Transformative Applications in Education/Blio

What is Blio?


Blio is eReader software that presents electronic books, magazines, and other digital content. Designed for readers on the go, Blio keeps printed books in their original format. Not only does Blio have ebooks, but also cookbooks, travel guides, instructional books, and children’s stories. The Blio Bookstore offers a wide selection, which includes over a million free books. Books that are downloaded are stored in a virtual library that can be accessed on multiple devices [KNFB Reading Technology, Inc. 2010]

What are the features of Blio?
Blio allows readers to highlight, underline, and annotate to easily recall information later. Readers can adjust reading speed when accessing text-to-speech, as well as font size. To create study materials readers can save images, videos, or notes from Blio documents and export them to use in a document. If reading on a small screen, students can view text only, which will make the most of their screen space. In 3D “book view” realistic page turning provides students with a real-life reading experience. Different page views allow students to customize their screen layout [KNFB Reading Technology, Inc. 2010]

Where can the Blio reader be used?
Available soon, Blio can be used on a Windows, Mac, or Linux system, as well as on the Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile, or iPhone. The supported eBook formats include XPS, PDF, and ePub [KNFB Reading Technology, Inc. 2010]

How can Blio be used in the classroom?
The books from the Blio Bookstore can be read to students aloud using TTS (text-to-speech). Students can also follow along with the audio while the words being spoken are highlighted. The read-aloud feature allows readers an audio experience that would benefit visually impaired students and auditory learners. The embedded multimedia gives students a graphics-rich experience. The color books offered in the Blio Bookstore come to life with the 3D “book view” for life-like page turning. Students will be able to read books on mobile devices, as well as PC’s in the classroom. The amount of books available for a classroom will no longer be an issue, as students will be able to access Blio even from home or on their mobile device [KNFB Reading Technology, Inc. 2010]