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This is how I think .

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Asking middle and high school students to sketch something they're learning can give teachers a clear sense of what they do and don't understand.

Formative assessments, when done regularly at key points during the learning process, are windows into what students misunderstand or question about a concept or topic. Inviting students to process and express their understanding with drawings offers teachers incredible insights about what instructional moves to make next.

Asking Students to Draw as They Learn

Drawing while we learn allows us to capture a concept, image, event, or object and frees up cognitive space so that we can begin to think critically. If I quickly sketch a few characters from a novel with a small but key detail distinguishing each one, along with arrows depicting their relationships across generations, I can now think critically about those relationships, how characters influence each other, and how they develop throughout the story. Similarly, if I roughly sketch elements of a scientific process, I can begin to think about their functions and how they are integrated.

How should I represent the relationship between these parts?

How large/small should I draw these parts?

What shape should they be?

Where do I place each part?

Drawing as we learn requires abstract and metaphorical thinking about the content, which helps us retain and understand it in more sophisticated ways. A student who draws as they learn considers the following:

Because students make many decisions as they translate content into visuals, teachers can uncover their preconceptions, their misconceptions, the depth of their understanding, and what excites them about the content.

Building Confidence in Drawing as a Learning Tool

Drawing has significant learning benefits, and it's important to integrate it into a full academic experience. We can equip students with basic tools to become confident in drawing and allow them to use various methods to process and express their thinking. We can ignite interest in a topic by offering variety in modes of learning. Also, leveraging intuitive thinking appeals to students' diverse skills.

Students don't need developed artistic skill to experience the cognitive benefits of drawing as they learn. But, it's also important to ease any anxiety and dispel myths about visual work.

1. Offer drawing as one of a few options for students to process and demonstrate their learning.

2. Model the drawing option you offer. Replace fixed-mindset language like "I can't draw" with narration describing your process: "I want to show that the elements build on each other, so I'll draw boxes on top of each other."

Dan Santat's series #DrawLikeAKid demonstrates how to draw a lot of things with just a few shapes and the letters of the alphabet.

How well did I recall the material after having represented it in my drawings?

When would drawing as I learn be useful? When is it not useful?

3. Prompt students to reflect on their experiences in drawings so that they begin to understand it as a helpful learning tool.

Using Students' Drawings to Inform Instruction

The feedback we offer on student drawings and the instructional choices we make next are as critical as the drawing.

Students mimic the jargon or vocabulary they read or hear, which can obscure what they actually understand. As a formative assessment, verbal communication can be problematic because it can be difficult for the teacher to grasp what students truly understand. When students draw as they explain, it's almost impossible to obscure their knowledge. Obvious misunderstandings, along with subtler mistakes, make their way into students' drawings.

Line-color-symbol: Draw a line, choose a color, or select a symbol that represents your current understanding of the concept we are learning. Be prepared to explain your choice.

Draw an image that represents (gravity, how an argumentative essay is structured, the relationship between the protagonist and the antagonist, the limbic system).

Using only simple shapes (circles, squares, triangles), represent the relationships between (characters, principles, events, laws, mathematical concepts).

Create a comic/sequential art to represent a system, to distill key elements of a story or event, or to order essential steps of a process and represent cause-and-effect relationships.

Here are some ways to integrate drawing as formative assessment:

What facts, relationships, sequences, etc., does the student understand?

What key elements have been overlooked?

What factors are somewhat misrepresented?

How were certain factors, relationships, details, etc., represented?

How do students' drawings compare? What patterns do you see? What is distinctive about some of them?

What insights do their drawings offer about the content?

To effectively use students' drawings as formative assessment data, consider the following as you examine their visuals:

While reviewing a middle school student's visualization of the scientific process of making bread (below), I notice that he understands some key concepts: He knows there are two proteins that bind to form gluten, and his simple drawings demonstrate why each wouldn't, on its own, result in glutenous fluffy bread. But I wonder if he understands the roles that amino acids, water, mixing, and kneading play in this equation.
Courtesy of Shveta Miller
In my feedback, I'd acknowledge the elements he correctly illustrates. Then, to determine if he understands the complexity of the process, I'd ask him: Are these the only elements needed for the two proteins to result in gluten? What could be missing? Where and how could you draw it?

When we see thinking represented in visual form, we-students and teachers-get valuable insights into the concepts involved. We learn from what others see, the choices they make to represent an idea, and even the misconceptions they might have.

Thinking is messy -we generally don't follow a rigid and consistent procedure to think through problems, though a steady step-by-step process is often used to solve a math problem, form a hypothesis, or write an argument. Offering students structured opportunities to represent their thinking with drawing allows them to demonstrate their unique processes for thinking about complex concepts and problems and arriving at creative solutions.

When we see their thinking, we discover the subtleties of what they do and do not yet understand, so we can better prepare to solidify their understanding and build on it in our next lesson.

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Asking middle and high school students to sketch something they're learning can give teachers a clear sense of what they do and don't understand. Formative assessments, when done regularly at key points during the learning process, are windows into what students misunderstand or question about a concept or topic.

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5 Ways to Get the Most Out of  Portfolios

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5 Ways to Get the Most Out of  Portfolios

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This is something that makes more sense than grades to me, and it looks at how sometimes the best lessons come from projects that may not be one of the best projects a student completed.

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5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Student Portfolios

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We've all had a chance--with varying levels of technology challenges--to dabble with Kaltura. One of the limits of Kaltura is that you cannot edit your videos. You can clip out chunks in the beginning, middle, and end, but you can't put two clips together or add anything else to it. For that, you need video editing software. Macs come with iMovie, which can take a little getting used to, but another freely available option is WeVideo. Here, you can upload video, record directly from your webcam, or even do a screencast like with Kaltura. You can add titles, transitions, music, and voice-over narration. You can piece together multiple video clips. The free version does have some limits and it does add a watermark to your video.

Another free way to make videos that you maybe hadn't considered is to use PowerPoint. What?? Yes, you can record screencasts in your slides by going to Insert--Media--Screen Recording. Once you record your screencast, you can trim the beginning or end by clicking on it, then going to Playback--Trim Video. You can also voice over your PowerPoint slides as save it as a video file by going to Slide Show--Record Slide Show. This puts your slides into presentation mode and turns on your microphone. You simply narrate your slides as you move through them, then end the show. To export your slides as a video file, go to File--Save a Copy then select MPEG-4 Video from the file type drop down list.

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Free Online Video Editor | Interactive Video | WeVideo

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The #1 video editor for schools, businesses, and solopreneurs. Create professional-looking multimedia projects with powerful, easy-to-use tools. Try free today!

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It's great if all of your students have their own devices in the classroom, but what if they don't? Plickers is a set of images that you print out (lots of people do it on cardstock and laminate them for durability) that can be easily scanned with a teacher device. The teacher asks a multiple choice question and students hold up their card straight to choose A, rotate it 90 degrees for B, upside down for C, and another 90 degrees for D. The letters are tiny on the card, so students can't look around the room and see each other's answers. The students hold up their cards and wait while the teacher holds up their smartphone or ipad to scan the codes all of the codes at once. The app will tally the data and you can visually show the results to the students as a chart.

Eric Mazur talks about his peer learning technique in the optional video this week. He uses clickers, but you could easily do this with Plickers, too.

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Formative assessment has never been faster.

Plickers is the free card activity your students will love.

Join millions and play in your next lesson.
Sign up for free
Used by K-12 teachers in over 100 countries

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Formative assessment has never been faster. Plickers is the free card activity your students will love. Join millions and play in your next lesson. Sign up for free Used by K-12 teachers in over 100 countries

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Welcome to Your First Day of Google Classroom

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Welcome to Your First Day of Google Classroom

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Teacher Center | Google Classroom Training

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Build internal project hubs, team sites, public-facing websites, and more-all without designer, programmer, or IT help. With the new Google Sites, building websites is easy. Just drag content where you need it.

When you create a new site, it's automatically added to Drive, like your other files stored in Drive. You can edit a Google Site together with someone else in real time, and see each other's changes live. Publish the site for everyone to see, or restrict sharing permissions and make the site accessible only to people you want to share it with, like vendors or suppliers.

Google Sites websites are responsive, which means they're optimized for tablets and smartphones, too.

What you need:
10 minutes
Google Workspace account -Don't have one? Start your free 14-day trial today.

Get Sites: Web (sites.google.com)

Note: You can view the new Sites on most browsers on computers and mobile devices. However, at this time, you can only edit new Sites content on a computer using Chrome or the Mozilla Firefox browser.

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Build internal project hubs, team sites, public-facing websites, and more-all without designer, programmer, or IT help. With the new Google Sites, building websites is easy. Just drag content where you need it. When you create a new site, it's automatically added to Drive, like your other files stored in Drive.

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Getting Started on Schoology for Instructors

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Getting Started on Schoology for Instructors

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The navigation bar is visible from anywhere on the site once you have logged in. You can navigate to the four main areas of Schoology: Home, Courses, Groups, and Resources. Click the Schoology logoto return to the home page. This is where you see your Recent Activity feed and Course Dashboard.

Click Courses to display the courses you are enrolled in. A shield icon appears on the courses you administer.

Your courses are your virtual classrooms. This is where you will instruct, grade, and communicate with your students. Your courses contain all your instructional materials (e.g., files, assignments, and assessments) along with communication and organizational tools strictly associated with the course.

