Ted Power
Self-access centres and independent learning

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--Educational Technology for self-access centres and independent learners

Learn &/or teach without using books or paper

  1. A DVD/video and CD/JPG picture projector with built-in speakers (+ IN/OUT external connections)
  2. A self-access centre in the palm of your hand
  3. Digitise your LP records, reel-to-reel and cassette tapes
  4. Software for teaching basic reading skills (phonics) via computer or electronic whiteboard
  5. Digitise most sizes of film negatives (even glass negatives) and colour slides
  6. Reasonably-priced radios with accessible "on board" controls and good quality audio
  7. wind-up 12-LED lantern and battery/mains-powered 16-LED lamp for low energy consumption during power cuts
Click on links below to review products of interest to teachers, resources managers and independent learners:


1. A DVD/video and CD/JPG picture projector with built-in speakers --Simply use DVDs/CDs or project from external sources via the Optoma's connection sockets

A reasonably priced 952.314 ADASTRA 86" TRIPOD PROJECTOR SCREEN 4:3 can be purchased if you lack an interior wall (preferably painted with brilliant white Matt emulsion)

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Optoma DVD100 - Home Cinema Projector With In Built DVD Player is easy to carry from place to place. It is self-contained (i.e. with its own built-in amplifier and speakers, which are fine for Home Cinema). It also incorporates all the necessary INPUT/OUTPUT socket connections for:

  1. (blue) VGA component scart audio and video input from a PC computer (via Optoma's VGA Component scart socket - 1.5 metre VGA to VGA cable is supplied with VGA to Scart adapter. You can buy a 5 metre VGA to VGA cable on ebay for less than £5 including postage)
  2. (black) S-VHS video input from a television, camcorder, VHS/DVD recorder, DVD player (not necessary since there is a DVD drive built into the Optoma)
  3. (yellow phono socket) video input from a television, camcorder, VHS/DVD recorder, DVD player (not necessary since there is a DVD drive built into the Optoma)
  4. (light green phono) 3.5 inch stereo for audio input from analogue source e.g. audio from TV, DVD player, camcorder etc
  5. (black digital audio out) for connection to an external amplifier and separate speakers
  6. (white & red phonos) audio output for analogue connection to an external amplifier and separate speakers

The Optoma's DVD drive will accept CDs (e.g. containing your JPG pictures) as well as DVDs, so it is perfect to carry round with you to give displays.

You need a fairly dark room, but screen size can be up to about 108 inches (measured across the screen diameter), which is big enough for most school halls. When not at work, it is fun using the projector for Home Cinema viewings of your own DVDs (e.g. Jean de Florette, The Sound of Music...anything where the photography deserves a larger screen). 4:3 and widescreen screen sizes can be selected.


2. a self-access centre in the palm of your hand, which can hold over 1,500 books
ebooks are set to further revolutionize the way that readers (especially English language learners) access information.

Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6 inch diagonal screen display) can now be shipped to the UK from the USA. Customers in United Kingdom will enjoy:

Over 290,000 book titles, in addition to US & international newspapers/magazines and blogs, are already available. Page turning is 20% faster than on previous models.

Your own home-made files can be stored and displayed on Kindle: Content Formats Supported: Kindle (AZW), TXT, Audible (formats 4, Audible Enhanced (AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; PDF, HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion.

A useful feature for English language learners is the new Text-to-Speech feature, which can read every book, blog, magazine, and newspaper out loud to you. Don't, however, expect perfect sentence stress, rhythm and intonation!

Other ebook readers which work in the UK include:

the Sony Reader Digital Book PRS505S and The iliad reader

Do ebooks offer the high definition, feel and visibility of traditional books?
Can you read them outdoors on a sunny day?

Read Andrew Marr's review from Technology Guardian 11 May 2007. Do ensure that any ebook downloads you buy, are compatible with your model of ebook reader. Note that Amazon's latest ebook reader, a model for use in the USA, has overcome some of the weaknesses mentioned in Andrew Marr's 2007 review of The iliad reader, a model for use in the UK.

Amazon has a considerable interest in getting ebook technology right since they are increasingly selling downloads on their sites in addition to physical products such as books and CDs. Ebook reader technology and downloads are set to compete fiercely with hard copies of books and audio recordings. There are savings in cost, savings to the environment (felling trees for making paper!) and opportunities to reduce the clutter taking up physical space in many of our homes.

27,000 ebooks which can be downloaded for free

Project Gutenberg offers free downloads of books which are 'out of copyright', which include many favourites. Click here for the top 100 downloads. Most of these downloads are in text (.TXT) format, which means that they can be downloaded to all makes of ebook reader or to any storage drive (internal/external/usb memory stick) for display on a computer screen or on an interactive Whiteboard.


3. Does your home, school or self-access centre suffer from the storage and accessibility problems posed by
-- a) vinyl LPs b) reel-to-reel tapes, c) audio cassette tapes, or d) boxes full of CDs?

Vinyl LPs are prone to damage. Reel-to-reel and audio-cassette tapes progressively lose quality each time they are played. The life of an audio or data CD is not as long as often assumed, though hard disk drives can also fail. It is advisable to back up your digitised audio recordings, converted from analogue sources such as vinyl LPs or audio tapes to WAV/MP3/WMA files, both to CDs and to a reliable external hard drive.

Windows users based in the UK--Magix Audio Cleaning Lab 15 Deluxe--

Mac users based in the UK--Sound Studio 3

Windows users based in France--Audio cleaning lab 2008 deluxe

Windows users based in the US--Acoustica Spin It Again 2.1 Music Conversion Recording Software - Windows

Mac users based in the US--Sound Studio 3: Record, Edit, Add Effects to Audio (Mac)

The above packages will let you import audio from your vinyl LP or tape and create a CD, editing &/or cleaning the recording and inserting track markers where you wish. Instead of, or as well as, exporting the recording to audio or data CD, you can create MP3 files, WAV files or WMA files to store on a USB memory stick or an external hard drive.

The modern self-access centre will serve audio from a computer hard drive. The choice of audio recording (assuming that you are licensed to use it) can be presented as part of an index on any page (e.g. web page or Microsoft Word page) which can carry hypertext links. A click on the relevant link can play the audio file required. This system will be viable if your school or centre has made its own in-house audio recordings and therefore owns the copyright and distribution rights.

Labelling the contents of your resources using Microsoft Word templates - --Choose between: CD label--DVD label--audio cassette label.


4. Software for the interactive Whiteboard or your computer lab:--teaching basic reading and writing skills
---Start a school----------------------------Equip your early learning centre

The materials (1-6), listed below, provide systematic practice of synthetic phonics: consonant clusters, sound segmentation and blending. Stages 1 to 6 (of songbirds or e-songbirds) cover all 44 English phonemes (vowel and consonant sounds) and offer activities to develop new reading skills, contextualising phonic learning and increasing comprehension of the written word. This is a fun approach. Julia Donaldson is one of the most successful living writers of stories and educational materials for very young children, including The Gruffalo and The Snail and the Whale.

Teaching small children (aged 5 and 6) to read via the interactive Whiteboard using e-songbirds Phonics: CD-ROMs

  1. Oxford Reading Tree: Stages 1+-2: e-songbirds Phonics: CD-ROM Single-user Licence
  2. Oxford Reading Tree: Stages 1+-2: e-songbirds Phonics: CD-ROM Unlimited-user Licence
  3. Oxford Reading Tree: Stages 3-4: e-songbirds Phonics: CD-ROM Single-user Licence
  4. Oxford Reading Tree: Stages 3-4: e-songbirds Phonics: CD-ROM Unlimited-user Licence
  5. Oxford Reading Tree: Stages 5-6: e-songbirds Phonics: CD-ROM Single-user Licence
  6. Oxford Reading Tree: Stages 5-6: e-songbirds Phonics: CD-ROM Unlimited-user Licence

Note: all the above Oxford Reading Tree titles are designed for the UK National Curriculum Key Stage 1 (5 to 6 year-old children)

Are you equipped to teach a child or an adult basic reading skills?

