Florida Department of Education

Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services

Florida Instructional Materials Center for the Visually Impaired (FIMC-VI)

TOOLS FOR ACCESSING DIGITAL MEDIA

BOOK PORT PLUS (BPP)

UNIT TWO GETTING TO KNOW YOUR BOOK PORT PLUS

Activity One:Turning on Your BPP for the First Time

  1. Unlock if BPP is locked (slide Keylock switch on bottom right side so it is down).
  2. On the upper right of face, find, press, and hold the green Power key (which has 2 tactual bumps) until it makes a noise and says, “Please Wait”.
  3. You may wait for a few minutes with silence. Then you will hear tones, then music and eventually the voice will announce the location of the books (SD Card) and then list the titles (note: if the BPP has been used before, it will say the last book played)

Activity Two:Turn On Key Describer

  1. To learn the keys without activating anything, use the Key Describer. Turn on the KeyDescriber by locating the menu key directly below the power key, pressing and holding it until you hear “Key Describer On” (about 5-10 seconds).
  2. With Key Describer on, any key you press will result in a description of what that key does, but the BPP will not perform what that key is describing. Using Key Describer is often easier than going to the internal help file to learn what each of the keys do.

Note: If you accidently release the Menu key prematurely, you will enter the menu system. Press and quickly release the menu key a second time to exit the menu system. Then try turning Key Describer on again.

  1. Leave Key Describer on and proceed to Activity 3 below.

Activity Three:Exploring All the Keys and Their Functions

  1. Now with Key Describer on, press and read along with the next steps (adjusted from “slides” in the PowerPoint version) as it guides you through all of the keys. Practice these until you feel confident about remembering the locations and functions of each of the keys.
  1. Power/Sleep Timer key—Press and hold to turn power on or off. Also, this key is used to set a timer which will stop playback and place the unit in Power Save mode after a set period of time. Press repeatedly to cycle through the following sleep timer settings:
  2. Fifteen minutes
  3. Thirty minutes
  4. Forty-five minutes
  5. One hour
  6. One hour, thirty minutes
  7. Two hours
  8. Sleep timer off
  9. Play/Stop (Enter) key—Press to start or stop audio or text playback. Also used to make a selection from a menu or list.
  10. Record key—Press and release to enter record pause (it is ready to record but it is paused). While in record pause mode, press and release to start recording. While recording, press and release to pause recording. Press Enter/Play/Stop to stop recording. Press and hold to record a voice memo. Release when finished.Note: Recording may be covered in more depth within a future module.
  11. Up Arrow key—Press to increase the playback speed. Move up a line in text files that are paused. Hold to quickly increase the speed.
  12. Down Arrow key—Press to decrease the playback speed. Move down a line in text files that are paused. Hold to quickly increase the speed.
  13. Left Arrow key—Press to rewind 5 seconds in audio. Move back by letters in text files that are paused.
  14. Right Arrow key—Press to fast forward 5 seconds in audio. Move to the next letter in text files that are paused.
  15. Menu/Key Describer key—Press to open or close the Menu system. Hold for 5 seconds to turn on and off Key Describer.
  16. Title key—Press once, then use Left or Right Arrow keys to browse other titles. Press repeatedly to cycle among the SD Card, USB Drive, and Voice Memos.
  17. Go To key—Press repeatedly to jump directly to pages, headings or percentages.
  18. Bookmark key—Press repeatedly to move to, set and clear bookmarks (including ones with voice annotation).
  19. Numeric Keypad—Bottom Row:
  20. * Star key—Press to cancel a selection or undo the last DAISY Navigation
  21. 0 key—Opens and closes entire Help document, you can listen to this orjust turn on Key Describer and press the key you want to know about, then turn Key Describer back off.
  22. # key—Press to redo (Enter) and undo
  1. Numeric Keypad—Left Side Rewind (RW) Functions:
  2. 1 key—Press in audio/DAISY files to RW 30 seconds. Press in text files during playback to RW paragraphs/30 seconds. Press in text files that are paused to RW by words.
  3. 4 key—Press in audio files to RW 10 minutes. Press in text files to RW by pages.
  4. 7 key—Press in audio/DAISY files to RW by track or album. Press in text files to RW by selected navigational levels (using the 8 key to choose the level).
  5. Numeric Keypad—Right Side Fast-Forward (FF) Functions:
  6. 3 key—Press in audio files to FF 30 seconds. Press in text files during playback to FF paragraphs/30 seconds. Press in text files that are paused to FF by words.
  7. 6 key—Press in audio files to FF 10 minutes. Press in text files to FF by pages.
  8. 9 key—Press in audio files to FF by track or album. Press in text files to FF by selected navigational level (using the 8 key to choose the level).
  9. Numeric Keypad—Center Row:
  10. 2 key—(Settings) Press repeatedly to scroll through Volume, Speed, Tone, Guide Speed, and Guide Volume. Once on the preferred setting, then quickly use the volume toggle to increase or decrease the parameter.
  11. 5 key—(Information) Press repeatedly to learn battery level, power source, and other title (book) information like: time elapsed in audio files and percentage elapsed in text files. Press and hold to hear the current time and date.
  12. 8 key—(Select Navigation) Press repeatedly in audio titles to cycle between track and album. Press repeatedly in DAISY titles to cycle through the possibilities offered in the table of contents (such as special headings); then use the 7 key and 9 key to move by the selected amount.