From your Courses menu, you can navigate to your existing courses.

ClickMy Courses to create courses, view current and archived courses, join courses and search for courses.

Click Groups to display the groups you are enrolled in. A shield icon appears on the groups you administer.

ClickMy Groupsto create groups, view current and archived groups, join groups, and search for groups.

Groups are collaborative spaces to share ideas and resources, organize events, and connect with other educators. Groups can be used in many different ways from professional development to student extracurricular activities, so the best way to learn about their potential is simply by joining some open ones.

ClickResourcesto create, view, edit, and manage all your instructional resources.
From Resources, you can navigate directly to: your Personal resource; any Group resources you have access to; all of the Public resources on Schoology; and any Resource Apps you may have installed. If you are part of an Enterprise organization that uses Schoology'sAssessment Management Platform, this is where you can access any Managed Assessment Teams.

Click Search to find courses, groups, and people in Schoology.

Click App Centerto access apps that you can install to integrate content and services with Schoology.

Click Calendaraggregates events from all of your associated courses, groups, and organizations, along with your personal events.

Click Messages (envelope icon) to view, respond to, and send messages.

Click Connections &Notifications (bell icon) to view course events displayed in chronological order to keep you informed of academic activity.

Home Page

1. Recent Activity: a condensed feed of posts that relate to you, your courses, groups, and organizations. Click on the quick post tool to post updates, assignments, events, and polls with files and links attached.

2. Course Dashboard: view all of your courses as a tiled list. Drag and drop course tiles to reorder courses. Click any one of your courses to navigate directly to its main landing page.

3. Reminders: help keep you informed of student homework submissions and ungraded items across your courses.

4. Upcoming: displays all of your assignments, due dates, and calendar events in chronological order.

Course Profile

1. Navigation Panel: access the different areas of your course, such as your Materials, Gradebook and Attendance. This panel also contains your Course Options menu where you can find Course Admin tools, such as View Course As, the Recycle Bin, and your course Privacy Settings. At the bottom of this column, you will find your Course Access Code, which you can distribute to your students to register for your course.

2. Center Column: you can set the default landing page for your course to either Materials or Updates.

3. Reminders and Upcoming: displays grade and submission activity, along with all your assignments, due dates, and calendar events in chronological order for the selected course.

Group Profile

You'll notice that your Groups look very similar to Courses. Groups are more about communication and resource sharing. They can be set up for students as well as educators to connect with each other, enabling individuals and teams to work together to improve education on a variety of levels.

1. Navigation panel: allows you to access the different areas of your group, such as Updates, Discussions, and Group Resources

2. Center Column: displays the page you are viewing based on the navigation panel selection.

3. Upcoming: displays your group events in chronological order. Click on the Calendar icon in the Upcoming column allows all Group members to see the shared Group Calendar in the month view.

Resources

The Resource Center is a centralized place where all of your instructional and professional development materials are kept. It is closely tied to your courses and your groups.

You can import files, create new resources, and copy or move them into any or all of or your courses quickly from the Resource Center. You can also share resources with your groups and download them from our Public Resource Library. Any course materials, folders, and even entire courses can be copied in your resources for use on a later date.

1. Navigation Panel: navigate the Resources area of Schoology.

Personal: contains the files, course materials, learning objectives, and question banks you have saved to your Resources. Only you are able to access this area.

Public: share resources with the rest of the Schoology community.

Groups: access items you share in the Resources area of your Groups from this area, or by navigating to the Group itself.

Apps: install and access Resource Apps.

Assessment: view, administer, and organize Managed Assessments (if available).

2. Menu Column: displays the menu of contents of the Resources area you are viewing based on the navigation panel selection.

3. Resources View: create, view, edit, and manage your instructional resources.

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Getting Started on Schoology - For Instructors

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Navigating Schoology The navigation bar is visible from anywhere on the site once you have logged in. You can navigate to the four main areas of Sc...

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Inquiry-Based Learning: The Ultimate Guide

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Search Results for Common Sense Education

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Use filters and keywords to refine you search results for lessons, digital citizenship resources, videos, edtech reviews, and advice for teaching with technology.

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Questions to Ask Yourself to Regulate Your Learning

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Questions to Ask Yourself to Regulate Your Learning

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Questions to Ask Yourself to Regulate Your Learning

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What is UbD? Grant Wiggins Answers, with Video Cases 

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What is UbD? Grant Wiggins Answers, with Video Cases 

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Eric Mazur: Memorization or understanding: are we teaching the right thing?

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Eric Mazur: Memorization or understanding: are we teaching the right thing?

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Eric Mazur: Memorization or understanding: are we teaching the right thing?

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Lesson Plans: Instructional Strategies video

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Lesson Plans: Instructional Strategies video

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This is a tool for organizing your classroom, managing behavior, communicating with parents, and sharing student work with home.

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"The secret to getting ahead is getting started." -Mark Twain. The best part? We're here to help.

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This is actually a video game that you can use to track and manage behavior in the classroom, not a classroom management system, but it's interesting!

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Classcraft integrates easily with normal classroom activities, encouraging teamwork and collaboration while giving students instant feedback on soft skills, such as attendance, homework completion, and classroom behavior. Use the game to motivate students and to build collaboration and teamwork skills. Award points for encouraging classmates, completing assignments on time, respecting noise levels, and more. Even if students are cooperating just to gain points at first, it's inevitable that with teacher support they'll learn valuable social skills along the way. Teachers can, and should, make the program their own -- adapting the game for their students' unique needs and personalities. Being attentive to these details upfront will help craft a virtual environment of motivation and positive reinforcement instead of a punitive one. Teachers can also use the program to teach concepts through a gamified storyline, pulling assignments in from your computer or Google Drive or writing the story yourself. Be careful, though: Once the creative juices get flowing, it can be easy to get lost in your own adventures.

Some of the preset powers and events may cause strife, especially among younger students. Make sure to take a close look and customize them as necessary. For example, optional random events include suggestions such as "The player with the least HP loses 15 HP." Although that may work well in some classrooms, students who are struggling may feel targeted for being the "weakest" players, especially if the game is broadcast, as suggested, via interactive whiteboard or screen.

Continue reading Show less

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Classcraft Review for Teachers | Common Sense Education

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Classcraft integrates easily with normal classroom activities, encouraging teamwork and collaboration while giving students instant feedback on soft skills, such as attendance, homework completion, and classroom behavior. Use the game to motivate students and to build collaboration and teamwork skills. Award points for encouraging classmates, completing assignments on time, respecting noise levels, and more.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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This is a communication tool for sending notices to students, parents, teachers, or any group you would like to set up. You can use it in conjunction with another tool if there is no parent component for your CMS.

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Hi friends! Tonight I'm stopping by to share about one of my favorite ways to keep families in the loop - Remind - and tips for getting the most out of it! Our students spend 8 hours a day in our classrooms, and even though I'm not a parent, I can't imagine not knowing what's going on. So from Weebly, to Twitter, to newsletters, to YouTube - I want families to know what's going on in the classroom. Remind texting has been the most effective of resources for joining all of these communication methods.

Remind offers teachers a FREE and safe way to send out information (texts, pictures, documents, links) to families. You don't have phone numbers of those who sign-up for your class list and the subscribers don't have your phone number. Rather, every time you send a message (via phone, iPad, or computer), they receive it! Here are my 3 top-tips for getting the most of your Remind texts!

#1 - Use Bitly when using Remind!

Remind is perfect for directing parents to a new post on a class website or a new photo album of your latest science experiment. We work hard to document and explain these moments for families, but sometimes I wonder - Is anyone actually using this? That's why my #1 tip for using Remind is to include a Bitly link anytime you are sending parents to a website or video. Bitly is a web-link shortener and tracker, meaning that you use less characters in your text messages AND you can track how many people clicked on the link. Say what?!? Yep! You can check your Bitly Dashboard (for free) to see how many people followed your link.

Here is an example of a link I included in a Remind text and on our website about Making 10 to Add (a hard skill for kids and an even harder one for families to understand). Over the course of a week, I saw that the link was clicked on 72 times. Having this information, I knew that my tutorial video was helpful for families and worth making!

#2 - Send Personalized Letters!

When I first set-up my classroom Remind account (very, very simple), Remind gave me the option to print parent invitations. At the beginning of the year, I sent out a batch of letters without any explanations. After 2 weeks or so once registrations stopped coming, I re-printed the letters and sent them with a personal note to each family that had not signed-up yet.

Today I have 35 people on our classroom's Remind account (note - I have 23 students). I want ALL the people who are helping to raise my students on this list. Many of my families have a mom and a dad on the list, a grandparent, or an aunt/uncle. Family members always have the opportunity to unsubscribe, but I've never had that happen. My families love receiving pictures, videos, links that spotlight their child, grandchild, or niece/nephew.

#3: Send a Mix of Media

Remind has gone through some awesome updates in the last year that allow a ton of versatility. Pictures, links, voice recordings, and documents can all be sent via text. On an iPhone you can send a picture or a voice message (i.e. a group of children singing a song or a Whole Brain Teaching oral writing paragraph). On a computer, you can send a picture or a file (i.e. Newsletter), or a link. Make sure to utilize ALL the features Remind offers and give your families a nice mix of media. Plus, don't forget you can schedule all of these messages, so your spelling list can go out every Monday evening around 5:30 PM and your class newsletter can go out every Friday afternoon - teacher's choice! 🙂

Well, friends, I hope you use Remind to keep families in the loop. It is a phenomenal FREE resource for classrooms, sports teams, and church-groups around the country! If you're not using Remind, you can start a class here for free.