Is it worth using phonics to teach reading when so many of the English sounds can be represented by a variety of spellings?

Two research projects conducted in 1966 focusing on American English suggest "yes":
1. Paul R. Hanna et al., Phoneme-Grapheme Correspondences as Cues to Spelling Improvement (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office)
2. Richard L. Venezky and Ruth H. Weir. A Study of Selected Spelling-to-Sound Correspondence Patterns. (Cooperative Research Project No. 3090. Stanford University. Cal).

These studies established that American English orthography is alphabetically based at least eighty per cent of the time and that the unit phoneme-grapheme correspondences can be predicted upon sound bases alone about ninety per cent of the time.

Computational linguistics has grown of age since the above studies were conducted. It is not difficult now to do your own research, using either British or American English phonemes and spellings as given in either the Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (17th Edition) or the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary both with interactive CDs which allow 'wildcard searches for spellings', based on combinations of phonemes. You can test out any phoneme in any possible position in the word for variant spellings, and assess the difficulty of reading the target sound correctly.

Should the method of teaching reading be limited to phonics?

Clearly not, and authors of reading schemes such as Oxford Reading Tree Songbirds Phonics are far more eclectic in their methodology.

For example, the phonics focus of Stage 6: Songbirds: Paula the Vet is the sound as in the first syllable of the word "August". However, Paula The Vet includes practice of the sound using the variant spellings "or", "au", "aw", "ore", "oor" and "a".

Recognising 'whole words' visually (look and say methodology) plays a significant part in learning to read, especially as reading speed becomes greater. However, it remains the case, nearly always, that the phonetic and graphetic environments of 'single letters' or 'combinations of letters' making single sounds, provide excellent clues to the target sound.

What may go wrong educationally and socially if phonics is continued for too long?

Firstly, reading aloud is a very limited representation of the skill of reading. For the most part, reading is done silently. A 'sub-vocaliser' is usually going to be a slow and inefficient reader, and may prove to be an annoyance to peers who wish to read in silence.

Phonics is often practised with single words. If words connect to make a longer text, the latter is usually a story or something which allows a linear reading-style.

To read aloud well, a learner needs to be aware of the differences between the 'spoken' and 'written' channels. Spoken English involves features such as assimilation where the choice of phoneme used at the end of particular words depends on the phoneme beginning the next word. In these instances, phonics can badly mislead, resulting in stilted speech.

To read aloud well, also requires the use of syllable & sentence stress and intonation. Phonics may allow some success in reading aloud in a syllable-timed language such as Spanish. However, in the context of a stress-timed language such as English, phonics may result in disastrous pronunciation. Learners (e.g. adults) who may not have already spent the first five years of their lives immersed in the oral part of the target language, should not depend on phonics as a guide to how the language is spoken.

An efficient and flexible silent-reader looks beyond individual words and sentences and will be familiar with discourse markers and methods of topic development within paragraphs. Different reasons for reading affect anticipation and bring different reference skills into play. Reading 'a menu' or 'a bus timetable' differs considerably from the linear treatment given to a story text. Reading styles are several and need to be sensitive to purpose, content, text-type and layout.

Phonics may help a learner to decipher content in the very early part of the literacy programme. However, excessive focus on phonemes as components within words, especially if weak forms go unrecognised, has a very limited amount to do with 'the skill of reading' and provides a misleading and stilted model for oral production.

There are very good reasons to 'read aloud' to children. It is a step towards interesting them in books and 'radio & tv broadcasts with literary content'. Phonics has very little to do with the value of reading aloud. Adults reading to their children would do best to focus on the features of spoken English: sounds, weak forms, rhythms, contractions, sentence stress, placement of the tonic syllable, tunes etc. The actors who undertake audio-book recordings are usually able to adopt different voices for different characters. Those telling stories on children's TV can give plenty of play to gesture and facial expression, which also help to make a story.


