The 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. The introductory video provide insights on the importance of designing and delivering accessible experiences for individuals with disabilities.
Category Archives: Accessibility & Usability
Supports to help make materials work for everyone
Advancing Digital Equity for All PDF
In spring 2022, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology (OET) hosted a series of conversations with leaders from community-based organizations, as well as families and learners furthest from digital opportunities. The “Advancing Digital Equity All” PDF features insights from these conversations to highlight the barriers and outlines potential solutions for increasing access to technology for learning.
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Open in new tab The Difference Between Click-Accessible and Hover-Accessible Content
When navigating the Web, some content is displayed when you click on it, often taking the user to a new browser tab. This is known as click-accessible content. Sometimes content is displayed by hovering the cursor over it. This is known as hover-accessible content. Hovering over content provides information without having to click. Sometimes hover-accessible content can present problems for screen magnification users. If a person is magnifying a portion of the screen and a pop-up is displayed outside of the magnified portion, the user might never know the content was even there.
Experience the video titled Click vs. Hover to learn more about how to consider content thinking about the needs of someone who uses screen magnification.
Screen Magnification on a Chromebook
Screen magnification is a function of some technologies which allow for viewing items at larger sizes, which can make digital material easier to see. In Google Chrome, screen magnification can take many forms. A user can usually zoom in by stretching two fingers across a touchscreen, but there are other ways too including the following:
- Simultaneously press Ctrl and the + key (or – key to reduce the zoom level) to magnify within the browser. Press the + key repeatedly to increase the magnification
- Simultaneously press Ctrl + Shift + the + key to magnify everything, including the controls of the browser itself.
- Enable Full Screen Magnifier in Chromebook Accessibility Features
- Enable Docked Screen Magnifier in the Chromebook Accessibility Features.
The video below titled How to Use Screen Magnification on Your Chromebook provides additional demonstration and explanation of these accessibility features.
Customizing Subtitles/Closed Captions Readability in YouTube
The subtitles/closed captions settings in YouTube can be adjusted and customized based on user need or preference. Sometimes the default font size of the subtitles or closed captions in a video on YouTube is too small to read by certain users. Some users may want to add a background to the text so the contrast suits their needs. Many customizations are available such as language, font type, size, color, background color, and much more. The video below titled How to Adjust Your Caption Settings on YouTube provides additional details.
Live Captions Google Chrome Accessibility Feature
Google Chrome has a Live Captions accessibility feature that follows the user from tab to tab and provides overlying captions. This feature is available on most LCPS Chromebooks and staff laptops. Access this feature by following these directions:
- Click on the three little dots in the top right of their Google Chrome browser;
- Select “Settings”;
- Select “Advanced” on the left of the screen;
- Select “Accessibility” in the pull-down menu;
- Toggle the “Live Captions” feature on or off from here.
The video below titled Google Live Captions further demonstrates how to access the feature.
Using the Accessibility Checker in Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office tools have a built-in accessibility checker. Under the Review tab is a Check Accessibility button. 
Selecting the button checks the document for accessibility errors and considerations displaying suggestions about how to rectify or resolve the concerns. Consider checking every document for accessibility before publication.
Example of suggestions from the Accessibility Checker
Increasing the Readability of a Webpage
Not all web pages are created equally. Some provide information in a clear and concise manner. Others are cluttered including extensive text, numerous graphics that might or might not add to the understanding of the content, or advertisements that detract from the content. This can be frustrating for any user, but especially so to those who are working on limiting distractions, focusing on goals around decoding and comprehension of text, and people with certain visual impairments.
TextHelp’s Read&Write for Google Chrome extension is available to all LCPS staff and students and has a tool that can help alleviate these issues called Simplify Page. It reduces visual clutter from Chrome web pages, simplifies the text on the page, and has features to make the web page even more visually accessible.
When on a Chrome web page, select the purple puzzle piece icon 
on the menu bar to open the Read&Write for Google Chrome toolbar.
Then, select the Simplify Page 
tool. A new tab will open showing a simplified version of the page and the available features.
Simplify: The amount of text displayed on the page can be summarized or shortened by selecting the minus (–) icon. If you’ve decreased the text too much, you can select the plus (+) icon.
Discover: This feature underlines key words in purple. When the words are selected, a brief description or graphic appears, similar to a dictionary.
The visual contrast can be modified by changing the text and background color. Choices include Black on White, White on Black, Blue on Yellow, and Yellow on Blue.
The font size and style can be changed, including the Open Dyslexic font.
The spacing between the lines can be also changed to Single, 1.5, or Double.
Check out this video for more information and enjoy exploring this amazing tool!
Using the iOS Notes App to Scan Documents
Sometimes individuals encounter hard copies of documents, such as a paper-based form, that need to be scanned and converted into a digital format. Some individuals might need or prefer to annotate a digital version of that document.
If the individual has an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch running iOS version 10.0 or late, the iOS Notes app can be used to scan documents. Here’s how:
- Open the Notes app
- Select the camera icon at the bottom of the screen.
- In the menu that appears, select Scan Documents.
- Position the document in view and select the white shutter button to scan the document.
- You can choose to Retake or Keep Scan. Drag the corners to crop the scan if needed.
- If you choose to keep the scan, a prompt will appear saying Ready for next scan. If it’s only a one-page document, select Save. If it has multiple pages, repeat steps 4 and 5 for each page.
- You will see thumbnails of your scanned pages at the bottom of the screen. When you have scanned all of the pages, select Save. Then, select Done.
- When you look at your Notes, you will see your scanned document, which is automatically saved as a PDF file. You can Send a Copy via email, text message, or AirDrop. Your copy can then be uploaded to Google Drive or Schoology. Another option is to Save to Files, including your iCloud account.
LCPS staff and students have access to TextHelp’s OrbitNote Chrome extension. If your scanned PDF is uploaded to Google Drive or Schoology, you can use OrbitNote to edit the document by adding text, drawings, and more.
Check out the following videos for more information on using the Notes app for scanning, including some advanced features.
Happy scanning!
Immersive Reader Added to Schoology
Schoology is the primary learning management system used in Loudoun County Public Schools. A recent update added Immersive Reader to all Course pages and Schoology Course Assignments. Look for the Immersive Reader button on the top right corner to activate. The text on the Course page will open in Immersive Reader which provides a variety of functions including all of the following:
- Text to speech
- Text Display Preferences
- Color Contrast Options
- Parts of Speech Indicators
- Syllable Markers
- Line Focus
- A Picture Dictionary
- Single Word or Entire Document Translation