and UX in Brightspace: ReadSpeaker’s already built-in,
ready to go! Let’s check it out together
▪ Questions and discussion

3. Canada’s Global News:
Global News’ text-to-speech converter aims to help Canadians access the Internet - National | Globalnews.ca
Government of Northwest Territories, Department of Health & Social Services
http://www.hss.gov.nt.ca/en/services/community-wellness-initiatives
But first, a demo or two

4. How do these all connect?
UDL, UX & the Social Model of Disability

5. Universal Design for Learning:
“The Myth of the Average Learner”
▪ The most consistent finding to emerge
from the interdisciplinary study of
learning is that when it comes to
learning, natural variability is the rule,
not the exception.
▪ What is perhaps most important to
understand about learner variability is
not that it exists, but that not all of it
is random.
▪ Because some variability is systematic,
you can design for it in advance.
▪ This approach is called Universal Design
for Learning (UDL).
Source: udloncampus.CAST.org

6. UDL: Make the Opportunity to Choose to Listen
as Barrier-Free as possible!
UDL flips the model of
assistive technologies by
offering benefits of digital
technologies to all students,
allowing them to choose
the digital tools that fit
them best.
6

7. Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
& the Social Model of Disability
▪ Key Idea: “environments and practices can equally enable or
disable individuals.
▪ “UDL moves the focus away from individual characteristics to the
environment’s own ability to widen or restrict access”.*
▪ “UDL then should be “seen as the procedural translation and
application of the social model of disability, and not as a
stand-alone technique of access”.*
* Fovet, Jarrett, Mole and Syncox,
McGill University, 2014

8. Canada & Ontario:
Educational Attainment & Disabilities in PSE
▪ As can be seen in the chart here, while a
higher share of people have
postsecondary credentials, the gap
between those with disabilities and
those without has not closed over time.
▪ Canadian sources suggest proportions
of the student population with
disabilities range from 5% to 15%, with
universities and college proportions
significantly different
▪ McCloy and DeClou’s 2013 report
provides a quite comprehensive view to
the Ontario situation, and to a lesser
extent, that of Canada as a whole.
McCloy, U. and DeClou, L. (2013).
Disability in Ontario: Postsecondary education participation rates, student experience and
labour market outcomes. Toronto: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario.

9. UX: General Principles
• User is the Center
• UX is Holistic
• Great UX is Invisible
• UX is a Lifecycle
• Context is King
• Give User the Control
• UX is a Conversation
• Great UX is Simple
Ying Jiang | UX Designer
GingerStudio.com

10. User experience (U/X): Why simplicity matters, or
Taking charge of making it better for your students
▪ Universal design principles point to
design that makes it easy to choose to
listen “in the moment of need”
▪ This also supports user autonomy and
self-efficacy
▪ Over the years, best practices have
improved, and
we know more about how to drive
higher engagement

11. Examine user experience (UX) to reduce/eliminate
barriers to usability and findability
“We already have <insert name of good AT software>.
What is gained by using ReadSpeaker in our LMS and website?”
Good question. To decide to use something, the user must first
know it is available to be used.
Finding accessibility features is often pretty hard
▪ Presumes that the student will plan ahead and has continual
access to their own or staff computer support skills
And, it’s not a 90%+ Windows world anymore; there are multiple
support needs, and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) to consider
▪ Platforms (PC’s, Chromebooks, Smartphones, Tablets, and more)
▪ Operating systems (Windows XP – 7 – 8 – 10 etc, Macintosh,
Chrome O/S, iOS, Android, Linux and more
▪ Browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer, Opera, and
many more)
That’s where
ReadSpeaker helps
– across all platforms,
in an obvious and
consistent way –
ready, on-demand…
Just press the
Listen button!

12. Text to Speech Technologies

13. Ontario Ministry of Education: What Works, 2011
“The Voice of Text-to-Speech Technology”
“Research Tells Us
• Children who fall behind as readers read
less; this, in turn, can increase the skills
gap between struggling readers and their
peers.
• Self-efficacy – belief in oneself as a
reader – is half the battle in helping
students learn to read.
• Choice – in what to read, when to read
and how to read – acts as a powerful
motivator for all students and especially
for those who struggle with reading.
• Text-to-speech technology facilitates
student choice, differentiation and self-
advocacy.”
Dr. Michelann Parr, Schulich School of Education