5. Batch scanning of colour slides &/or film to digitised files (for example: TIF or JPG)

Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner (6400dpi, 3.4 Opt Density, USB 2.0)--£181.98 + free delivery

Epson Perfection 4490 Photo 3200 X 6400DPI Firewire / USB 2--£122.34 + free delivery

The cheaper scanners bundled with computer work stations or incorporated into 3 in 1 printer/scanner/photocopiers are suitable for scanning documents and photographic prints.

However, in order to scan photographic film negatives and slides (from positive film stock), you will need a slightly more expensive scanner with light coming from above as well as below.

The Epson Perfection 4490 Photo 3200 X 6400DPI Firewire / USB 2--£122.34 + free delivery--can handle almost everything: documents, prints, film (35mm, medium format), slides (35mm or square) and even glass negatives from the early 20th century.

How to scan colour slides using the Epson Perfection 4490 Photo 3200 X 6400DPI Firewire / USB 2

1. Remove the white reflective mat which remains in place when you are scanning prints or documents. This allows light to reach your slide or film from both top and bottom.

The Epson Perfection 4490 Photo 3200 X 6400DPI Firewire / USB 2 is a flatbed scanner. Unlike the very expensive upright scanners (e.g. Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 ED - Film scanner (35 mm) - 25.1 x 38 mm - 4000 dpi - Hi-Speed USB, the Epson Perfection 4490 Photo 3200 X 6400DPI Firewire / USB 2 can scan 8 slides following a single click of the SCAN button.

2. Place the slide holder (supplied with the scanner) on the flatbed and ensure the slides are the right way round, as shown in the illustrations (above and below).

For flatbed scanning, (e.g. using the Epson Perfection 4490 Photo 3200 X 6400DPI Firewire / USB 2 or Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner 6400dpi, 3.4 Opt Density, USB 2.0) the dull side (also known as the emulsion side) of the slide faces upwards and the shiny side faces downwards. It is the emulsion or dull side of the slide which is scanned from the top. You would still get a result if you scanned the shiny side by mistake, but there would be slight quality loss. Note that upright scanners (e.g. Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 ED - Film scanner (35 mm) - 25.1 x 38 mm - 4000 dpi - Hi-Speed USB scan slides from below, so the slides are fed in the other way up to their orientation on a flatbed.

The shiny side faces downwards. The emulsion or dull side must face upwards on flatbed scanners, since the top side is scanned. On a Kodachrome slide, the words Kodachrome slide should appear closest to you, but upside down. On the under-side to this, the words View from this side should appear closest to you, but upside down.

3. Slides have very small WIDTH and HEIGHT dimensions, so if the end-product you want from a digital file is a HIGH QUALITY PRINT (e.g. A4 or larger) you should choose a high print resolution such as 4800 dots per inch. SAVE to TIF format to benefit from the highest quality. This will give you a very large file size.

Scanning a 35mm slide at 4000dpi gives a file size of approximately 65.4 MB if saved to TIF
Scanning a 35mm slide at 2000dpi gives a file size of approximately 13.0 MB if saved to TIF or 600KB if saved to JPG
Scanning a 35mm slide at 1200dpi gives a file size of approximately 4.9 MB if saved to TIF or 252KB if saved to JPG

I would not advise scanning a colour slide at any less than 2000dpi. If the end-product you want is a small file size for screen display, use on a web page (e.g. 12 KB) or on a USB memory stick connected via a DVD Player to a TV screen, or email attachment (e.g. 100 KB), I would optimize the file for screen display later, using software such as Photoshop Elements, which is often bundled with your purchase of the scanner.

