Accessibility
When I hear the word accessibility, I think of the ease of access to something. In our classroom, we have a wide variety of diverse learners. Therefore, each learner needs to have accessibility or access to the curriculum. All students need an equal opportunity to learn and demonstrate their understanding in the classroom.
My Students Device
The students at my school all use Chromebooks. However, the teachers all use a different device, Acer laptops. I rarely have the opportunity to navigate around on my students' Chromebooks. This past week, I spent some time exploring different accessibility features on one of my student's Chromebooks. I feel embarrassed to admit that I was not familiar with many of the accessibility features that a Chromebook offers.
The artifact I chose to create was an infographic showing five accessibility features Chromebook has to offer. I designed this infographic highlighting and summarizes just a few of the accessibility features.
Click here to view my artifact or view the photo below.
These features are beneficial for students who have visual or hearing impairments, fine motor issues, attention issues, or are English Language Learners. I realized that even though the components may be designed for a specific group of people, the features can actually benefit ALL students.
My Experience
I do not have a lot of experience using assistive technology with students. Most of the features I am familiar with are only because I have or had students who used accessibility features already. Two years ago, I had a student who had a hearing impairment. She wore hearing aids, and I wore an FM transmitter system. When watching video clips, either as a class or individually, she used the close captions on her screen. I am also familiar with select to speak and translate because of the ELL (English Language Learners) I currently work with. One area that I would like to increase my knowledge about is Chrome Extension Apps. I am aware that there are a lot of great ones out there. I plan on taking some time and checking out some of the
50 of the Best Google Chrome Extensions for Teachers.
Amy,
ReplyDeleteThe students at my middle school also use Chromebooks. This is the first year that the teachers only have access to Chromebooks as well. We used to have MacBooks in the past. I will admit that I am not a fan of the Chromebook, but I can see the benefits of the accessibility features they have for our diverse learners. I love the infographic you created. You did a great job on providing a wide array of features on the Chromebook. You should think about sharing it with your colleagues. I also love how you touched on how these features can benefit all of our students.
-Katie McBride
It's great that you are now more familiar with tools built into the Chromebook that can make student learning more accessible. Looking into extensions is a good goal to have- there are so many available that can benefit both students and teachers!
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