14. The Reader as Navigator,
& Where TTS Helps The Learner*
The Map Reader The Purposeful Traveller The Captain The Chartmaker
Recognizes and uses a variety of
word solving strategies**
Selects texts and reads in a way that
permits travel to different times and
different places for different purposes.
Establishes a purpose for navigating a
text.
Recognizes reading as a
transaction among reader, author,and
reading community.
Draws on a repertoire of known
words and symbols and continually
develops a reading vocabulary that
allows navigation of a variety of
texts.
Is anchored in comprehension by
knowledge of a variety of text features
(e.g., story, poem, information).
Recognizes that the journey — the
purpose of reading — is the destination.
Explores, extends, and revises ideas,
information, and perspectives in texts in
order to help others travel
to different times and different places for
different purposes.
Recognizes and navigates
language conventions (e.g., sentence
structure, punctuation
Adjusts sails (reading strategies and
reading rate) to match the text
form and the purpose of travelling
through the text.
Recognizes that reading always involves
travelling through a text in search for
meaning.
Engages in critical thinking, critical
consciousness, critical literacy/ inquiry in
order to facilitate future voyages.
Recognizes and uses visual information as
a guide to comprehension.
Recognizes the author’s voice in a text. Knows and sails through a variety of
comprehension strategies
Recognizes points of view,
omissions, and multiple perspectives of
travellers and texts they encounter
along the way.
** (including awareness of letter–
sound relationships or decoding,
word analysis, syntax clues, and
context clues).
Travels successfully through a text
by thinking metacognitively,
connecting to previous voyages, and
making meaning.
Checks in and self-monitors while
reading, recognizing when the route to
comprehension breaks down and adjusts
sails to restore it.
Responds to texts in a variety of ways,
discovering new worlds and charting new
course.
Sustains travel through text and
comprehension, and maintains interest
over an extended time.
Responds to texts in a variety of
ways, adjusting sails when
necessary.
Excerpted from: Parr, M., & Campbell, T. (2012). Classroom Literacy Essentials: Weaving Theory into Practice for Successful
Instruction in Reading, Writing, and Talk. Toronto, ON: Pembroke Publishers (p. 66), as presented by Dr. M. Parr to International Reading Association conference

15. Who benefits when you speech-enable your
websites, documents and learning systems?

16. Who benefits?
Several Groups of People, and Schools themselves!
▪ Busy learners who like to multitask or listen on the go.
▪ People – students, instructors & community - with reading
impairments, including dyslexia.
▪ People with concentration difficulties.
▪ People with cognitive impairments.
▪ People who are non-native speakers of the language in which they
are studying
▪ People with visual impairments.

17. Who benefits? People who value being mobile
▪ Busy people who can save time by
listening to important content while
they’re on the go – on transit, say, or at
the gym
▪ ReadSpeaker is device-independent, so it
works on mobile devices like smartphones
and tablets, as well as computers, and is
not tied to any particular browser
▪ Better yet – the “download as mp3”
feature means students can – and do! –
choose to simply listen off-line as well

18. Literacy Levels in Canada:
More Canadians struggle with reading than most people realize
Source: Government of Canada,
http://www4.hrsdc.gc.ca/.3ndic.1t.4r@-eng.jsp?iid=31
• Most recent international OECD
survey (2012):
• Since 53% of Canadians with some
post-secondary education achieved
Level 3 literacy level (equivalent to
high-school graduate), that means..
• Even 47% of Canadian adults with
some post-secondary education were
below adequate levels of literacy!
• Look to the right: some 27% of adults
with degrees also struggle with even
moderately complex written English

19. Who benefits? Students with certain disabilities
▪ Students with learning disabilities –
whether they have been approved
for special needs services or not
▪ Learners with reading impairments,
including dyslexia.
▪ Learners with concentration
difficulties, even if temporary or
situational
▪ Students with visual impairments

20. Who benefits? People whose English or French skills
may be passable, but perhaps not fast
▪ One example group are some
international students
▪ Learners who are non-native speakers of
the language in which they are studying
▪ Students can be more efficient in their
studying – and save time in not having
to re-read as often -- by taking
advantage of bimodal reading

21. Who benefits? If Retaining and Graduating Students
matters, then Everybody Benefits!
▪ 2014 Canadian study recommends enhancing course self-efficacy to
increase student success
▪ “Findings on the Course Self-Efficacy Scale suggest that enhancing one’s belief that
one can effectively research a term paper, do well on exams, manage time
effectively, take good class notes, keep up-to-date with school work, and
understand the material in textbooks may improve academic performance and
increase the likelihood of graduation….
▪ “Findings on the CEQ School Environment measure suggest that campus
IT departments can help by ensuring that information on campus web sites is
accessible and by providing adequate assistive technologies in the diverse
computer labs on campus. Training on computer technologies both on and off
campus, and ensuring the availability of course materials (alternate formats)
can also facilitate success.”
Fichten, CS et al, 2014. College and university students with disabilities:
“Modifiable”…factors related to grades and graduation
Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 27 (3), p. 286

22. Why Not Deliver on UDL in class (located wherever)
via your virtual learning environment (VLE)?
▪ UDL is an important approach to reaching and enabling
students by providing multiple ways to learn and demonstrate
learning
▪ ReadSpeaker has built integrations with the world’s leading
VLE’s such as (Moodle, Desire2Learn, Blackboard, Canvas, and
more ) to provide one key way to deliver alternate ways to
learn…you might call it “automatic on-demand audio”
▪ UX: keeping the user interface simple and effortless --
available in the moment of need -- matters. It drives
engagement and usage

23. 23
Who is ReadSpeaker?