4. To scan all eight slides with a single click on the SCAN BUTTON, first PREVIEW them. Then select ALL in the PREVIEW WINDOW. Then (right-hand clicking and dragging with your MOUSE) draw marquees around the areas of ALL EIGHT SLIDES which you wish to scan. Click the "ALL" button again to ensure that all eight slides remain selected. Check that the Dust Removal and Unsharp Mask Filter tick-boxes remain ticked and then click the SCAN button.

How to scan 35 mm or Medium Format film negatives using the Epson Perfection 4490 Photo 3200 X 6400DPI Firewire / USB 2

1. Place the appropriate film negative holder (both 35mm and Medium Format are also supplied with the scanner) on the flatbed, and orientate the film as marked on the top right hand edge of the film-holder.

Frame numbers viewed from above for film placed on a flatbed scanner are mirrored (i.e. inside out). They will appear near the perforations along the left hand edge of the film with the lower-numbered frames starting at the top.

2. Film negatives also have very small WIDTH and HEIGHT dimensions. I would set a scanning resolution of at least 3000dpi and higher if you want large-sized high quality prints as your end product.

3. To scan multiple film negatives with a single click on the SCAN BUTTON, first PREVIEW them. Then select ALL in the PREVIEW WINDOW. Then (right-hand clicking and dragging with your MOUSE) draw marquees around the areas of ALL THE FILM NEGATIVES which you wish to scan. Click the "ALL" button again to ensure that all film negatives remain selected. Check that the Dust Removal and Unsharp Mask Filter tick-boxes remain ticked and then click the SCAN button.

Professional scanning of colour slides to digitised files (for example: TIF or JPG)

The Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 ED - Film scanner (35 mm) - 25.1 x 38 mm - 4000 dpi - Hi-Speed USB allows you to scan one colour slide at a time. This upright scanner is a dedicated 35mm film/slide for perfectionists who want optimum colour balance and the finest detail. It can handle square slides as well as 35mm ones, providing that the slide mounts are of the same dimensions. You just need to draw a marquee around the area of the slide that you want to scan. The cost is £1,294.68 + £7.27 shipping. In honesty, dedicated flatbed scanners such as the Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner (6400dpi, 3.4 Opt Density, USB 2.0)--£181.98 + free delivery and the Epson Perfection 4490 Photo 3200 X 6400DPI Firewire / USB 2--£122.34 + free delivery are so good now, that the advantage of an upright over a flatbed is nowhere near as pronounced as it used to be. Bear in mind too that the flatbeds can handle Medium Format and glass negatives as well as 35mm film negatives, slides and documents. They are far more versatile and are capable of results which are acceptable to most people wanting to digitise their slide/film negative collections.

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The Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 ED - Film scanner (35 mm) - 25.1 x 38 mm - 4000 dpi - Hi-Speed USB with Nikon Slide Mount Adapter Ma-21

Note that unlike flatbeds, slides should be fed into upright scanners with the dull (emulsion side) facing downwards and the shiny side upwards (i.e. facing you). The words Kodachrome slide should therefore be on the under-side as you feed the slide into the scanner.

Professional scanning of 35mm film negatives to digitised files (for example: TIF or JPG)

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The Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 ED - Film scanner (35 mm) - 25.1 x 38 mm - 4000 dpi - Hi-Speed USB with Nikon Sa-21 35Mm Film Adapter Ls-40, Ls-4000

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Film negatives are also fed into upright scanners (unlike flatbeds) so that the frame numbers read the right way round (looking from the top) with low numbers (along the left hand side) nearest you, and high numbers being the first to enter the scanner.

The Digital Ice on this scanner is "ON by default setting", and should do a very good job in removing dust and scratches.


Reasonably priced radios with accessible "on board" controls and good quality audio

Stop collecting remote controls. It is much easier if the necessary buttons are on the device itself, and are easy to locate. And to avoid the complication of switching on all the components (tuner, amplifier etc) of a hi-fi system before you can simply listen the radio, consider the simplicity of just one item with decent built-in audio speakers of its own. The Roberts RD21B(ECO4) Ecologic 4 DAB/FM RDS Digital Stereo Radio, providing excellent audio for listening in larger rooms such as the living-room, can be located near to where the user sits or sleeps.

