Universal Access in Pixie 2

Transcription

1 Universal Access in Pixie 2

2 Universal Access in Pixie 2 What is Pixie? Pixie is exciting creativity software students can use to further their exploration of the world around them. Teachers can use and create customized activities to help their students gain foundational content knowledge in core subjects or design open-ended lessons combining text, stickers, and paint that help students apply the knowledge they have learned. Whether students explore ready-made curriculum activities, demonstrate their understanding and knowledge through directed work, or showcase their creativity and imagination with original art and writing, Pixie is the only canvas they need. Pixie Universal Accessibility Features Pixie helps students with special needs show what they know. Version 2 of Pixie includes new features that broaden its accessibility, making it usable for an even wider range of learners. Pixie 2 includes several features and preferences that allow users with additional needs utilize the software more effectively. These include: 1. Talking interface and text-to-speech capabilities Preferences that support interface modifications a. Accessibility...6 b. Display... 7 c. Library - (Stickers)...8 d. File Chooser - (Open Dialog)...9 e. Text Customizable activities Keyboard equivalents for use with adaptive keyboards...12 This guide is designed to explain these features and provide suggestions for their use with different populations. Classroom Connections Meeting Diverse Learning Needs Integrating technology into the language arts curriculum should be a simple process, but for many special education classes this continues to be a challenge. Pixie has allowed our teachers to differentiate within the classroom and the curriculum with very little effort. Our special education classrooms are made up of many different students with very diverse learning styles and needs. Our project was simple. The children were creating holiday cards for their families. Some were authoring their own poems, some were creating a classroom letter, and some were just drawing pictures. With the addition of Pixie, students were able to better express themselves. They decorated a title page, and then we imported or allowed them to author directly into Pixie. The most exciting piece was recording their own voices reading their own words, the class note, or simply sharing their own message. Students incorporated cultural differences and family dynamics in their projects. One student created a Feliz Navidad card and spoke in Spanish and chose Spanish music to accompany their card. Another student created a card to their Moms and Dads due to the family s shared custody arrangement. Students who could not write their own message or read created impromptu voice recordings. All of these projects were turned into movies and posted to our website in a protected area for the families to visit. The feedback was immediate. Both parents and teachers love the project. The children enjoyed hearing their own voices and creating the multimedia holiday cards. We created cards for the winter holidays and Valentine s Day. Anne Truger, Lake County, IL

3 Helping All Students Learn by Melinda Kolk Callie is an extremely bright Kindergartner, with what her father terms is a really wild sense of humor. Sounds pretty typical for your standard 6 year old. But Callie is anything but typical. She has a nerve disorder called Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Callie s cognitive function is completely unaffected, but the disease has left her motor skills severely limited. Weakness near her spine means she cannot roll over on her own, and lack of energy to her sensory motor neurons makes holding a pencil nearly impossible. As she gets older and begins to write, communication tools like and blogs, paired with assistive devices such as a mini-keyboard, will help her share her thoughts, ideas, and dreams. But what about in Kindergarten, when much of the day is spent drawing and writing with crayons and markers? This is where Callie s story with Pixie begins. In the fall of 2006, Mike Hakkarinen began having all of the students at Emmitsburg School in Frederick County, Maryland, use Pixie during their weekly visits to the computer lab. The Kindergartners used Pixie to paint pictures of animals in their habitats, illustrate math problems, complete patterning activities, and show their understanding of a story they had read. With the help of a miniature touch pad, Callie was able to do all of these activities with ease, and her proficiency matched, and often exceeded, the other students. But when she returned to her classroom, and the entire class continued to work on projects with crayons and markers, she was not able to use her hands to create and show all of the wonderful and interesting ideas in her mind. Noticing her success in the lab and frustration in the classroom, Mike loaded a copy of Pixie on a computer in her classroom. He worked with Callie s teacher, Carolyn Miller, so that every time the class worked with pencil, markers, and crayons, Callie could do the same work on the computer with Pixie. Using Pixie made such a change for Callie, says Mike, it really allowed her to do all the same things the other students were doing and made her feel part of the classroom. Ms. Eila Tegethoff, the Special Education Assistant to Callie, noticed a change right away. Callie enjoyed not only creating work in Pixie, but also changing it and erasing. She spent a lot of time on the computer, more time than with traditional drawing, because she could make changes with the click of her mouse. Eila also noted that her work with the software supported her work away from the computer as well; The more she played with Pixie, and the more she experienced success, the more her handwriting and desire to work with pencil and paper improved. Callie s success has prompted Mrs. Miller to expand Pixie use to the entire classroom. She used Pixie to to differentiate her instruction so that students could work at whatever level was most appropriate, whether they were at the labeling picture stage or already writing sentences using their own spelling. Pixie s approachable interface makes using it in Kindergarten a snap, and this feature really makes a difference with Callie, say her parents, who encourage her to be independent and try to find tools that will make that possible. With Pixie, this Kindergartner can really show her possibilities!