If you are using Remind, what are your tips and tricks? I'd love to hear them!

Get Free Teaching Resources!

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Hi friends! Tonight I'm stopping by to share about one of my favorite ways to keep families in the loop - Remind - and tips for getting the most out of it! Our students spen...

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST. The UDL Guidelines can be used by educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and anyone else who wants to implement the UDL framework in a learning environment. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

Coming soon! UDL Guidelines 3.0

The UDL Guidelines are a living, dynamic tool that is continuously developed based on new research and feedback from practitioners. In 2020, CAST launched our most recent effort to update the UDL Guidelines, with a specific focus on equity. There has been a strong call from the field-both practitioners and researchers alike-to more fully develop the Guidelines to address critical barriers rooted in biases and systems of oppression. The current update aims to respond to this call and to work toward fulfilling the promise of the Guidelines as a tool to guide the design of learning environments that more fully honor and value every learner.

Since our launch in 2020, we have been committed to a community-driven, inclusive, and transparent updating process. As part of this effort, we are:

Collaborating with an Advisory Board, a UDL Guidelines Collaborative, and a Young Adult Advisory Board to guide our work

Conducting focus groups with a diversity of participants to learn from their perspectives, lived experiences, and feedback

Reviewing the research on the UDL Guidelines research pages to understand the balance of different research fields, methodological approaches, epistemological approaches, and author positionalities

Conducting literature reviews of equity-oriented research that connect to and extend the Guidelines, such as disability studies and critical pedagogy studies

We are excited to share this next iteration of the UDL Guidelines in 2024. If you are interested in receiving our UDL Guidelines 3.0 newsletter to stay updated on our progress and to share your ideas and perspectives, please complete this brief form.

Review the Summary

Explore the Full Draft

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST.

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Review student understanding at the class, individual student, or question-level.

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Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at OU

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Universal Design for Learning (Part 1): Definition and Explanation

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Kahoot! | Learning games | Make learning awesome!

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Kahoot! is a game-based learning platform that brings engagement and fun to 1+ billion players every year at school, at work, and at home.

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This page describes five excellent math manipulatives tools available for free online.

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Have access to computers, but short on the 31 protractors you'll need for today's lesson? Or looking for more ways to inspire hands-on math exploration? Look no further than our list of top digital math manipulatives, teacher tested to be student-friendly and relevant!

This is literally a one-stop bank of easy-to-use manipulatives. Geoboards, number cubes, pattern blocks-the works! It also has all sorts of bells and whistles to construct inquiry-based environments including various workmat or game backgrounds, tools like a stopwatch, compass, and ruler, and even a print screen button so students can turn in their math thinking! This is definitely a must-bookmark link for math teachers!

Solve Me Mobiles takes the abstract nature of algebra and turns it into something students can concretely tinker with. Through trial-and-error, students balance the mobile by entering the values of hanging shapes. This is a perfect precursor to algebraic equations.

This is another library of manipulatives, with the additional feature wherein most of the manipulatives are gamified-there are tasks and "check the answer" components in most. Manipulatives include pattern blocks, transformations, circle graphs, measuring angles, prime factorization, and more!

This resource likely includes every type of math manipulative you could fathom, and then at least a few more. Just make sure you have Java downloaded and that students use it on a browser other than Chrome (since Chrome and Java do not mix at the moment). Alternatively, they now offer a computer app for purchase to bypass the Java issues.

Speaking of apps, ABCya.com has put out a free app with some of their top virtual manipulatives for fractions, decimals, and percents. Students will love camera feature, allowing them to project math concepts onto everyday objects.
Featured Image: Tim Geers
Be sure to check the comments for more great ideas!

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Have access to computers, but short on the 31 protractors you'll need for today's lesson? Or looking for more ways to inspire hands-on math exploration? Look no further than our list of top digital math manipulatives, teacher tested to be student-friendly and relevant! This is literally a one-stop bank of easy-to-use manipulatives.

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Quizlet Live: Instant Classroom Engagement

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Learn how to play Quizlet Live, the free in-class game that engages every student through competition and collaboration. Try it today: https://quizlet.com/features/live

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teaches mathematical concepts without words

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Topic: Spatial Reasoning

Can you rotate JiJi, the penguin, into an upright position?

This task specifically targets students' spatial temporal reasoning ability as they manipulate 3D JiJi into an upright position.

Upright JiJi develops pre-algebraic thinking and reasoning, as students select the correct set of operators to transform the input into the output.

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Can you rotate JiJi, the penguin, into an upright position? This task specifically targets students' spatial temporal reasoning ability as they manipulate 3D JiJi into an upright position. Upright JiJi develops pre-algebraic thinking and reasoning, as students select the correct set of operators to transform the input into the output.

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Nearpod: Foster a love of learning in every student

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Create active learning experiences students can’t wait to be a part of.

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Several universities worked together to develop these interactive online science labs.

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These Virtual Labs help students learn basic laboratory techniques and practice methods used by lab technicians and researchers in a variety of careers, using specific food science lab processes.

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Easily create beautiful interactive video lessons for your students you can integrate right into your LMS. Track students' progress with hassle-free analytics as you flip your classroom!

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PhET Interactive Simulations opens in new window

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PhET Interactive Simulations opens in new window

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PhET provides fun, free, interactive, research-based science and mathematics simulations. We extensively test and evaluate each simulation to ensure educational effectiveness. These tests include student interviews and observation of simulation use in classrooms. The simulations are written in Java, Flash or HTML5, and can be run online or downloaded to your computer.

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By converting our sims to HTML5, we make them seamlessly available across platforms and devices. Whether you have laptops, iPads, chromebooks, or BYOD, your favorite PhET sims are always right at your fingertips.Become part of our mission today, and transform the learning experiences of students everywhere!

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A required part of this site couldn’t load. This may be due to a browser extension, network issues, or browser settings. Please check your connection, disable any ad blockers, or try using a different browser.

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CK-12.org is an open source provider of textbooks and other educational materials. They have many interactive simulations in physics and chemistry organized by concept and standard.

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Discover a new way of learning Physics using Real World Simulations

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Seesaw | Elementary Learning Experience Platform

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Seesaw | Elementary Learning Experience Platform

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Elementary Learning Experience Platform | Seesaw

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Seesaw is a Learning Experience Platform with 25M+ users, enhancing elementary education, engagement, and school culture while improving academic success.

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Most virtual manipulatives are created for math and science, but there are digital tools available in other subjects, too. This site lists some helpful apps where students interact with content on the screen to learn phonics.

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The key skill in phonics is to learn the letters and the sounds they make and how to put them together to make and read simple words. Our selection of phonics apps covers important phonics topics for a variety of ages and grade levels. There are no shortage of phonics apps, games, and websites out there in the market. From letter sounds to consonant blends to diphthongs to rhyming words, your child will find a variety of apps that fit his ability.

Phonics apps are a great way for young learners to practice phonics lessons. Help your little ones practising the alphabetic principle and help them to read with these apps.

These interactive phonics apps will help teach children the relationship between letters and sounds and develop the skills needed to read and write. These Phonics apps help kids learn important phonics skills, including recognizing the sounds each letter makes, mastering the alphabets and word building.

Best Phonics Apps for Kids

The programme aims to help young children learn how to read through the fun exploration of phonics games as they make their journeys through different self-paced games. Children learn to read through phonics as they begin the process of learning this important life skill.

Reading Eggs is based on solid scientific research to give your child the best chance at reading success. Children complete animated online lessons where they learn essential reading and phonics skills. The variety of fun activities within each lesson provides the repetition needed for these skills to become part of the child's long term memory.

The app helps your children learn phonics, letters, numbers and the alphabet. The app features a series of games to help kids recognize letters, associate them with phonic sounds, play with the alphabet letters and numbers. Children also gain confidence by reading online books that only contain words they have already studied in the programme. There are over 2000 levelled books in the Reading Eggs programme.

Price: Free with in-app purchases

Hooked on Phonics app is a comprehensive phonics program that includes a full phonics curriculum for an entire class of students. Hooked on Phonics includes 12 steps; each teaches rimes and letter sounds to help kids build words. Within each step, videos with catchy songs introduce letter sounds and sight words, and games help kids build words using onsets and rimes.

The step-by-step approach, with reviews built in via songs and ebooks, is very effective for teaching reading. Teachers will appreciate the mix of phonics and sight words, and kids will enjoy the variety of delivery -- songs, games, and books -- and the predictability of how each step advances. Hooked on Phonics is a great app for children ages 3-8 or those reading between a Pre-K and 2nd grade level.

Price: Free to try

Read with Phonics is a phonics based app that helps young people to learn synthetic phonics in a colourful and interactive way. It improves letter sounds recognition and is a great stepping stone to help your little ones on their reading journey! Read with Phonics is a simple app that has been extremely well developed by professionals proficient in not only the topic of phonics but also with a very good understanding of the education and classroom setting.

The phonics app follows the curriculum and all synthetics phonics programs. Practice segmenting and blending skills, grapheme recognition, pseudo words, word comprehension and more.