24. Premier Provider of Text-to-Speech Technology
ReadSpeakerdevelops
text-to-speech technologies and
services to interpret and audibly read
text in a synthetic yet naturalized,
human sounding voice, entirely
managed on its own proprietary
technology infrastructure
5,000+
Websites and
Mobile Apps
40+
Languages
150+
Voices

25. A sample of Education customers

26. ▪ ReadSpeaker was the first company to provide online text-to-speech
solutions in 1999.
▪ ReadSpeaker can provide the widest choice of synthetic voices in the
market.
▪ ReadSpeaker is the only global TTS platform that builds its own high-
quality voices.
▪ We control the total delivery chain from the TTS voice engine to the
end-user and back
▪ Our extensive linguistics department takes care of pronunciation
corrections based on client feedback, at various levels
The ReadSpeaker Voice Quality difference

27. Technology Advantage: Our End-to-End Platform
Means You Get the Best Quality Voices
ReadSpeaker’s end-to-end platform control
allows for real-time adjustments, which leads
to better quality voices & user experience
ReadSpeaker
Enterprise
Platform
Enterprise
Highlighting
docReader
TextAid
Web API’s
Production
services
Third-Party
Providers
rSpeak
ReadSpeaker’s
Proprietary
Voice Engine
TTS Packaging
Speech Server
SDK’s
SAPI OEM
Product
Offerings
Web Reading
Learning
Licensing/
Applications
Platform
Technology
Markets
Served
Suppliers
(Voices)

28. ReadSpeaker Presence 2018
ReadSpeaker is now present in over 60 countries
offices
clients

29. How do we do this?
In practical terms?

30. What do I have to do to turn this on in our D2L?
How do we get started?
Here’s the 1 page guide from D2L:
▪ 1. Get a ReadSpeaker customer ID
▪ 2. Enter this ID in Config Variable
Browser in Admin Tools in
Brightspace
▪ 3. In Organization Tools, switch
ReadSpeaker to “ON”.
You’re done!

31. ReadSpeaker for Brightspace:
Overviews and Video Tours
Video Overview: ReadSpeaker for Brightspace
Video overview: ReadSpeaker docReader in Brightspace
Video Overview - ReadSpeaker TextAid LTI for D2L: Quizzes & More

32. In a word, YES!
ReadSpeaker offers a wide variety of solutions & toolsets
▪ Generally our streaming solutions (like the integrated
ReadSpeaker for Brightspace) come with a one-
time setup fee and an annual service fee that includes
all upgrades and maintenance.
▪ For educational institutions, ReadSpeaker’s pricing
brackets are structured by the number of students
ReadSpeaker TextAid is priced separately and can be
individual or institutional/managed in your LMS.
Our Production and TTS Licensing offerings are generally
based on consumption and a wide range of use case
models
Is it affordable?
How do ReadSpeaker Pricing Models Work?
ReadSpeaker
for Learning Management Systems Standard Pricing
Tiers*
1 -500
501-1000
1001-2000
2001-5,000
5,001-8,999
9,000-15,999
16,000-31,999
32,000-54,999
55,000-72,000
72000 +
* Typically full-time equivalent (FTE) students

33. STRATEGY
UBIQUITOUS ANY Where ANY Time ANY Content
Compatible with all
browsers and devices
Device-independent
45 plug-ins for CMS/LMS
Expert development team
Any Device
99.92+% uptime
Scalable for 10,000+
customers
Customers can and do
have millions of listens
per day
Online & offline
Web pages, online
documents and forms,
apps, digital books,
eLearning materials,
devices, and more

34. STRATEGY
VOICESPECIALISTS
Powerful TTS The Best Voices Linguists
 More than 40 languages and
150 of the best voices on the
market
 We build our own voices
 Pronunciation fine-tuning
and corrections based on
feedback (names, acronyms,
special words…)
 Multi-layer pronunciation
correction per language, voice,
client
 Customizable dictionaries
 Web-based services have no
capacity limit compromises
 Our linguists are experienced
scientists with global experience
 Improvements at various levels
from engine to dictionaries and
library
 25% of the team’s time is spend
on R&D

35. ▪
And ReadSpeaker goes that extra
mile….

36. ▪
…we provide implementation,
deployment and statistics....to support
you and provide proof of value
delivered.

37. Thank You!
Michael Hughes, Business Director, Canada
ReadSpeaker
Toronto, ON
Canada
M: +1 416 455 7658
E: Michael.Hughes@ReadSpeaker.com
T: @ServeLeadChange
Questions & Discussion