4 Talking Interface and Text-to-Speech Pixie 2 includes a talking interface and text-to-speech capabilities. These features are helpful for learners with visual impairments, dyslexia and other reading difficulties, as well as pre-literate students and ELL learners. Each element in Pixie includes a text-based tool tip or caption explaining what it does. This is true for interface buttons, tools, and options as well as descriptive text (captions) for stickers. Enabling the Talking Interface To enable the Talking Interface, go to the Edit menu (Windows) or Pixie menu (Macintosh) and choose Preferences. Click the Accessibility option in the list. Check the Enable Tooltips box. Text-to-Speech The Talk button utilizes the text-to-speech capabilities on your computer. If you do not like the voice of the text-to-speech, you can change this using the Speech control panel for your operating system. On Windows XP click the Start button and choose Control Panel. Double-click the Speech icon. Click the Text To Speech tab. Use the Voice Selection pull-down menu to choose the voice you want to use. LH Michelle is probably the most normal sounding voice on Windows. On Windows Vista click the Start button and choose Control Panel. Double-click the Text to Speech option. Use the Voice Selection pull-down menu to choose the voice you want to use. LH Michelle is probably the most normal sounding voice on Windows. Click the Show Talk Button on Toolbar check box to enable the Talk button on the Pixie toolbar. Pixie users can use the Talk button to hear names and tips for parts of the interface, buttons, stickers, and the contents of text objects. Click the Read Stickers and Text radio button if you only want the talking interface to read the names of stickers and to read the contents of text objects when they are clicked. On Macintosh OSX click the Apple menu and choose System Preferences. Click the Speech button. Click the Text to Speech tab. Use the System Voice pull-down menu to choose the voice you want to use. Alex is probably the most normal sounding voice on OS Select the Read Everything radio button if you want the talking interface to read button text, text in dialogs, and use text-to-speech to describe objects and features in Pixie. Click the OK button. My first grade TAG class had a wonderful experience this year producing a movie entitled, How Possum Lost Her Tail. This lesson on folklore was a re-telling of a Native American nature myth. Prior to this project, these students had no experience writing stories or any exposure to the software we used. Illustrating facts about possums with Pixie software suddenly motivated even the few reluctant students to continue their research. By the end of their production, my students had acquired the skills they needed to write research papers on their own. Instead of getting the typical one to two page reports that first graders usually write, they now wrote five to seven page papers! They are only six years old! Suzanne O Brien, Alpharetta, GA 4