Practicing your phonics sounds for just 5 minutes a day is proven to be the best way to improve reading skills, whether in the car on the drive home from school, snuggled up on the sofa or sitting outside in the garden on a nice summers day! The positive reward system the game offers is very motivating and the different ways the app challenges a child to think about each letter; from recognising the grapheme to putting it into a word is impressive.

Price: Free with in-app purchases

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Teach Your Monster to Read is an award-winning phonics and reading game that's helped millions of children learn to read. You can download this free phonics game for teaching preschoolers and kindergartners.

The game covers everything from letters and sounds to reading full sentences. Kids can enjoy animated phonics songs for both revising and teaching letter-sounds. The songs are catchy and easily adaptable and children will want to sing along and invent their own.

The app is highly recommended by teachers and complements phonics programmes used in schools. It covers everything from letters and sounds to reading full sentences.

Price: $2.99 on iOS and Android

ABC Phonics is a great app for phonics and early ready. The app has fun phonics song animations for alphabets A to Z. The phonics songs are very catchy and it seems to help the kids identify the letters and sounds a lot. Kids learn to write each letter with ABC Phonics and has 26 educational games to play with words.

Price: Free with in-app purchases

abc PocketPhonics app covers all the sounds and children have the opportunity to practise blending and segmenting to read and write words. It teaches students the sounds of different letters and basic words. This app uses the Phonics method as taught in UK schools, to develop reading skills. It also closely matches the order in which schools will usually teach different sounds, as defined in the National Curriculum.

The app demonstrates a clear focus on phonemes: sounding them out, spelling them, and using them to form words. abc PocketPhonics uses a phoneme-centered approach to teaching kids to read. When kids see a phoneme, they say it, write it, and then use it in a word. When they've completed a packet of phonemes and word constructions, they get a number of stars (from one to three) based on how well they traced the letters and how many mistakes they made choosing phonemes to form the words.

Price: $6.99

Phonics Genius is one of the comprehensive phonics app available to help kids identify letter sounds and their relationship to words. Phonics Genius is a great resource for building phonemic awareness and is best for kids who are emergent readers with the previous reading experience.

Phonics Genius includes over 6,000 words grouped by phonics sound, so it is fully loaded to teach your child about phonics. The app includes several pages through which you can scroll and find the particular sound you want to work on. You can work on sounds as well as the beginning and ending of words.

Phonics Genius provides three different modes of learning, in addition to multiple quiz modes designed as fun and interactive games. The quizzes are designed according to different levels of learning beginning with two words and range from easy to challenging.

Price: $0.99

Pirate Phonics 1: Kids Learn to Read is packed with 41 phonic sounds spread across five islands. Learners will have to explore the islands and find the clues that will help them to find their treasure. This phonics app will help preschoolers learn and develop their phonic skills and reinforce their phonic blends and sounds in reading.

Pirate Phonics teaches children the letter - sound correspondences that are essential in reading and writing. The whole app introduces more than 300 words and is targeted at pre-readers. Kids engage in repetition through games and this is a very effective strategy for memorising and retaining the sounds more easily.

Each phonic sound is emphasised through the use of several 'picture words' which are deliberately read slowly by the narrator. The small games following were really fun and kids will love playing them.

Price: $2.99

A cheery educational app with games in phonics, letter recognition, rhymes, tracing, and wordplay. Monkey Word School Adventure uses six different mini activities to help them with reading skills through phonics and word groups. Each activity adjusts to your child's ability level. Many of the activities also allow kids to self-correct to solve the given problems. Each activity is short and moves automatically to the next challenge.

With Monkey Word School Adventure you are able to customize the play for up to three children based on reading group levels. You can also set the challenge level appropriately in settings as difficulty increases based on the performance.

The language learning ranges from letter recognition and writing to spelling and phonics introducing word components such as consonant blends, digraphs, and irregular vowels. This tool is great for kids who need assistance with their phonics skills.

Price: $1.99

Endless Alphabet is a simple and very creative app with cute monsters and clever animations that provides interactive learning opportunities in reading, spelling, and vocabulary for toddlers and early learners. The app allows children to practice their alphabets and learning new words with animations demonstrating the meanings of the words in an unforgettable way.

Price: $8.99

Jolly Phonics is an app at helping young children in the initial stages of learning to read with phonics. With beautifully drawn scenes to display the learning content, this app will attract children to engage with it.

See Words app takes the stress out of teaching your child to read. It is an engaging and educational tool that will provide your child with the basic fundamentals of reading. It is perfect for Pre-K, Kindergarten, and First Grade classrooms and After-School Programs.

Readers trace letters, unlocking a series of photographic images that begin with that letter's sound, prompting them to say them aloud. Readers build words using word families and the sounds they learned in Level 1. Readers spell words as they are spoken to them, using the sound tiles included. Once a new word has been built, the word is saved for teachers to access and review.

These phonics apps will help the children continue to move toward literacy and have fun at the same time. Have a favorite Phonics app that we missed? Let us know!

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8 Best Phonics Apps for Kids - Educational App Store

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The key skill in phonics is to learn the letters and the sounds they make and how to put them together to make and read simple words. Our selection of phonics apps covers important phonics topics for a variety of ages and grade levels.

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Formative assessment has never been faster.

Plickers is the free card activity your students will love.

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Used by K-12 teachers in over 100 countries

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Formative assessment has never been faster. Plickers is the free card activity your students will love. Join millions and play in your next lesson. Sign up for free Used by K-12 teachers in over 100 countries

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PlayPosit | Interactive Video Learning Objects

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With over 5 million learners and counting, PlayPosit offers a variety of options for interaction customization, premade templates, playback control, LMS LTI integration, and more. Instructors and instructional designers can build lessons as they envision them while expanding the traditional and onli

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Edulastic: Interactive Formative Assessment for classroom or distant learning

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Online assessment tools with technology-enhanced items, help students learn and measure growth all in one easy system in the classroom and at home.

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Explore the far reaches of the world, right in your browser.

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Aw snap! Google Earth isn't supported on your browser. You may need to update your browser or use a different browser. Please see our system requirements for more information. Chrome is a great choice and you can download it here. Or if you're feeling adventurous, you can try Earth anyway by choosing an option below.

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Silver Spring, Md. (Tuesday, July 21, 2020) Discovery Education -the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms-today announced the acquisition of Spiral. Based in the United Kingdom, Spiral provides educators a multiuse platform that supports collaborative learning and formative assessment both in the classroom and the remote environment. Terms were not disclosed.

Discovery Education's acquisition of Spiral supports the company's efforts to keep students connected to learning wherever it is taking place. Spiral's product features compliment Discovery Education Experience's curated high-quality content and existing assessment and student collaboration tools. The addition of Spiral's features to the company's flexible K-12 learning platform will give educators even more ways to facilitate instruction, deepen student engagement, and create high-impact student learning experiences.

"Discovery Education is focused on providing school systems outstanding digital services that connect students to learning in and out of the classroom," said Discovery Education Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy Philip Nanney. "The acquisition of Spiral aligns with our strategy of adding features to our digital services that save educators time and increase student engagement. We look forward to welcoming Spiral to the Discovery Education team."

Spiral is a past winner of the prestigious Common Sense Education Best EdTech Award. Recognized for empowering teachers to create interactive learning experiences either in advance or on the fly, Spiral also enables teachers to probe class understanding in real time through digital multimedia content.

Spiral is the latest acquisition by Discovery Education. In August of 2019, Discovery Education announced the purchase of Inspyro, a provider of leading virtual reality and augmented reality content also based in the United Kingdom.

"Spiral's team is incredibly excited to join Discovery Education," said Hamish Kennedy, Spiral's Founder and CEO. "Discovery Education shares our commitment to connecting students to learning no matter where they are, and we look forward to working closely on that mission with our new colleagues."

For more information about Discovery Education's digital resources and professional learning services, visit www.discoveryeducation.com, and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Facebook, follow us on Twitter at @DiscoveryEd, or find us on Instagram and Pinterest.

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About Discovery Education
Discovery Education is the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms. Through its award-winning digital textbooks, multimedia resources, and the largest professional learning network of its kind, Discovery Education is transforming teaching and learning, creating immersive STEM experiences, and improving academic achievement around the globe. Discovery Education currently serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 140 countries and territories. Inspired by the global media company Discovery, Inc., Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and like-minded organizations to empower teachers with customized solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com.
Contact:
Discovery Education
Stephen Wakefield
Email: swakefield@discoveryed.com
Phone: (202) 316-6615

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Discovery Education Acquires Award-Winning Interactive Learning Platform Spiral

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Discovery Education Acquires Award-Winning Interactive Learning Platform Spiral

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10 Ways to Use Google Earth in Your Classroom

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10 Ways to Use Google Earth in Your Classroom

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This article will give you some ideas about how you might use the powerful tool Google Earth in your classroom.

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Last week's launch of a new version of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? on Google Earth seems to have sparked a renewed interest in Google Earth amongst regular readers of my newsletter and blog. People often only associate Google Earth with social studies lessons. While it is a fantastic tool for social studies lessons, it can also be used in science, math, and language arts. Here are ten ways for students to use Google Earth in your classroom.

1. Take a tour of new and interesting places.

This is the most basic activity that you can do in Google Earth. The web and mobile versions of Google Earth have pre-made tours called "Voyages" that your students can view. Stops on the voyages include notes about the notable landmarks in the tour. The desktop version of Google Earth also has pre-made tours. You can also find tours made by others and use them in Google Earth. Watch this video to learn how to do that.

