Category: accessibility

Microsoft Accessibility Tools Quick Guide Posters for Learners by Viewforth High School

At Viewforth High School, we are on a digital journey to ensure all learners and educators are able to benefit from digital technology to raise attainment and improve outcomes for all.  

Most of our students are familiar with Microsoft Teams accessing via Glow and staff have been using it to set work and assignments during previous lockdowns and continue to do so now we are back in school.  

However, some pupils are faced with challenges when trying to access digital learning both in school and at home and to support our pupils in accessing their learning we identified areas where both the skills of staff and pupils needed to be developed. One of these key areas was the accessibility features (and knowledge of these) of digital tools for pupils and ensuring staff know how to use these tools with pupils.  

In response to this, I have created several Quick Guides to support both staff and pupils in accessing and using the features of Microsoft Tools.  

 

I created guides for each of the following tools: 

  • Immersive Reader 
  • Live Captions 
  • Speech to Text  
  • Translate 
  • Office Lens 

These guides have been shared amongst staff and with colleagues in other schools across the country to support them to support their pupils.

Microsoft Immersive Reader

Microsoft Immersive Reader

Microsoft Immersive Reader is a free tool, built into Word, OneNote, Outlook, Office Lens, Microsoft Teams, Forms and the Edge browser, that implement techniques to improve reading and writing skills.

Immersive Reader can:

  • Customise text size, spacing and background colour

  • Isolate content to improve readability

  • Display pictures for common words

  • Highlight nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs

  • Real text aloud

  • Translate content in real time

  • Split words into syllables

Explore Microsoft Immersive Reader

Click on the hotspots to find out more about each of the areas within the application

Microsoft Immersive Reader Bitesize Videos

Microsoft Immersive Reader – Text Preferences

Microsoft Immersive Reader – Grammar Preferences

Microsoft Immersive Reader – Reading Preferences

Microsoft Educator Centre Courses

Microsoft Educator Centre Course

Dyslexia Awareness Part 1, in partnership with Made By Dyslexia 

Duration: 1 hour 

Description 

This course will provide essential insights into dyslexia, which we believe all educators and parents should have. Microsoft and Made By Dyslexia have a shared mission to empower every person with dyslexia to reach their potential, and we have partnered to create tools to help make this happen. 

Microsoft Educator Centre Course

Accessibility tools: Meeting the needs of diverse learners 

Duration: 1 hour 

Description 

Microsoft’s mission is to empower all people and all organizations to achieve more. The classroom is no different. Microsoft Windows and Windows-based applications like Office, together with other assistive technologies, offer features that make computers easier to use for everyone – giving teachers the opportunity to provide personalized learning, and students an improved experience and equal opportunity in the classroom.  

Microsoft Educator Centre Course

Dyslexia Awareness Part 2, in partnership with Made By Dyslexia 

Duration: 1 hour 

Description 

This course will provide an overview of ways teachers can elevate their practice to scaffold support for students in any content area. Microsoft and Made By Dyslexia have a shared mission to empower every person with dyslexia to reach their potential. 

Microsoft Educator Centre Course

Empower every student with an inclusive classroom 

Duration: 1 hour 

Description 

This course is designed for educators of all subject areas who want to empower students to utilize tools to unlock their full potential by addressing a diversity of needs. 

Practice creating an accessible and personalized experience in Windows 10 and Office 365 

Learn the tools and apps available to create accessible content 

Understand the importance of personalizing the learning device 

 

Upcoming O365 webinars