5 Students who have a hard time reading and spelling can use the Talk button to listen to the contents of a text box and learn how the computer reads the words. If you are working with students who have reading difficulties, they can use the text-to-speech to read directions in a text box. If students have limited vision, they can listen to the contents of a text box rather than struggling to see it. This is especially useful when you create an activity and do not have room to make the text large for everyone to read clearly. These students can also click stickers in the Library to hear the caption below them or a stickers on the page to help determine what the sticker depicts. Using the Talk Button To use the talking interface while working in Pixie, click the Talk button on the toolbar. You will see the Set Caption dialog. Move the cursor over an interface object you want to hear what it does. Click a sticker to hear a description of it. Click a text object. The text-to-speech engine will read the contents of the text object. The Talk button is now a Mute button. To turn off the talking interface and text-to-speech, click the Mute button on the toolbar. Changing the Caption for a Sticker You can change the words that are read for a sticker that you have added to a page. This is especially helpful when you are making activities and want the talking interface to use terms your students will know. If you look at a sticker in the Stickers Library, you will see the caption name underneath it. Type a new caption for the sticker and click the OK button. The next time you click this sticker with the talking interface enabled, the new caption will be read aloud. Recording capabilities You can add a sound or record your voice on a Pixie page. A recorded sound plays immediately when a page is loaded, so if you have recorded directions for an activity students with limited vision or reading ability can hear the directions right away. Students with limited writing ability can use this to feature to narrate their work. To record sound on a page, connect a microphone to your computer or make sure the computer is set to record sound from an internal microphone. Click the Arrow tool on the tool palette. Click the picture background. You will see the recording options at the bottom of the Options panel. Click the Record button. To change the text for a sticker in a Pixie document, click the sticker. Go to the Options menu and choose Set Caption. Begin recording the sound. Click the Stop button when you are done recording. The recorded sound is attached to the page and will play each time the Pixie picture is opened or when the user clicks the Play button

6 Accessibility Pixie s Accessibility preferences include changes that make the program easier to learn and use. To adjust the Accessibility preferences, click the Accessibility option in the Preferences dialog. The functionality of the Smaller and Larger buttons is also available using the keyboard: ctrl + shift + alt +. Increase size of selected stickers ctrl + shift + alt +, Decrease size of selected stickers If you are using an adaptive keyboard, you can map these keyboard shortcuts to keyboard buttons. Handle Size You can use the green handles displayed around stickers, paint selections, and text objects to change the size of the object. If you are working with students with limited vision mobility, you can make the handles larger to make them easier to use. You can also control the size of stickers before they are added to the page. See the Display preferences in Pixie to set this option. Dialog Font Size For students with limited vision, you can change the text in certain dialogs to be displayed at a larger, easy-to-read size. to Click and drag the Handle Size slider to increase the size of the handles. Click the OK button. If using handles is too difficult for students with limited mobility, they can also change the size of stickers using the Larger and Smaller buttons on the Options panel. Tooltips If the tool tips preference is on, a text description will be displayed for objects when the cursor remains over an object for several seconds. You must have tool tips turned on if you want to use the Talk button to hear descriptions for the Pixie interface. Talking Interface The last preference in this pane is for the Talking Interface. As an Exceptional Student Education teacher at an inner-city high school, I often have difficulty finding assignments and projects that are both challenging and engaging. This past semester I discovered Pixie and decided to incorporate it into a poetry project my classes have been doing for several years. The student response was fantastic! I was amazed at the level of engagement the students had with the curriculum. Many of my students do not use computers at home and this was their first creative project using technology. It was great for me as a teacher, not having to worry about the program, because the students were able to figure out how to use it right away. Pixie helped the students with their critical thinking skills because they had to find ways to illustrate their own poetry. If they made an error in their writing, the illustrations became impossible, forcing them to revise their work. The students enjoyed creating the illustrations, and were able to read over their work enough that they were able to find errors that they had missed. Several of my students discovered that they could create a slideshow which they could narrate with their own voices. I allowed these students the option of creating a video that they could share in class and burn to a CD to bring home. I have never had such an enthusiastic response to a project in the past. Mary Jackson, HIllsborough County, FL 6

7 Display The Display preferences allow you to customize how some features in Pixie appear. To adjust the Display preferences, click the Display option at the Preferences dialog. Stickers Use this preference to set the default size at which stickers are added. If you are working with students with limited vision, this allows you to make the default size larger. A larger sticker size may also be easier to click and drag for students with mobility impairments. The options for this preference include Small, Medium, Large, and Extra Large. For most stickers, a small sticker size is 64 pixels, a mediumsized sticker is 128 pixels, a large-sized sticker is 256 pixels, and an extra large-sized sticker is 512 pixels. Painting Use the Painting preference to choose how cursors are displayed while painting. The image below shows how these sizes appear on a Pixie page. The Standard cursor looks like a paint brush. It does not tell the user how large the paint brush tool will paint or exactly where it will start painting. Scaling You can choose whether green resize handles are shown on stickers, paint selections, and text objects. If you are looking to reduce cognitive load, removing the handles may help. If you are working with students with limited vision, you may want to leave them on so that the selected object is more easily identified. If your student would benefit from knowing exactly where the brush will paint, change to the Precise cursor. The cursor will look like a cross hair and begin painting from the center point. You can set the handle size in the Accessibility preferences. If your student would benefit from knowing exactly how large the brush will paint, change to the Brush cursor. The cursor will assume/show the size and shape of the actual brush. For example,

8 Modify the Stickers Tab The Stickers tab in Pixie gives students access to hundreds of curriculum-related pictures they can use to complete diagrams, tell stories, create patterns, and more. However, for many special needs students, too many choices can be distracting and confusing. First, make sure that the Clip Art check box in the Pixie Media area is unchecked. In the User Media area, click the Add button. You can control the folders students will see in this tab using the Library preferences. To adjust the Library preferences, click the Library option at the Preferences dialog. You will see a Choose Folder dialog. Navigate to the folder you want to add to the library. This can be any folder of image files that you have created on your computer or network. You can also choose from the Pixie clip art library. By default, the Clip Art and DV Camera options are enabled. When your student clicks the Stickers tab, they will see all of the folders in the Stickers, or Clip Art library. The DV camera setting shows an icon at the top of the Stickers library that they can use to capture pictures. Photos are not chosen to keep the options simpler. If you like these settings, but want to simplify the number of images that show in the Clip Art library, you can uncheck the Content Server check box. About half of the stickers in Pixie come from the content server. On Windows, navigate to: C:\Program Files\Tech4Learning\Shared\Clip Art On Macintosh, navigate to: Library/Application Support/Tech4Learning/Shared/Clip Art Once you choose a folder, you will see it in the list of Added Libraries. Display Only One Stickers Category If you want to simplify the Stickers Library even more to lower cognitive load, you can choose only the folders of clip art that you want to display in the Stickers tab. If you are working on a specific project, you may choose to only have one option available. If nothing else is selected and the Clip Art option is unchecked in the Pixie Media area of this preference, the student will only see the contents of this folder when they click the Stickers tab. 8

9 Modify the Open Dialog Modify How Text in Text Objects is Displayed You can also simplify the options displayed in the open dialog. This is the dialog the student will see if they click the Open button. The File Chooser preferences allow you to customize the items that are displayed in the Open dialog. To adjust the File Chooser preferences, click the File Chooser option at the Preferences dialog. You can choose the style for new text objects. If you are working with students with limited vision, this allows you to make the text a size larger and allows you to choose a specific font that you know your student can read. To adjust the Text preferences, click the Text Options at the Preferences dialog. By default, all Pixie Media options are checked. If you want to simplify this dialog, uncheck the options you want to remove. Text Appearance Use the Font pull-down menu to choose a new default font and click and drag the Size slider to change the default size of the text. For example, if you only have the Activities box checked, this will be the only option that is displayed in the Open dialog. You can also use the options in the Spell Check area to choose how the spell check function checks the words that students type. If you have students who are poor spellers or have trouble decoding words, be sure to check the box for Check Spelling As You Type. If your student has a specific log in on the computer they are using, you can set Pixie to display their Documents and Pictures folders in the Open dialog, making it easier to find files they have saved. This will turn on the in-line spell check. Words that are misspelled will be underlined in red, providing a visual cue to the student to check the spelling. To use the Spell Check click a text box to select it. Then, go to the Options menu and choose Spell Check. Students can also right-click and underlined word to see suggested spellings. If the student has a Documents or Pictures folder that includes a lot of files, you can simplify even further by unchecking these boxes and using the Add button to choose a specific folder

