By: Gianna Gras. November 28, 2022
There are many accessibility tools out there that can help us with everyday tasks in the classroom. Here are seven that I think are the most helpful.
- Assistive Technology: Assistive technology (AT) is available for students with a disability that need hardware, software, or equipment to improve their functional capabilities in the classroom. Assistive technology benefits students who have difficulty with language, auditory and/or visual processing, and those have difficulty taking notes in class to name a few.
- Rocketbook Beacon: turns traditional whiteboards into smartboards by integrating with popular cloud services inside the Rocketbook app. Beacons have been placed on whiteboards throughout campus to help with note taking and retention of information written on the whiteboards.
- Dragon Naturally Speaking: is a voice-driven program that allows students to create, format and edit documents by thinking out loud. This program is designed to help students increase productivity, creativity, and multi-tasking.
- JAWS: a screen reader, which was developed for computer users whose vision loss prevents them from seeing screen content or navigating with a mouse.
- Sonocent: an audio note taking software that captures audio, text and slides in a single note-taking workspace that can be easily organized.
- Kurzweil: provides built-in features for reading, writing and study skills for those students struggling with literacy. This program is designed to help students become independent learners, active participants with their education, and assist students to achieve full academic potential.
- VisionAssist: Magnifier that works with Apple devices. This program is designed to help people who are visually impaired or have low vision.