Note: More specific information and examples about DAISY navigation is addressed in Unit 3.

Activity Four:Turn Key Describer Off

  1. Turn Key Describer off the same way you turned it on—locate the Menu key directly below the Power key and press it until you hear “Key Describer off” (about 5 seconds).

Note: If you or a student cannot turn the BPP off, check to make sure that the Key Describer is off, because if Key Describer is on, you will not be able to turn off the BPP.

Activity Five:Navigational Keys

  1. Press the zero key on the numeric keypad to enter “help” mode. The user’s guide will begin to play.
  2. Use the 1, 3, 4 and 6 keys on the numeric keypad to skip backward and forward through the text by various increments. Perform these same actions with the Rewind and Fast-Forward keys to note the differences in movement units between the three different sets of navigational keys.
  1. Press the Play/Stop key to stop playback. Use the 1 and 3 keys to explore the document word by word. Use the 4 and 6 keys to explore the document line by line.
  2. Use the 7 and 9 keys to skip backward and forward by DAISY section headings. Note that these keys move to and announce the title of the next section in the document regardless of size but does not begin to play unless you press the Play/Stop key.
  3. Press the Play/Stop key to start playback of the user’s guide. Use the 7 and 9 keys to skip backward and forward through the document section by section. Note that each press of these keys moves to the previous or next section, announces the title of the section and automatically resumes playback from that point.
  4. Press the Play/Stop key to stop playback of the user’s guide. Press zero on the numeric keypad to exit help mode.

Activity Six:Navigation in Audio Files

  1. Press the title key one time to enter the titles list.
  2. Then use the left or right arrow key to locate the DAISY audio file titled “History in the Making: The Story of the American Printing House for the Blind, 1858-2008.”
  3. Press Play/Stop to begin audio playback.
  4. Use the Rewind, Fast-Forward, 1, 3, 4 and 6 keys to skip backward and forward through this book by various time intervals. Note the differences in movement between text and audio files.
  5. Use the 7 and 9 keys to skip backward and forward by DAISY headings (which is only by chapters in this title). Note the similarity in DAISY navigation between text and audio files.
  6. Press the Play/Stop key to stop playback.

Activity Seven:Changing Settings

  1. Use the Title key to select either an audio or text file from the SD card. Press Play/Stop to begin playback of your selection.
  2. Use the 2 key, volume toggle switch and up/down arrow keys to explore the ranges of tone, volume, and speed for the reading and guide voices, as well as to set them to your preferences.
  3. Press Play/Stop to stop playback. Again, use the same keys and toggle switch to adjust the tone, volume and speed parameters. Note that if playback is stopped the value of the parameter is announced each time the toggle is pressed, e.g., “Volume plus 3” or “Speed normal.”

Activity Eight:Review of Navigation

  1. Practice going forward and backward in this title using the keys on the left and right side of the numeric keypad discussed earlier in this presentation which is reviewed in the steps below (adjusted from “slides” in the PowerPoint version).
  2. Use a different title and practice the same skills. If you used a DAISY audio title, try a text file and vice versa.
  1. Left and Right Arrow key—Press during playback to move backward and forward by 5 seconds. Press during pause in a text file to move backward and forward by a single letter/character. This enables students to figure out the spelling of words they hear, such as vocabulary terms or unfamiliar names when taking notes.
  2. Numeric Keypad—First Row, Left and Right Columns, Rewind (RW) and Fast-Forward (FF) by matching increments:
  3. 1 key— Press in audio/DAISY files to RW 30 seconds. Press in text files during playback to RW paragraphs/30 seconds. Press in text files that are paused to RW by words.
  4. 3 key—Press in audio files to FF 30 seconds. Press in text files during playback to FF paragraphs/30 seconds. Press in text files that are paused to FF by words.
  1. Numeric Keypad—Second Row, Left and Right Columns, Rewind (RW) and Fast-Forward (FF) by matching increments:
  2. 4 key—Press in audio files to RW 10 minutes. Press in text files to RW by pages.
  3. 6 key—Press in audio files to FF 10 minutes. Press in text files to FF by pages.
  4. Numeric Keypad—Third Row:
  5. 8 key—Press to choose the level in more complex books such as textbooks.

Note: This varies for every title/book depending on how the publisher made the electronic file.

  1. 7 key and 9 key—Press to move backward and forward depending on the level chosen with the 8 key.

Note: Play with this while following along with a print copy to help define the levels for your student.

Summary:

This unit has been designed to provide a general introduction to the BPP and its basic playback functions as well as briefly introduce some more advanced features. Upon successful completion, you should be able to:

  • identify the two main functions of the BPP
  • identify the types of files or materials that can be used on the BPP
  • identify all of the jacks and interfaces located around the edges of the device
  • turn the unit on and off
  • identify the location and function of each key on the BPP
  • turn on and off Key Describer on the BPP
  • choose either a text or audio title from the selection stored on the SD card
  • play and stop/pause a selected title
  • Use the navigational numeric keypad keys to skip backward and forward within a title
  • adjust the settings, such as volume, speed, and tone, on the BPP for the reading voice and the guide voice

ACTIVITIES—Unit Two Getting To Know Your Book Port Plus