10 Activities Pixie 2 includes more than 500 curriculum activities to help teachers and students connect their technology work to the classroom curriculum. But no one knows your students learning needs better than you do, so you can also create your own activities for them to use. When students open a template and try to save, Pixie automatically performs a save as, allowing the template to be used over and over. Right now I m using Pixie with a child with autism that I m tutoring. Understanding equivalent fractions and mixed numbers can be a challenge for normal students. Although Scott is very bright, math concepts often escape him. Higher-level fractions were foreign to him until I started tutoring him this summer. But he loves to draw and has discovered the Stickers in Pixie. I set up the fraction template in Pixie to review fractional parts of a whole and then moved on to a few templates that I had made to introduce mixed numbers. I then gave Scott a mixed number and had him illustrate it. I was amazed at how easily he grasped the drawing features of the program and how excited and engaged he was in mixed numbers. Next, I showed him a picture I had stamped with various animals so we could work with fractional parts of a whole, adding and subtracting fractions, writing word problems, and simplifying fractions. Scott was totally attentive, made his own picture with no problem, and retained more than I believe he would have with just paper and pencil when I reviewed with him at the end of the session. There are days I have trouble keeping Scott on task for our time together, but he is definitely engrossed in Pixie! Judy Berlage, Cobb County, GA Create and Save a Basic Activity Using the tools, stickers, text options, and recording feature, create the activity for your students. You may want to browse the existing activities for ideas. Go to the File menu and choose Save As Template. You will see the Save As Template dialog. To open this template in Pixie, click the Open button. They will see the Open Picture dialog. Click the Activities folder in the list at the left. You will see the My Activities folder. Type a name for the template in the File Name/Save As field. Click the Save button. The template will be saved in the My Activities folder in your Documents folder. My Activities Folder This My Activities folder is unique to each user. To add your activity to the My Activities folder for a different user, navigate to the My Activities folder in your Documents folder. Copy the.pxt file and paste it into the My Activities folder in the user s Documents folder Open the My Activities folder, select the activity, and click the Open button. If you are working with an individual student, it may be easier to simply copy the activity to their desktop. This way either you or the student can simply double-click to open the activity.

11 Advanced Activity Building Skills You can use features in Pixie to control how students interact with an activity. Locking Objects You can lock a sticker or text object so that the object cannot be moved or edited. Select an object. Go to the Options menu and choose Lock. The Options panel will change to indicate that the object is locked. If you need to edit the object after you have locked it, click the object to select it and click the Unlock button on the Options panel. Adding Text Objects New text objects include the instructions Double click.... This can help prompt students to enter text as part of an activity. Click the Text tool on the tool palette. You will see a text object in the middle of the picture. Click a sticker to select it. Go to the Options menu and choose Set Caption. You can find more information about this feature in the Changing the Caption for a Sticker entry in the Talking Interface and Text-to-Speech section on page 5. Moving Parts of the Picture to the Background You can move parts of the picture to the background. Students can see the background, but cannot alter the background with the paint tools. This is useful if you want to create a background that students can paint over or text objects for instructions that students should not be able to change. Paint your picture and add all objects you do not want students to be able to edit or change. Go to the Options menu and choose Send All to Background. This will move the painting and all of the objects to a layer behind the picture. You will no longer be able to edit these objects. Add any additional objects you want students to interact with and save the Pixie file as a template. Record Directions You can add a sound or record your voice on a Pixie page. A recorded sound plays immediately when a page is loaded, so if you have recorded directions for an activity, students with limited vision or reading ability can hear the directions right away. Click the Arrow tool on the tool palette. Click the picture background. You will see the recording options at the bottom of the Options panel. Do not double-click in the text object. You can use the options on the Options panel to change the font, size, and alignment. As long as you don t double-click the object, or start typing while it is active, you can save the activity and students will be able to double-click the text object and begin typing. Click the Record button to record directions. Changing Captions for Stickers When you click a sticker while Talk mode is enabled, Pixie will speak the caption for the sticker. You can change the caption that Pixie reads aloud. You can find more information about this feature in the Recording Capabilities entry in the Talking Interface and Text-to-Speech section on page

