Assistive Technology


Students have a range of abilities, and not everyone will disclose: there are likely students in your course with learning or sensory disabilities. They are not required to tell you, and they may not feel comfortable telling anyone else. Rather than asking these students to identify themselves to you, employ practices (like these below) that reach a wide variety of learners.

Text is Universal

Assistive technologies (such as screen readers, magnifiers, etc.) are nearly always designed to work with text. If you send images to your students, include descriptions. If you use video chat such as WebEx, ask someone to create a transcript or closed captioning throughout the session.

Additional Processing Time

Don’t expect everyone to understand after being told once. Provide transcripts and chat logs for later review. When you show images or videos via screen-share, provide those files for students to download. This will especially help students with dyslexia and other reading impediments.

Select Accessible Resources

Some online resources have already had substantial work done to improve accessibility. YouTube allows viewers to suggest caption improvements on many videos. Virtual meetings can be accessible in WebEx due to the available keyboard shortcuts for navigating without a mouse and closed captioning created either by a third party service or a meeting member. Interactive simulations such as the PhET tools are usable by the blind.

Check to see whether your resource indicates WCAG AA 2.0/2.1 or Section 508 compliance.

Speech-to-text (Voice Dictation)

Google Docs Voice Dictation

  1. In Google Docs select "tools"

  2. Select "Voice Typing"

    • You may need to allow your web browser to allow access to your microphone

  3. Start speaking and see your text appear in front of you

Apple Voice Dictation

On a Macbook or iMac you can hold the "Apple" button at the bottom left of your keyboard for a few seconds. After the sound you may begin speaking.

To enable Enhanced Dictation on your Mac select the apple Apple Menu > System Preferences > Keyboard > Dictation.

Text-to-speech (Screen Reader)

All Chromebooks come built-in with a text-to-speech option. It's called Chromevox and can be activated by pressing "Ctrl+Alt+Z" on a Chromebook. For more information see the Chromevox website. You can also download the Chrome Browser Extension.

Sticky Keys

Ever get the annoying image that says you pressed "Shift" too many times? Well, it is actually an accessibility feature that has been built into electronic devices since Apple released Mac OS System 6 in 1988. Users who have a physical disability or repetitive strain injury can click SHIFT 5 times on their keyboard to activate Sticky Keys to simulate keystrokes instead of having to press multiple keys at the same time.