This document provides resources for creating assistive and learning technology materials including free and open source software. It describes audio and image editing programs like Audacity and OpenOffice that can be used to create multimedia language learning materials. Examples are given of converting texts to audio books using RoboBraille and creating a do-it-yourself Spanish lesson with inserted audio files and images.

1. Eva Gyarmathy: Resources for assistive and learning technology
Content:
 Introduction
 Image- and audio editors
 Audacity
 Lame
 Presentation - OpenOffice
 Further useful programmes
 RoboBraille
 AMIS - Daisy audiobook reader
 VirtualDub
 CDex
 An effective method
 A do-it-yourself Spanish lesson
Introduction
It can be useful, although time-consuming to prepare your own learning material, in
comparison to using ready-made ones. It is worth knowing some useful websites
and you need some diligence, as well. However, in the case of do-it-yourself
audiovisual materials, you already learn when creating them.
Image- and audio editors
Image- and audio editors can offer substantial help. Even using easy-to-use free
tools, marvellous multimedia language learning materials can be created.
Audacity
What is it for: editing audio files (mp3, wav), audio recording
Installation on Windows: download the “Audacity 2.0.2 installer” exe on the website
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows , then run the exe file, and
follow the steps to install the programme (if your Windows asks whether you allow it
to run, because its source is unknown: Yes). Important: to be able to save mp3 files,
it is worth installing the programme “Lame”, as well, right after this (see below)!
To get a non-English version, for example, Hungarian: after starting Audacity, go to
the menu Edit > Preferences... > Interface and in the drop-down menu “Language”,
choose Hungarian, and then click “OK”, and restart Audacity.
Saving parts of an audio file:
Open the relevant file as usual. Using the left mouse button, you can select parts. By
pressing the Shift key while doing one click with the left mouse button, you can
modify the start or endpoint of the selection. The play button will play only the
selection, so it can be used to check whether the selection is correct. Then go to File

2. > Export selection... Then choose mp3 in the bottom drop-down menu.
Recording:
You can record your voice with a microphone by pressing the red record button. You
can temporarily pause recording by pressing the blue pause button, and when you're
done, terminate recording with the yellow stop button. Then you can select parts of
the recording and delete them using Edit > Delete (if you've made an error in a
sentence, for example). Save as described above.
Lame
What is it for: to be able to save sound files into mp3 using Audacity.
Installation: download the installer
http://lame3.buanzo.com.ar/Lame_v3.99.3_for_Windows.exe
and then run it (as described under Audacity). There is nothing else to do.
Presentation – OpenOffice
It is a versatile programme, which can be used among others for note taking and
creating mind maps, as well. It is excellent for preparing a do-it-yourself learning
material.
 Copy texts: The key combination “Shift + Ctrl + V” allows you to copy texts
with no formatting.
 Inserting a picture: Insert > Picture > From file.., then
 you can resize it (you can keep its original aspect ratio if you hold the Shift key
pressed).
 Inserting audio: Audio that plays automatically: Insert > Movie and sound.
Audio that play when clicking on a picture:
 Right click on a picture, then
 from the drop-down menu under Interaction > Action at mouse click,
 choose Play sound and, then
 select the file at the bottom to play.
Further useful programmes
Other programmes can help in making language learning a multimedia experience.
The use of these is not complicated, either.
RoboBraille
It is quick and easy to use, and you don't have to install any programme at all.
1. You have to upload the file you want to convert on the website
http://www.robobraille.org, then
2. specify the format you want for the result, as well as the language of the file,

3. and the email address you want the result to arrive.
3. After a short while, the document or audio file in the format of our choice will
arrive by email.
You can use RoboBraille to convert longer texts, so that you can create audio books
even from multi-page documents.
The most important output formats
 mp3 audio – reads out the text
 e-Book – ePub = text format easy to read on iPhone and iPad
 mobi = text format easy to read on Amazon Kindle
 Document conversion – converting an image or a “non-textual” pdf into text.
AMIS – Daisy audiobook reader
It uses yellow highlighting to indicate the sentence that is currently being read out.
Installation on Windows:
English version:
http://www.daisy.org/projects/amis/downloads/Setup-amis-U.S.English.exe
Hungarian version:
http://www.daisy.org/projects/amis/languages/Setup-amis-Magyar.exe
Using RoboBraille, you can convert a Word .doc into Daisy, and have an audio e-book
of your own. :)
VirtualDub - for editing videos (for example, for mixing music to accompany a video)
http://www.virtualdub.org/
CDEx - download individual tracks from an audio CD as mp3 files
http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/?q=download
An effective method
 Using PowerPoint or OpenOffice Impress slides, it is easy to split up texts into
sentences and smaller chunks, put them in a table and complement the text
with sound.
 Either you already have the audio material, or you can use RoboBraille
(http://www.robobraille.org/web3) to convert text into sound.
 Google translate - translation, as well as audio material is available on this site.
It can read out the text you type in or its translation. With a little 'hacking',
you can download a text of up to 150 characters in an mp3 file by typing the
following into the browser navigation bar:
http://translate.google.com/translate_tts?tl=hu&q="Enter text here" (The
“tl=hu” means the language of the text is Hungarian; you can find language
codes by selecting the relevant language on the usual Google translate page

4. and inspecting the navigation bar after a translation. For example, for a text in
English, use “tl=en”.) It can then be used in your do-it-yourself learning
material.
 Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net), already mentioned above, is easy
to use. It is no more complicated than a traditional tape recorder.
A do-it-yourself Spanish lesson
By inserting audio files, you can listen to the text all in one or sentence by sentence
as many times as you like when learning.
Audio files you converted from a text in doc format using RoboBraille can be edited
and trimmed using Audacity. You can also insert mnemonic pictures.
Or even songs: