Chromebook Accessibility

Ensuring all students have the opportunity to participate in digital content.

Created by Scott Aten, February 27, 2020

I recently participated in a webinar with a team of Google Program Managers for Chrome OS that focused on accessibility features that come on all of our Chromebooks. I learned a lot from this webinar and wanted to be sure to share it with you. We are all responsible for educating a wide range of learners. There are times we may provide digital content to some students who will have difficulty accessing it and that is where these features can make a difference. It will serve all teachers to be aware of these features and how to help students access them.

I am going to break down what I saw in the presentation and I am also going to provide you with the link to the webinar in the event you would like to watch it for yourself and see everything demonstrated.

Many of the features will require the Accessibility Features to be turned on. Here is how you turn them on:

• Turn on Accessibility features of a Chromebook
• Click the status tray (the clock area in the lower left corner)
• Click the settings button (the gear)
• Click Advanced
• Click Accessibility
• Toggle On

Making things Easier to See

• Increase the size of browser content - just the browser, the desktop is unaffected
• Zoom-In (ctrl + plus key)
• Zoom-out (ctrl + minus key)
• Reset (ctrl + 0)
• Full Screen Magnifier - Zooms everything in
• TAB Key can help you toggle to different parts of the screen
• ctrl + alt + increase brightness button - zoom out
• ctrl + alt + decrease brightness button - zoom in
  
• Docked Magnifier - splits the screen to allow you to magnify an area, but still see everything in normal size at the same time.
• Adjustable Mouse Cursor - makes the mouse cursor larger and easier to see.
• Click on the status tray (clock)
• Click the settings button (gear)
• Click Accessibility
• Mouse and Touch pad
• Toggle on the "Show large mouse cursor"
• Adjust the size with the slider
• Highlight - Three options to help bring focus to where a student is working
• Text Caret - visual clue of where you are on the page. Appears blue but disappears after a few seconds.
• Move Cursor - Puts a red circle around the mouse to help you see where it is at.
• Object with Keyboard Focus - Puts a box around where to type and then disappears
• High Contrast - Inverts the colors of the screen for students with light sensitivity.
• ctrl + search button (magnifying glass) + H will toggle on and off
  

Features for Improved Motor Interactions

• Easy Dictation - allows students to speak what they want typed in any editable area or search box.
• When turned on you will see a microphone in the lower left portion of the Chromebook screen
• Click the Mic icon OR search button + D to activate
• On Screen Keyboard/Hand Writing Mode - can be used if students have difficulty using the keyboard. This will allow them to click the letters they want to type using the touch pad or a mouse.
• Automatic Clicks - if students have trouble using the touch pad to left click, right click, double click, etc
• Sticky Keys - can be set to replace multi button key sequences (i.e. Shift plus a letter to make capitals)

Captions and Making Content Easier to Hear

• Mono Audio - For students with limited hearing in one ear, this will make both headphone speakers play the same sound. Eliminates what they may miss in stereo mode.
• Captions - use the closed captions feature of Google Slides. Will display what you say as you speak when presenting a Google Slides presentation.
• Select to Speak - Built in read aloud tool. - DON'T MISS THIS ONE!!
• Once turned on the student can press search button + click and drag a box around what they want read allowed. Works on Google Form Quizzes in locked mode as well.
• For students that are English Language Learners - they can switch the language to their native language and use it to translate speak the English text in their native language.

There is a lot of good tools listed here. If you have students that have visual, fine motor, or hearing issue, then many of these FREE features could help them access the content you have been assigning.

Watch my presentation to see these tools in action.

[Green Google Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

Google Earth Projects

Google Earth offers a new and different way for students to show what they know.

Created by Scott Aten, February 24, 2020

If you have not looked at Google Earth in awhile, you may want to take a look. There have been many new features added that make it a great tool to use with students. If you are teaching anything that involves locations on our planet from the past or present, then Google Earth can be a useful tool in your teaching tool kit. I recently provided a live PD webcast for Social Studies teachers, but much of what we looked at can be used in other content areas as well. Practical applications include:

• Science - Study land forms, glacial geology, tectonics
• Social Studies - See locations of various historical events, see the relationship between locations of events by distance.
• Language Arts - Lit trips, see locations described in literature
• Foreign Language - visit locations where the language is spoken, see how the culture has impacted the architecture and city design.
• Mathematics - Measurement tools teach distance, area, and volume (Real World Math), use real-time coordinates to demonstrate distance calculations.
• Art History and Architecture - Search for museums, study city planning techniques and trends
• More ideas can be found on this website

Google Earth has many built in features that make it more than just a digital globe. Tools and features include:

• Quickly find any location on the earth by searching for it by name. Once at the location yo can use the pre-created info cards to learn more about the location, see points of interest, and even add the location to a project.
• The Voyager tool takes you to some Google created content that includes an education section. In the education section you will find projects that include topics like: The Underground Railroad, Exploring Earth's Keystone Species, Poetry Around the World, Congressional Redistricting in the United States, and much more.
• I'm Feeling Lucky tool takes you to a random spot on our planet. Great intro activity to get conversation started in the classroom.
• Projects are a great alternative to PowerPoint or Google Slides and are built right on top of Google Earth. Perfect for you as a teacher to design a lesson presentation taking your students from location to location with ease. Or better - let you students create projects to demonstrate their understanding of what you have been studying.
• Measure Distances is a newer tool that allows you to measure the distance from one location to another or find the area of a space you draw on the map. Unit conversion is included as a part of the tool so calculations can easily be changed to whatever units on which you are focusing.

The map tools themselves provide you with the opportunity to zoom in and out of locations, change your view from 2D flat satellite view to 3D model view, and the ability to go down to street view of any location to see what it looks like today. All of this works on the Chromebook, so all of your students will be able to use this great tool.

I am sure that if you do some exploration on your own you will begin to think of many ways that Google

Earth could be used in your classroom to make what you are studying have more impact for your students.

Watch my presentation to see these tools in action.

[Green Google Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team