2. Play Where in World is Carmen Sandiego?

Back in March Google added a version of the classic computer game, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? to Google Earth. The game can be played in the web version of Google Earth as well as the iOS and Android versions. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? isn't the only game or quiz you'll find in Google Earth. You can find them all by opening the Voyages tab in Google Earth. A video of how to find the games and quizzes is available here.

3. Take and or Create Literature Tours

Google Lit Trips is dedicated to helping teachers use Google Earth tours in literature lessons. In a literature trip students explore the places that are significant in a story and or the places that are significant in an author's life. The desktop version of Google Earth has built-in tools for creating tours of landmarks around the world ( watch this video to learn how). The web version of Google Earth doesn't have the same tour recording tools, but you can use this option for creating placemarks and this option for creating a tour.

4. Global Scavenger Hunts.

Create a scavenger hunt for students to complete by using clues and finding the answers "hidden" throughout the globe. This can be a fun way for students to test their knowledge of physical and human geography.

5. View a Timelapse of Coastline Changes.

Thanks to historical imagery available through the Google Earth Engine you can view historical satellite imagery in Google Earth.This allows viewers to see how things like coastlines have changed over time. You can piggyback on that visual to prompt students to investigate what makes a coastline change. Here's a video on how to find timelapse imagery in Google Earth.

6. Map and Compare Datasets.

Mapping datasets can be a good way for students to create visualizations of species diversity and distribution or to see economic data as it relates to geography. It is possible to take a dataset that is in a CSV or Google Sheet and have that data appear in Google Earth. To do this you will first make a map in Google's My Maps tool (a tutorial is available here) and then export a KML from My Maps to import into Google Earth. A tutorial for completing that process in the desktop version of Google Earth is available here. A tutorial for completing that process in the web version of Google Earth is available here.

7. Layer Images Over Maps.

The desktop version of Google Earth lets you layer images over a view of the world. Adjust your zoom level to cover more or less of the map with your image. Adjust the image's opacity to let the map faintly show through the image. This is a great way to show students a comparison of a historical map with a contemporary map. Try using this method to show how coastlines and waterways have changed over time.

8. Measure Distances for Math Lessons.

Google Earth includes tools for measuring distances in a variety of units. Students can use the measuring tool to complete activities designed to help them understand distance, scale, and units of measurement. Tom Barrett's Maths Maps page is a good place to find lessons that incorporate measurement. A tutorial on measuring in Google Earth is available here.

9. Explore the Moon or Mars.

The desktop version of Google Earth includes a moon view and a Mars view. Select the moon view or the Mars view then click on some of the placemarks in the NASA layer. Your students could even create a narrated tour of the moon or Mars by following these directions.

10. Use Google Earth as an Alternative to PowerPoint.

The next time you're thinking about having students give a presentation on a place that they've studied in your geography lesson, have them create a Google Earth tour instead. They can use their custom placemarks shown in full size as an alternative to using slides.

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I have a few openings left in my summer schedule for on-site professional development workshops. I can provide professional development workshops on using all aspects of G Suite for Education including Google Earth, video and podcast production, teaching history with technology, edupreneurship, and many other topics. Click here to learn more or send an email to richardbyrne (at) freetech4teachers.com to book me today.

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Ten Ways to Use Google Earth in Your Classroom - It's Not Just for Social Studies

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Last week's launch of a new version of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? on Google Earth seems to have sparked a renewed interest in Google Earth amongst regular readers of my newsletter and blog. People often only associate Google Earth with social studies lessons.

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We express ourselves in different ways. On Flip, you can use our simple and fun built-in camera to record your thoughts, add effects and share within your Flip group as video, audio only or text in your web browser or mobile app.

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Flip is a video discussion and sharing app, free from Microsoft.

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Flip (formerly Flipgrid) is a video discussion and video sharing app, free from Microsoft, built for classrooms and beyond. Learn more.

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et your students visit ancient Rome, examine artifacts, walk around dinosaurs, and more with just a mobile device and the app.

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Arts & Culture Expeditions - Google Arts & Culture

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Go on a virtual field trip with Google Arts & Culture

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Host interactive online meetings | Poll Everywhere

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For an immersive experience, get Google Cardboard

opens in new window

or another low-cost VR mounting device.

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This app lets you see a virtual human body that can be layered, labeled, and dissected right inside your classroom. Pull up the body and walk around it to see it from any angle.

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Irusu Human Anatomy 4D in AR-VR-MR:

What is new in this App ? Yet another Anatomy application or something really cool App for learning ?

Irusu Human Anatomy 4D is not just another Anatomy app, but something more than that. Experience 4D Human Anatomy that comes alive in your living room, Study room, Laboratory and anywhere with a blink of an eye.

Walk around the Anatomy as if you walk around a physical character in front of you, lean, look up and down, upclose and interact with the internal Body parts.

And top of it, for the first time, a Human Anatomy App that works in all immersive platforms of Augmented reality, Virtual Relaity and Mixed Relaity.And all this at Free cost.

How it works ?

Mobile AR :

Mobile AR works out of the box, with just an ios devices from iPhone 6S and above and iPads. Install the App and start using the App by following onscreen instructions. Walk around character, interact and do more as if interacting with a physical object.

MR Device :

Open the App and foloow onscreen instructions where one needs to scan a textured floor ( plain floors with no texture atall are hard to detect )and once MR zone gets activated insert your mobile under our Irusu MR device and follow onscreen menus and interact, move parts with Irusu bluetooth remote and do much more !

VR Device :

Similar to MR device usage, open the App and foloow onscreen instructions where one needs to scan a textured floor ( plain floors with no texture atall are hard to detect )and once MR zone gets activated insert your mobile under our Irusu MR device and follow onscreen menus and interact, move parts with Irusu bluetooth remote and do much more !

Note : Irusu bluetooth remote is needed along with MR and VR devices for interacting with Human Anatomy Body parts. For AR Mode, it is not required and can be moved along with fingers on the screen.

Highlights !

Irusu Human Anatomy 4D brings Human Anatomy right infront of their eyes with the power of iOS devices ARKIT, where kids, teachers, medical professionals, students and anyone who wants to learn interactively about human anaotmy and its body layers can use our free to use application.

With accurate body details and perfectely layered body systems Irusu brings a cutting edge Mixed Reality App for mobile phones, that immerses users in deep learning, laying contextual information that impacts learning far greater than any other form of modern learning. Welcome to the next generation of Learning !!

Irusu Technologies has made honest effort to bring the complex Human Anatomy learning into a simple to learn tool that makes your existing mobile phone into a powerful classroom.

Irusu Human Anatomy 4D in AR-VR-MR app features :

> Body system showing Muscle, Skeletal, Digestive, Urinary, Circulatory, Nervous Systems and Lymaphatic Nodes.

> Abiltiy to learn about parts and their names in detail.

> Ability to isolate parts and learn about them by closely maneuvering around them in a 360 degree of freedom.

> Learn body parts in relation to body under X-ray mode and how they are placed inside body.

> Use Skin mode to rip the skin Off and ON to reveal the body parts under the skin.

> Scale the entire Anatomy from a Giant to dwarf as per user age and height, so that any one from a small kid to adult can learn it comfortably.

This is going to be a great app when it grows up

This app worked the first time I ran it on my iPad Pro 10.5. The display quality was superlative, and I had the ability to 'walk around' the model, selectively displaying the body's subsystems and manually picking off individual muscles and systems to zoom in for a closer look.

I was so impressed that I took it to this morning's meeting of the Apple User Group I run (Sedona, AZ) to demonstrate it. Unfortunately, all attempts to run it after that first time stick in "Detecting surface" as the app vainly tried to find the floor of the conference room. I had to settle for describing what I had seen that first time.

Let's see if we can get this working when iOS 12 comes out.

This was great but what happened?

I teach anatomy and physiology and the first time I used this I was blown away. This application was amazing, but after the first time it doesn't work anymore. I still get the screen wanting me to find a surface but it goes black afterwards. I've downloaded it uninstalled it and re-downloaded it several times to try to see if that would correct it. Bummer

Terrible

I got the app hoping that it would help me but it in fact it didn't. Once I got done swiping through explaining how to use the app I tapped the x and even though I was in a very lit room the screen was completely black.
I know for a fact my finger wasn't covering the lens so I was very disappointed and irritated with trying to find a better app that will help me much better than this.

Information

Seller

Irusu Technologies Private Limited

Compatibility

Requires iOS 11.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Copyright

© Irusu Technologies Pvt Ltd

Family Sharing

With Family Sharing set up, up to six family members can use this app.

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‎Irusu Human Anatomy 4D in AR-VR-MR: What is new in this App ? Yet another Anatomy application or something really cool App for learning ? Irusu Human Anatomy 4D is not just another Anatomy app, but something more than that. Experience 4D Human Anatomy that comes alive in your living room, Study ro...

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Create your own--or lets students create--virtual tours of locations around the world with this easy-to-use website.

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Tour Creator is a website by Google that allows teachers and students to create tours for VR (virtual reality) or in a web browser. After logging in with a Google account, Tour Creator will ask for a title, description, and cover photo for the tour. Students can then type a specific address or search for the desired location. Tour Creator will load Google Street View's photos alongside a panel that allows students to add a description, credits, and points of interest, and upload narration or ambient (background) audio. Points of interest are tiny circular graphics that will draw the viewer's attention. Each can have a description, narration, and even photos, allowing students to explain specific aspects of each scene; the credits field lets students cite sources as well. Students and teachers can click "add scene" until they've added all of the desired scenes. When the tour is complete, students can publish it as unlisted or public. Unlisted will only work for people who have the link, while the public option will leave the tour findable by anyone.

Currently, only Android devices running Google Expeditions support custom-made tours, though iOS support is coming at some point. By default, a tour is only viewable in VR on Google Expeditions from the account in which it was created. However, if students send peers and teachers the link to their tour, they can share it to their own Expeditions account, simplifying the sharing process.

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Tour Creator Review for Teachers | Common Sense Education

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Tour Creator is a website by Google that allows teachers and students to create tours for VR (virtual reality) or in a web browser. After logging in with a Google account, Tour Creator will ask for a title, description, and cover photo for the tour.

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This classroom and web-based resource was created for middle school students, to encourage them to explore education after high school, future careers, and money management.

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Claim Your Future® (CYF) is a proven, engaging educational game that encourages students to explore career pathways, financial decision making, and the future return on investment of post-secondary education and training. Developed by the Finance Authority of Maine, CYF began as a classroom game kit, but has since expanded into a digital experience to meet the needs of a changing educational landscape.

Since its launch, CYF has been played in over 90 countries by hundreds of thousands of students representing every state in the U.S.

Between the disruptions of the pandemic and current financial uncertainty, advancing financial education has never been more important-especially for young people. And as a game built to be played in all educational settings, CYF is adaptable and ideal for remote learning, hybrid classrooms, and independent lessons. It's exactly the tool that educators and students need, right now. Through the game, students learn life skills, and begin to understand the strong connection between the choices they make today and their opportunities in the future. They will also learn that higher education leads to more career options and higher-paying jobs.

CYF creates fun, memorable experiences for everyone who plays no matter what age. There are two editions that cover critical years for practical hands-on learning and life skills development: Middle School and Younger and High School and Beyond. Each edition is tailored specifically for its audience with educator guides that help teachers adapt and optimize their lesson plans. Participants can play multiple times with different careers and make different spending choices. Typically, students engage independently with the digital game for an average of 15 minutes, and teachers often facilitate the classroom game in 30-45 minutes.

Claim Your Future can be played alone or with a group, online or with the handheld game kit. It is appropriate for a wide range of audiences, from young students through high school and beyond. It can be utilized as a one-time classroom activity, an after school activity, or as part of a larger unit on careers, higher education, and money management. Designed by and for educators for ease of use, Claim Your Future can be facilitated by teachers, used by families, or played individually.

Created by the Finance Authority of Maine (FAME), Maine's higher education agency, Claim Your Future has been improving financial capabilities for Maine people for over a decade.

Developed by Maine JumpStart President and FAME Financial Education Officer, Mary Dyer, in conjunction with FAME's College Access and Financial Education team, Claim Your Future has been consistently field tested and improved through actual classroom experience and educator feedback.

Playing Online

Claim Your Future can be played online at ClaimYourFuture.org. Students can choose a career or opt to have one randomly assigned. They then can learn about higher education, and navigate through different living expense choices to try to balance their budget. As students make budgeting decisions, Claim Your Future keeps track of how much money they've spent. The goal is for students to complete a monthly budget without "breaking their wallet." At ClaimYourFuture.org, you'll find:

125 unique career options, including descriptions and key vocabulary

Budget worksheet

Additional financial education resources

Educator's Guide with detailed lesson plan and homework activities

Introductory and how-to videos

Playing with the Game Kit

When played in the classroom or with wheels and worksheets that are sent home, students are assigned a unique Claim Your Future game wheel representing a specific career, education, and monthly income. Educators are encouraged to discuss various career and college options and lead students through a monthly budgeting activity. Students have a hands-on learning experience where they spin the wheel to make choices and calculate their budget manually.

Each Claim Your Future game kit includes 50 unique decision wheels representing various careers and life expense options and 100 student reward stickers. The wheels are on coated paper and are able to be wiped down with sanitizer. To order a Claim Your Future classroom game kit, please visit the Order Kits page.

Game wheels are on coated paper and can be wiped down to sanitize.

Watch Us Play - High School Students

Watch Us Play - Middle School Students

Play The Game!

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Claim Your Future® (CYF) is a proven, engaging educational game that encourages students to explore career pathways, financial decision making, and the future return on investment of post-secondary education and training. Developed by the Finance Authority of Maine, CYF began as a classroom game kit, but has since expanded into a digital experience to meet the needs of a changing educational landscape.

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This interactive comic lets students take the role of negotiator in Middle Eastern relationships. If you can't play the Flash plug-in, you can read about it here: https://blog.cathy-moore.com/2010/05/elearning-example-branching-scenario/

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Get tips, techniques, and tools that apply the principles of game design to the learning process -- a dynamic way to engage learners and help educators assess learning.

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Get tips, techniques, and tools that apply the principles of game design to the learning process -- a dynamic way to engage learners and help educators assess learning.

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in How People with Disabilities Use the Web

The following stories of people with disabilities using the Web highlight the effect of accessibility barriers and the broader benefits of accessible websites and web tools.

Note: The following scenarios are not real people. They do not address every kind of disability.

Page Contents

Lee, online shopper with color blindness

Lee is colorblind and encounters barriers when shopping online. He has one of the most common visual disabilities that affect men: red and green color blindness. Lee frequently shops online and sometimes encounters problems on websites and with apps where the color contrast of text and images is not adequate and where color alone is used to indicate required fields and sale prices. When red and green color combinations are used, Lee cannot distinguish between the two, since both look brown to him. It is also very difficult for him to make product choices when color swatches are not labeled with the name of the color.

Lee has better experiences with online content and apps that use adequate contrast and allow him to adjust contrast settings in his browser. He is also better able to recognize when information is required when asterisks are used. Lee can more easily identify the products he would like to purchase, especially clothing, when the color label names are included in the selection options rather than color swatches alone.

For more information on implementing techniques that remove barriers for Lee, see the following resources:

Alex, reporter with repetitive stress injury

Alex has worked as a reporter for more than 20 years and has developed a repetitive strain injury that makes it painful to use a mouse and to type for extended periods of time.

Though it took considerable research, time, and commitment to learn, he is able to work with less pain using the following modifications to his work environment:

use of an ergonomic keyboard

use of keyboard commands without a mouse

voice recognition software on his computer and mobile phone

assistive touch on his mobile phone

Alex encounters problems when websites and other online content cannot be navigated by keyboard commands alone. He frequently encounters web forms that do not have keyboard equivalents. Sometimes it is also difficult to skip content and navigate to sections on a webpage without using many keyboard commands, which is very tiring and limits the time he can spend working comfortably. He also recently began to explore the use of assistive touch on his mobile phone which also helps him use fewer gestures and work for longer periods of time. As a temporary fix, Alex's employer has built several custom work arounds that provide keyboard support for his use of the company's internal Content Management System with the intention to implement improved keyboard support to benefit all users on the next release of the software.

For more information on implementing techniques that remove barriers for Alex, see the following resources:

Martine, online student who is hard of hearing

Martine is 62 years old and has been hard of hearing since birth. She can hear some sounds, but not enough to understand speech. As a child she learned sign language and during her early school years learned written language. She is currently a student again, taking online college courses.

The university she attends provides sign language interpreters and Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) writers who provide written verbatim text interpreting of spoken language for her courses. However, Martine has encountered barriers when video and other media content are not captioned. The university became aware of the need and requirement to provide captioned media and transcripts for audio content and is now working with a captioning provider to caption all content posted on university websites, including all course content in learning management systems. In addition to providing access to the content for students who are deaf or hard of hearing, the university has found that the use of captions and transcripts has added benefits. Transcripts facilitate easier production of subtitles in a number of languages and also improve the indexing of online content. Improved indexing provides improved search engine optimization and improved discoverability of the university's online content. The university follows WCAG guidelines in providing the captioned content.

For more information on implementing techniques that remove barriers for Martine, see the following resources:

Ilya, senior staff member who is blind

Ilya is blind. She is the chief accountant at an insurance company that uses web-based documents and forms over a corporate intranet and like many other blind computer users, she does not read Braille.

Ilya uses a screen reader and mobile phone to access the web. Both her screen reader and her mobile phone accessibility features provide her with information regarding the device's operating system, applications, and text content in a speech output form.

When accessing web content, the screen reader indicates aloud the structural information on a webpage such as headings, column and row headers in tables, list items, links, form controls, and more that enable her to better navigate the page, complete and submit forms, and access information in an effective manner. She is able to listen to and understand speech output at a very high speed. Ilya encounters problems when websites are not properly coded and do not include alt text descriptions on images. These sites are unnavigable and require large amounts of time to read text from the top of the page to the bottom without navigation cues. Occasionally she finds herself trapped in areas on a webpage unable to move to another area and must abandon the page altogether.

As a senior member of her organization, Ilya provides training to employees in online environments through the use of video conferencing applications, document and slide sharing applications as well as chat rooms. Ilya and her staff evaluated a number of training tools before finding an effective application with accessibility features that meet the needs of a diverse staff with diverse abilities.

