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

G Suite Accessibility Features

Make learning accessible to all your students.

Created by Scott Aten, April 2, 2019

Research shows that nearly 14% of students live with some sort of disability. Many of these students and their parents rely on some form of visual or audio accommodation to accompany their learning. In truth many of these accommodations benefit all students. This article will
provide information on some of the built in features of G Suite that can help make learning accessible to all students.

• Closed Captions in Google Slides
• Alternative text (Alt text) on images
• Voice typing, editing and formatting
• Braille
• Screen reader and Magnifier
• Chromebook accessibility features

Learn more about these features and more on the Google Accessibility page. This site provides a complete list of all the accessibility features available in each Google app.

Google has put together this document to help illustrate all the accessibility features including features available on Chromebooks themselves. We are always available to help. Schedule a time with me using the link below.

[Schedule me to come and help]

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

Read&Write for Chrome

Boost reading and writing confidence for ALL students.  Offer support for Google Docs/web to students with learning difficulties, dyslexia or ESL.

Read&Write for Google Chrome is an extension that provides a range of useful support tools to help students gain confidence with reading, writing, and research.  Once this feature is added to Chrome students will be able to:

• Hear words, passages, or whole documents read aloud with the words highlighted as they are read. 
• Have the meaning of words  explained with text and picture dictionaries.
• Have text  translated into different languages (great for ESL and foreign language teachers).
• Turn words into text as they speak.
• Highlight text in documents or the web and collect for use in other documents. 
• Create and listen to voice notes directly inside of Google Docs.
• Simplify and summarize text on web pages.

The district has purchased this extension, so all staff and students will have full access to this great tool.  To begin using Read&Write you will need to install the extension on your Google Chrome browser. If you need help with adding apps and extensions a video tutorial has been created to guide you through this process [click here to watch].   If you would like to know the difference between Apps, Extensions, and Themes a short article has been put together to help you make sense of it all [click here to read].

The Read&Write extension has already been pushed out to student Google accounts, so it should be available to them once they login with their account to a Chromebook or into a Chrome browser.

Be watching for an opportunity to come see a demonstration of all the features of Read&Write in an upcoming training.