12 Pixie 2 Keyboard Shortcuts and Controls Pixie includes a tabbed interface, as well as numerous keyboard and accessibility shortcuts designed to help students control the program with an adaptive keyboard, such as the Intellikeys keyboard. If students have limited dexterity or coordination, or are using a computer with only a track pad, knowing these hot keys is also helpful. Standard keyboard shortcuts allow you to quickly access a feature in Pixie. To use a keyboard shortcut, hold down the modifier key(s) on the keyboard and press the key being modified. Tabbed Interface: You can traverse the buttons, options, and menu commands in Pixie using the keyboard. On Macintosh Press the Control+F2 keys to activate this feature. Then, use arrow keys to move around the interface. Use the spacebar to activate the tool, button, or option. Press the Control+F2 keys to activate the menus. Then, use arrow keys to navigate the menu options. Press the spacebar to activate the menu option. Accessibility Shortcuts: The following keyboard shortcuts change focus to specific areas of the Pixie interface. On Windows Press the Tab key on the keyboard to move around the interface. Then, use the spacebar to activate the tool, button, or option. To activate the menus, press the Alt key and the first letter of the menu you want. Then, use the arrows keys to select the menu option, and press the spacebar to activate. Application Shortcuts Shortcut Screen Component ctrl + shift + alt +. Increase size of selected text ctrl + shift + alt +, Decrease size of selected text ctrl + shift + alt +. Increase size of selected stickers ctrl + shift + alt +, Decrease size of selected stickers ctrl + alt +, Flip selected object(s) horizontally ctrl + alt +. Flip selected object(s) vertical ctrl + shift + alt + 1 Change paint color to Red ctrl + shift + alt + 2 Change paint color to Orange ctrl + shift + alt + 3 Change paint color to Yellow ctrl + shift + alt + 4 Change paint color to Green ctrl + shift + alt + 5 Change paint color to Cyan ctrl + shift + alt + 6 Change paint color to Blue ctrl + shift + alt + 7 Change paint color to Purple ctrl + shift + alt + 8 Change paint color to Brown ctrl + shift + alt + 9 Change paint color to White ctrl + shift + alt + 0 Change paint color to Black After activating these interface areas, choose a tool or option with the arrow keys, then press the Enter/ Return key to activate. ctrl + shift + 1 Toolbar ctrl + shift + 2 Tool Palette ctrl + shift + 3 Workspace Paint mode ctrl + shift + 4 Options tab Paint mode ctrl + shift + 5 Stickers tab Paint mode ctrl + shift + 6 Workspace Share mode ctrl + shift + 7 Options tab Share mode ctrl + shift + 8 Themes tab Share mode Paint Tool Shortcuts Windows Macintosh Action ctrl Arrow tool ctrl Selection tool ctrl Paint Brush tool ctrl Eraser tool ctrl Shape tool ctrl Paint Bucket tool ctrl Spray tool ctrl Roller tool ctrl Stamp tool ctrl Stretch tool Text Tool Shortcuts ctrl + shift + T + shift + T Add a text box ctrl + B + B Bold selected text ctrl + I + I Italicize selected text ctrl + U + U Underline selected text ctrl + alt + { ctrl + shift + { Left alignment ctrl + alt + } ctrl + shift + } Right alignment ctrl + alt + ctrl + shift + Center alignment Menu Shortcuts Windows Macintosh Action Alt + F4 +Q Exit / Quit ctrl + shift +, +, Show Preferences ctrl + shift +, + shift +, Previous Tab ctrl + shift +. + shift +. Next Tab ctrl + shift + ] + shift + ] Bring to Front ctrl + ] + ] Bring Forward ctrl + shift + [ + shift + [ Send to Back ctrl + [ + [ Send Backward ctrl + A + A Select All ctrl + C + C Copy ctrl + D + D Unselect ctrl + E + E Export Page as Image ctrl + M + M Minimize ctrl + N + N New Image ctrl + O + O Open Image ctrl + P + P Print Image ctrl + shift + P + shift + P Print All Images ctrl + R + R Rotate CW 90 º ctrl + shift + R + shift + R Rotate CCW 90 º ctrl + S + S Save Image ctrl + T + T Add a Text Object ctrl + V + V Paste ctrl + W + W Close Image ctrl + X + X Cut ctrl + Z + Z Undo ctrl + shift + Z + shift + Z Redo