Are you ready for a learning revolution?

Welcome back to ReadSpeaker Education Express.

We are about to wave goodbye to 2024 (our 25th birthday year) and say hello to some big changes coming in 2025 and beyond. Are you prepared for various legislation, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the European Accessibility Act (EAA)? Are you ready for the transformations both are set to bring to the education world? We are in full support and will be providing hints, tips and checklists as we get closer to these deadlines, so keep an eye on our channels!

In the meantime, we've got plenty of news, updates and stories from customers about how text-to-speech and speech-enabled learning tools support:

• multilingual learners
• Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
• students with diverse learning needs
• educators who implement accommodations.

How are assessments adapting to EdTech expansion?

With EdTech advancing faster than ever, questions can arise about how we assess student progress and the knowledge they have gained.

With a wide range of digital assessment tools available that can help reduce the workload of both teachers and invigilators, how can we ensure that all students are given a level playing field when it comes to their exams?

Read our blog The Role of Assistive Technology in Technology-based Assessments to explore the range of tools that are now available, making assessments both accessible and effective.

UDL - the buzzword that's worth the hype

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is THE topic that people can't stop talking about - and with good reason!

We've hosted two webinars focused on the subject in the last month. Watch a short snippet below from our most recent session, where we were joined by D2L 's Global Accessibility Lead, Dr Sambhavi Chandrashekar, PhD .

You can access the recordings easily to watch each webinar in full by clicking the links below:

• Hear from Ginger Dewey , Colleen Sandquist , Janea Menicucci, MA, NBCT and Michelle Soriano and learn how to implement UDL, AEM (Accessible Educational Material) and AT (Assistive Technology) in harmony to achieve the equitable trifecta - and a more accessible and equitable learning environment.
• Explore the three UDL principles to create inclusive learning environments with Dr Sambhavi Chandrashekar, PhD , Jarno Aantjes and Richard Risholm .

Mixed feelings about the role of AI in education?

At the recent OEB Global Conference we heard lots of conversations about AI - some enthusiastic and some filled with apprehension.

We've been using AI for many years to create our voices, using deep neural networks (DNN) to produce audio that mimics a human voice. Before the advent of Chat GPT put AI at the top of the education agenda, we were using this technology to help make content more accessible, engaging and inclusive for all.

We think it's important that you and your learners are aware of the technology our tools use because some providers are failing to respect the fact that there is a real person behind every synthetic voice.

To learn how we create our voices and ensure we are ethically using the power of AI, read our short guide on Best practices for the AI voice industry.

Education Events

We've had the most amazing 12 months attending events all over the globe. Thank you to everyone who visited our stands, listened to one of our presentations, took one of our learning catalogues home, and connected with us after they met us in person. Let's do it all again in 2025!

Where can you find us in January?

Meeting the community face-to-face is all the inspiration we need - so make sure you visit us at our upcoming events.

• Bett Global (London, UK) 22-24 January
• Learning Technologies France (Paris, France) 29-30 January

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