Accessibility

Accessibility 

Why Accessibility in Education? 

Having accessible technology in the classroom is incredibly important. Just like having other accessibility features in a school or classroom (wheelchair ramps, elevators, step stools, hand rails, etc.), technology in education needs to be accessible for all learners. This might mean students who have physical disabilities, learning disabilities, or even students who don’t share the same native language as their peers. All children have a right to a great education that will prepare them for the world, regardless of their needs. Providing them with the tools necessary to have that is our job as educators. In my classroom, I do not have too much experience with needing to use different accessibility settings on our classroom technology (iPads), but I have had some experiences. Last year, I had a student who had just moved to America. She barely spoke English and relied heavily on Google Translate as well as VoiceOver features and “read to me” features on her iPad. I have also used the VoiceOver features for students of mine who have been below grade level in reading and have had trouble reading the research we were doing in class. On my teacher iPad, I use the assistive touch button as a way to model things on my iPad over Apply Airplay. Assistive touch puts a button on my iPad display that is moved around the screen by dragging. This allows me to show students where on my iPad I am clicking, or what apps I am talking about when modeling to the class. Accessibility settings on the iPad are easy to use and control, and there is so much that can be done once you look into those settings! It is important that every child gets what they need in order to best learn, and Apple products have given users that ability. 

Image Source: CAST

My Strengths and Areas for Growth…

I feel that I am good at finding different accessibility settings and learning how to control them on iPads (the devices used in my classroom). One area that I wish to develop more is my ability to use accessibility settings to solve different problems that my students are having. Teaching such young learners, there are several students of mine who could benefit from different accessibility settings due to their developmental stages, not disabilities. My hope is to get better at recognizing situations in which using the different accessibility settings would come in handy for my students. I also hope to take more time to show my students the different accessibility settings and model what each of them does. This will help my students take a more active role in their own learning and making choices about what helps them to learn best. It will also introduce them to different setting options that will be common on all types of technology that they will use in the future. 

Image Source: Blog Author (Created Using Canva)

The artifact that I chose to create is an infographic about the different visual iPad accessibility settings available. I enjoyed getting to explore Canva to create this infographic! I had a great experience and it sparked many new ideas for how I can use Canva to create worksheets, presentations, and posters for my classroom. There are a few reasons that I chose to create this accessibility infographic. The first reason is that iPads are the technology devices used at my school in kindergarten through 4th grad. I wanted to specifically create something that could help other teachers in my school with any students that are in need of visual accommodations. Another reason that I chose to create this is because there are several students in our building, both currently in second grade and upcoming to 2nd grade, that have visual impairments. I wanted to use this as an opportunity to explore the visual accessibility settings to get informed so that I can be a resource for my students and colleagues when there is a need for those accessibility settings to be used. Apple has so many wonderful accessibility features beyond just visual accessibility settings. I am grateful that the students at my school will all have technology that is accessible to them, regardless of their abilities. 

For more information on iPad accessibility settings, you can go to Apple's Support webpage, "Getting Started with Accessibility Features on iPad".