Monthly Archives: September 2023

Formatting Tables With Accessibility in Mind

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Office of Civil Rights LogoThe U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights provides a video series on a variety of topics related to digital access in education, including how people with disabilities use technology along with identifying and remediating barriers to access. This short video describes how to appropriately format table content to ensure everyone can access the data.

Syllable Support in Practice Words of Reading Coach in Immersive Reader

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Reading Coach is a feature of Immersive Reader by Microsoft. Reading Coach analyzes the audio of a learner reading a passage aloud and provides specific, personalized feedback to the individual including five target words to practice. The learner is then presented with words in isolation and invited to practice reading each word aloud. To help the individual learn how to decode the word, the learner has the option turn on syllable support which places bullets between the syllables. This can help the learner how to break a word into component parts.

A blue robot icon with the text that reads, "When you're ready, press the microphone and read the text aloud." The word enrichment is broken into syllables with a dot between each syllable. En dot rich dot ment. There are icons below the words for text to speech, syllable support, and image support. Centered at the bottom is green microphone icon

Example of Syllable Support

This video provides a quick demonstration of Reading Coach:

The Importance of Color Contrast Video

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Office of Civil Rights LogoThe U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights provides a video series on a variety of topics related to digital access in education, including how people with disabilities use technology along with identifying and remediating barriers to access. This short video describe the significance of using contrasting colors when conveying information and how to check for adequate contrast.

Practice Words Feature of Reading Coach in Immersive Reader

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Reading Coach is a feature of Immersive Reader by Microsoft. Reading Coach analyzes the audio of a learner reading a passage aloud and provides specific, personalized feedback to the individual including five target words to practice. Each word is then presented in isolation.

5 words in boxes. The words are additional, comments, enrichment, presentation, and energy. There is a star in the top right corner of each box. Below the boxes is an icon of robot with text "These words were most challenging for you. Select any word to tackle them again.

Practice Words in Reading Coach

When a user selects a word, it is presented in isolation on the screen. The user can then practice reading the word aloud.

An icon of a blue robot at the top of the screen with text that reads, "When you're ready, press the microphone and read the word aloud." In the center is the word "additional" There are icons below the word for a speech to text function, a syllabification option, and an image option. Centered at the bottom is a microphone button.

Example of Practice Word

This video provides a quick demonstration of Reading Coach:

Recommended Practices and Tips for Digital Accessibility Video

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Office of Civil Rights LogoThe U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights provides a video series on a variety of topics related to digital access in education, including how people with disabilities use technology along with identifying and remediating barriers to access. This short video shares some helpful strategies when considering how to provide quality online experiences for everyone. Strategies discussed include but are not limited to developing a plan, learning from people with disabilities about what works for them, and evaluating materials manually and using an accessibility checker to determine if alterations are necessary.