A DAB/FM radio suitable for the living-room, bedroom or garden

I recently bought a Roberts RD21B(ECO4) Ecologic 4 DAB/FM RDS Digital Stereo Radio for an elderly person who was no longer motivated to use the complicated hi-fi rack system on the opposite side of his living-room. Many elderly people living in their own homes are currently deprived of the pleasure of radio because nobody has bothered to help them acquire and set up simple-to-use, accessible systems. Instead they are confronted with a confusing collection of remote controls. The controls on the Roberts radio (below) are both on the radio itself and easily identifiable by sight or touch. This avoids the eye-strain involved in identifying small, similar-looking buttons on some other makes of radio or the confusing remotes offered as apologies for bad design. The Roberts RD21B(ECO4) Ecologic 4 DAB/FM RDS Digital Stereo Radio could be the ideal present for someone who is no longer able to search for remote controls with small buttons. The radio also uses just a conventional 3-pin plug to connect to the electric mains, not one of those clumsy AC/DC adapter plugs which get hot. It can also run on batteries (e.g. in the garden) and boasts 150 hours of battery life.

Roberts RD21B(ECO4) Ecologic 4 DAB/FM RDS Digital Stereo Radio with up to 150 Hours Battery Life - Black

A--ON/OFF SWITCH (coloured green)
B--PRE-SET BUTTONS
C--TUNING (no need to use once pre-sets have been chosen)
D--VOLUME (easy-to-find large round knob)

If you do decide to improve access to the radio (e.g. for an elderly person) it may also be desirable to supply a shelving unit to allow the user to keep the radio near them together with other items they wish to have next to where they sit.

The Langdale Beech / Silver Computer Table / TV Stand for TVs of up to 24 offers a reasonably-priced option.

Product dimensions of the above radio are 29.5cm wide x 11.5cm deep x 16.5 cm high, while the above shelving unit measures 60cm wide x 45cm deep x 76cm high with 33.5 cm (of height) between shelf-divisions.

Click here for other shelving options

A decent 3-band portable radio for the small kitchen or bathroom

I have also acquired a Roberts R9993 3-Band Portable Radio - a small portable (battery) radio for the elderly person to use in the kitchen while he is preparing his lunch. The ON/OFF is the same dial as the one used to adjust the VOLUME on the side, a traditional arrangement with which an elderly person would be familiar. The audio quality is also very good for a budget-priced radio. It is also suitable for use in the garden.

The Roberts R9993 is a 3-Band Portable Radio, offering FM, Long Wave and Medium Wave receptions. I would assume that listeners in most areas would tune to FM, since this normally offers the best reception. I considered whether I should be providing a new FM radio (as opposed to DAB) in the light of the SWITCH-OFF as broadcasters in the UK change over to digital. According to a Wikipedia article, the final report (written by Digital Radio Working Group) says FM should be switched off between 2017 and 2022.

wind-up 12-LED lantern and battery/mains-powered 16-LED lamp for low energy consumption during power cuts

The winter months often bring power cuts both to homes and educational institutions. Any or all of the following are safer alternatives to matches and candles:

16LED CRAFTLIGHT MAINS OR BATTERY OPERATED 2500LUX FULL SPECTRUM SUITABLE FOR SAD: FREE SHIPPING ON THIS ITEM UNTIL CHRISTMAS - uses 3 AA batteries or mains adapter

craft light

I was drawn to this by the generous amount of white light and the efficient use of batteries

Duracell Plus Alkaline AA Batteries Pack of 12 MN1500

batteries

In a power cut, it could be that rechargable batteries have not been recently charged, so I have gone for the normal ones.

Proteam TO1012 - 12 LED Wind Up Energy Saving Large Lantern

lantern

While batteries or candles can be used up or have little life in them, the wind-up lantern is always available as a solution.

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