For more information on implementing techniques that remove barriers for Ilya, see the following resources:

Preety, middle school student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia

Preety is a middle school student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with dyslexia. Although she has substantial difficulty reading, she particularly enjoys her literature class.

Preety's school recently started using online digital textbooks. Preety was initially worried about using this new format, but with the use of text-to-speech software that highlights the text on the screen as it reads it aloud, she has found that she can focus on the content more easily instead of struggling over every word. The text-to-speech software is also helpful with other online text; however, Preety's experience with websites varies greatly from one site to another. Some sites use graphics and illustrations in a way that helps her to focus on the sections and content that she would like to read, while other sites have a lot of advertisements and moving content that is very distracting. She also experiences problems with online content when the navigation is not clearly evident. She finds websites and apps that provide multiple means of navigation such as a navigation bar, search box, bread-crumb trails, and a sitemap to be much easier to use.

Preety's school is also using a new online library catalog with improved accessibility. Before the new catalog was implemented Preety had to physically visit the library to receive assistance in searching and locating material. Now she can search the catalog on her own using her mobile phone, tablet, or laptop. Preety still struggles with spelling but has found that search functionality that suggest alternative spellings and provide error corrections are very helpful and greatly improve her experience.

For more information on implementing techniques that remove barriers for Preety, see the following resources:

Yun, retiree with low vision, hand tremor, and mild short-term memory loss

Yun is an 85 year-old with reduced vision, hand-tremor, and mild memory loss; common age-related impairments for someone his age. Yun regularly browses the web reading news sites. In recent years he also started using social media to stay in touch with his family and friends. He maintains his own blog where he posts articles on art history and other topics he enjoys.

Like many older individuals, Yun has difficulty reading small text and clicking on small links and form elements. His daughter showed him how to enlarge text in the web browser, which works well on many websites. He encounters problems when text does not reflow when it is enlarged and he is forced to scroll back and forth to read the enlarged content, which means he easily loses track of his place. He also has problems with CAPTCHA images found on many social media sites. The text is so distorted, even when he enlarges it, that he often cannot accurately enter the text. He has a better experience on sites that use alternative CAPTCHA options, unfortunately only a small number currently do.

Yun's daughter gave him a special mouse that is easier to control with his hand tremors. He also uses a web browser that saves thumbnail images of his frequently visited sites, which makes it easier for him to keep track of the sites he goes to most often.

For more information on implementing techniques that remove barriers for Yun, see the following resources:

Luis, supermarket assistant with Down syndrome

Luis has Down syndrome and has difficulty with abstract concepts, reading, and math calculations.

Luis works at a market, bagging groceries for customers. Typically he buys his groceries at the same market where he works, but he is sometimes confused by the large number of product choices and sometimes has problems finding his favorite items when the store layout is changed.

Recently, a friend showed him an app for online grocery purchases that has consistent, easy-to-use navigation with clear and direct instructions. Luis is able to add the list of his most frequently purchased items into the app and save it for additional purchases. He also likes the search functionality that makes suggestions for mistyped or misspelled words. The app also keeps a running total of the items in his virtual shopping cart which helps him keep up with how much he is spending.

His friend also showed him several accessibility features in his mobile phone that he finds very helpful including word prediction which provides a selection of possible word choices based on the first characters he enters and the text-to-speech functionality which allows him to listen to reviews posted by other users on the grocery app. With the use of these tools, Luis has begun posting his own reviews of items he has purchased.

Luis now uses the shopping app a couple of times a month for frequently purchased items and buys a few fresh items regularly from the store where he works.

For more information on implementing techniques that remove barriers for Luis, see the following resources:

Kaseem, teenager who is deaf and blind

Kaseem is a teenager who is deaf and recently became legally blind too, which means she can see only small portions of a screen and read text when it is significantly enlarged.

Kaseem uses:

screen magnification software to enlarge the text on websites to a suitable font size;

screen reader software that displays text on a refreshable Braille device;

large computer screen with high resolution and high luminosity (brightness).

Kaseem's portable electronic Braille notetaker includes a calendar, e-mail, web browsing, and note-taking functionality. Her mobile device includes GPS which helps her orient herself and navigate around the city. Kaseem uses the public transportation online site to plan her trips and view bus schedules, but encounters problems when she enlarges the text and it does not reflow or wrap properly, making the maps very difficult to use. She has a better experience viewing the train schedules that are properly marked up and allow text reflow. Kaseem found the web team contact information listed at the public transportation website and sent a message to the team informing them of the problems she encountered using their site. She also sent them the link to the train website and described how that site works better for her. She recently received an email message thanking her for her information and informing her that the public transportation web team plans to implement accessibility improvements in the launch of their new website.

Please share your ideas, suggestions, or comments via e-mail to the publicly-archived list wai-eo-editors@w3.org or via GitHub.

For more information on implementing techniques that remove barriers for Kaseem, see the following resources:

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Personas of people with disabilities using the Web that highlight the effect of accessibility barriers and the broader benefits of accessible websites and web tools.

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Better Web Browsing: Tips for Customizing Your Computer

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Better Web Browsing: Tips for Customizing Your Computer

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This document provides references to resources, including detailed documentation and step-by-step guides, to help you customize your particular web browser and computer setup.

Websites often have text that is difficult to read, controls that are difficult to click, or audio and videos that are difficult to hear. Fortunately your computer can be customized to improve your web browsing experience. This includes customization options in the operating system which runs your computer, in software such as web browsers and media players, and sometimes for hardware devices such as any external loud-speakers or microphones. Sometimes changing your web browser, using additional software or hardware, or otherwise customizing your computer can further improve the accessibility of the Web for you.

Note: Sometimes, websites are not designed to be accessible and do not support customization. Consider [draft] contacting the website owners if you are experiencing accessibility problems despite the approaches outlined in this document. The document How People with Disabilities Use the Web provides further information about alternative web browsing strategies, user requirements, and accessibility solutions.

Disclaimer: W3C does not endorse specific references or vendor products. Inclusion of references in this page does not indicate endorsement by W3C. References are provided with no quality rating and may be changed at any time. W3C does not verify the accuracy of these references. This page is not a review of the information or guidance provided by the resources, nor a complete or definitive listing of all available resources.
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Customizations are generally easily reversible and do not delete files or otherwise disrupt the functionality of your computer. Customization options and accessibility features are usually documented in the " help" menu of your software. Look for customization options in menu items such as " options", " preferences", " settings", and " accessibility". Experiment with changing some of the settings you find to see if the changes improve your web experience. Exploring and getting to know your computer are the first steps to an accessible and enjoyable web browsing experience.

In some cases it may be necessary to download and install a web browser or media player that works better for you. In other cases it may be necessary to obtain and install additional software, including browser-based tools (sometimes called " add-on" or " extension"), or hardware devices. Some of these steps, such as installing a new web browser or browser-based tools, do not require technical expertise or particular skills. However, finding the optimal setup for you will greatly improve your efficiency.

Note: Several public institutions such as libraries and schools, user organizations such as those for people with disabilities or older people, and assistive technology vendors, provide computer training courses.
Related Resources:

Guides about customizing your computer:

Accessibility features of web browsers:

Accessibility features of operating systems:

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Before changing the settings on your computer, make sure the screen and screen settings are optimal for you. Some screens will allow you to adjust the brightness, contrast, and other settings that effect the display. Also, make sure that the room lighting and your position in front of the screen are optimal for you.

Most web browsers will allow you to simply enlarge and reduce text and image sizes through the options in the menu bar, or by pressing " Ctrl +" and " Ctrl -" or other keyboard combinations (see browsing the Web by keyboard for more information on keyboard commands). However, these changes are often temporary and may be lost when you open a new browser window or the next time you start your web browser. To make text and images appear larger by default in your web browser, you need to modify the settings of the web browser.
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You can also change the default display settings in the operating system of your computer, which will apply to all your applications, rather then changing only the settings of your web browser. You can increase the default font-size which will make the text, but not the images, appear larger in all your applications. Alternatively, you can decrease the resolution of your display which will make all content appear larger but generally reduce the quality of the text and images. Increasing the " dots per inch - DPI" value has a similar effect on enlarging the text and images without losing quality. However, this feature is not supported by all operating systems and computer screens, so that it may not be available to you.
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There are screen magnifiers, some of which are built directly into your the operating system of your computer. These software tools enlarge the text and images, and can sometimes be set to read the text and the menus out loud. Vendors of such software usually provide detailed documentation on customization options and may sometimes provide training and support directly or through third-parties.
Related Resources:

Screen magnification tools in operating systems:

Listings of tools, including screen magnification tools:

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You can change the default colors for text, background, or links, and change the default font styles to make the content easier for you to distinguish and read. Several web browsers provide simple options for defining such color and font schemes, including options to reuse the color schemes of the operating system, in case you already defined custom settings. Some web browsers also provide high color contrast schemes or allow you to override the presentation style of the website using custom " style sheets". While this is approach is quite powerful, it is not easy to set up and may require guidance or assistance by someone with technical skills.
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You can change the default color and font schemes in the operating system of your computer, which will apply to all your applications rather than to your web browser alone. You can set your web browser to reuse these color and font schemes or define different schemes for the Web, for instance to better highlight links. Some operating systems provide a selection of desktop schemes, including schemes with higher color contrast.
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There are several tools that will read out loud the text on websites for you, some of which may already be installed on your computer. Talking browsers (sometimes also called " voice browsers") are web browsers that read aloud the text on websites. Screen readers and some screen magnifiers are specialized software that read aloud any text on the screen, including that in your web browser. Screen readers and magnifiers often provide a variety of functions such as summarizing the contents of web pages, highlighting the text being spoken, or providing the text on a refreshable braille display. Setting up and learning how to use such tools effectively may need some initial guidance and training. Vendors of such tools usually provide detailed documentation for the customization options and may sometimes provide training and support directly or through third-parties.

Note: Other approaches and strategies for improving the understandability of websites are included in the section understanding and navigating websites below.
Related Resources:

Text to speech functions in web browsers:

Screen reader tools in operating systems:

Listings of tools, including screen readers and talking browsers:

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Make sure that any multimedia devices attached to your computer such as loud-speakers, headphones, or earplugs are properly attached. Some devices may have buttons or controls on them to switch them on, adjust the volume, or to make other adjustments. Make sure that these devices are setup optimally for you.

Some keyboards have volume-increase and volume-decrease buttons that will adjust the volume level to your preference. In addition, you can adjust the volume and other sound options from the settings in the operating system of your computer. Depending on the loud-speakers and other sound devices attached to your computer, there may additional volume and sound controls to adjust. Software tools that are used to show video or listen to audio are called " media players". Sometimes they are embedded into the web browser, and they usually have additional volume controls too. Be sure to adjust these options, and to make sure that the sound output of the system or the speakers is not muted.
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When audio and videos with audio are produced to be accessible for all users, they contain captions (in some languages "captions" and "subtitles" are the same word). Often these captions are not displayed by default but need to be switched on in the customization options of the software tool that is used to show video or listen to audio (called " media player"). Sometimes text transcripts of the audio are provided in addition or instead of the captions. Ideally these transcripts are provided directly below or nearby the audio content. Sometimes they are provided as external files or separate web pages.

Note: Sometimes, the media players are embedded directly in the content displayed in your web browser. Check the settings of these media players too.
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Some website owners provide sign language videos as an alternate to text or audio. Usually these are clearly marked with an icon symbolizing a signing gesture or similar. Sometimes sign language is displayed directly within the video, and sometimes the sign language track in a multimedia presentation needs to be switched on, like for captions. In some countries, sign language interpretation services (sometimes called " Video Remote Interpreting - VRI" or " Video Relay Service - VRS") may be available. See also information about sign language avatars below.
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Typing can be strenuous if the keyboard is not in an optimal position, or if the keys or keyboard design are not comfortable for you. Keyboards have keys with various shapes and sizes, and with different levels of softness. They also have different layouts and shapes that effect your arm and wrist positions. Make sure your keyboard is optimal for you, and consider replacing your keyboard if needed.

Many software applications, including web browsers, can be operated through the keyboard. Web browsers generally support the " Tab" key to jump from one link or form control to the next. Sometimes these links or controls may not be visible on the screen, or it may be difficult to identify which one is selected. The status bar of the browser window may indicate where a link leads to, and sometimes enlarging text and images helps you identify the links or controls on the web page. Other common keyboard commands include:

"Enter" - activates links or controls such as form submit buttons

"Page-Down", "Page-Up", and "Arrow" keys - scroll within the web page

"Alt Arrow-Left" and "Alt Arrow-Right" - move back and forth in the history

"Ctrl T", "Ctrl Tab", and "Ctrl W" - create, switch between, and close browser tabs

Related Resources:

Keyboard commands in web browsers:

Listings of keyboard commands, including in web browsers:

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Keyboards can be adjusted through the settings in the operating system of your computer, to help you type more effectively with less effort. Examples of such customization include:

Shortcut Keys

Assigning actions, such as selecting menu items or typing in pre-defined text, to an individual key or a combination of keystrokes. For instance, most word editors and web browsers provide a shortcut on the key combination "Ctrl s", as an alternate method for selecting the menu item "save". You can define additional shortcuts for frequent actions that you perform on your computer.

Sticky Keys

In order to facilitate single-handed typing, you can customize your computer so that functions keys, such as "Ctrl" or "Alt", do not need to be pressed at the same time as other keys to invoke key combinations. For instance, by switching on the sticky keys function, you can press "Ctrl" then "s" to save, rather than needing to press them at the same time.

Key Filters

Filters can be set to avoid repeating the input through a key that has been pressed down for too long, a key that has been pressed down several times within a short interval, or keys that have been pressed and are immediately surrounding a key that was pressed in advance. This is useful for people with reduced dexterity or who may press keys unintentionally.
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For people who are more comfortable using the mouse (or other types of pointing devices) rather than using the keyboard, most computer operating systems provide " on-screen keyboards" (visual display of a keyboard on the computer screen) that can be used with a mouse rather than typing in the information through the keyboard. In addition, many web browsers support " mouse gestures" and other types of enhancements for using the mouse. Sections adjusting the mouse settings and customizing the mouse-pointer provide further information about improve your efficiency in using the mouse.
Related Resources:

On-screen keyboards in operating systems:

Listings of tools, including on-screen keyboards:

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There are a number of ergonomic or specialized keyboards that can be used instead of the regular keyboard. Ergonomic keyboards have special designs and key layouts to reduce strain or to help you type more effectively. Specialized keyboards include ones with larger keys or larger key labels, ones with illuminated keys, ones that compensate for trembling and other dexterity limitations, ones with only a single switch, and many more. While ergonomic keyboards are often available at ordinary computer retailers, specialized keyboards are usually developed by assistive technology vendors.

Note: Laptop users can attach external keyboards in addition to the one built into the computer.
Related Resources: back to page contents
Voice recognition can be used to dictate text or to control the entire computer. For instance, so called " voice commands" can be used to launch or to close applications such as the web browser, or to perform actions such as selecting links or scrolling on a web page. Some computer operating systems include such voice recognition capabilities. Voice recognition tools usually need training to better learn your voice, and may still be prone to substantial error rates. However, these software can be effective for people who have difficulty typing and using the keyboard or mouse effectively.
Related Resources:

Voice recognition tools in operating systems:

Listings of voice recognition tools, including support in web browsers:

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Grammar and spelling checkers can help you identify mistakes and avoid needing to re-type text in an online form. Most web browsers have spell-checking capability, and sometimes the spelling functionality can be extended using browser-based tools (sometimes called " add-on" or " extension"). Some users prefer to type long texts in word-processing software (such as " Microsoft Word" or " Open Office Write") with which they are more comfortable. Then, they can copy the text into the online forms.

Word-prediction tools highlight a selection of matching words based on the characters that you type, to avoid needing to type out the complete word each time. These tools are used in addition to word-processing tools or web browsers, and are sometimes used by typists and captioners among others.
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Pointing devices, such as the mouse or the touchpad on some laptop computers, can be difficult to use. There are a number of alternate devices which may be more optimal for you, and there are many settings that can be customized, including slowing down the mouse or enlarging the mouse-pointer on the screen.

Most computer operating systems provide options to adjust the mouse settings. In particular, you can adjust the sensitivity of the mouse to movement, in order to slow it down. You can also adjust the period between two clicks that is needed to initiate a " double-click" (typically used to launch software applications from the desktop), or you can adjust the configuration of the mouse buttons for left-hand or right-hand use. Many web browsers also support " mouse gestures", so that specific mouse movement or mouse-button patterns can be set as shortcuts to computer commands.
Related Resources:

Adjusting the mouse settings in operating systems:

Mouse gestures support in web browsers:

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The size and color of the mouse-pointer on the screen can be adjusted to make it easier for you to identify and locate it. In addition, most operating systems provide options to show a trail when the mouse-pointer moves on the screen, or to highlight the mouse-pointer when a specific key (such as the " Ctrl" key) is pressed.
Related Resources: back to page contents
Accessible websites and software applications can be operated entirely through the keyboard. The sections browsing the Web by keyboard and customizing keyboard functions provide information about using your keyboard effectively and comfortably, to control your computer and navigate on the Web.

In addition, most computer operating systems can be set to control the mouse-pointer and simulate mouse interaction through the keyboard. Typically this is achieved by using the arrow keys and other keyboard commands, so that a keyboard with dedicated arrow keys is necessary. Sometimes this may require replacing the existing keyboard or using an additional external keyboard on laptops. The section Using Alternate Keyboards provides information about selecting an optimal keyboard for yourself.
Related Resources: back to page contents
Similarly to using alternate keyboards, there are a number of ergonomic or specialized mice to help you be more effective and comfortable. Ergonomic mice have special designs and sizes to reduce strain. Examples include trackballs which are controlled by rotating a ball in different directions with your fingers rather than moving your hand, or joysticks which are controlled by moving a leveler in different directions. Specialized mice include ones with custom designs for specific users, ones with additional keys, ones that compensate for trembling and other dexterity limitations, and many more. While ergonomic mice are often available at ordinary computer retailers, specialized mice are usually developed by assistive technology vendors.

Note: Laptop users can attach external mice in addition to the pointing device built into the computer.
Related Resources: back to page contents
Understanding and navigating websites can be difficult when the structure or the content is overly complex. Often these types of difficulties relate to usability and accessibility shortages in the design of the websites. However, some software tools and approaches may help you use such websites more effectively.

Long text is often difficult to read and understand, especially when it is not written clearly and simply. Some users prefer to copy long texts into word-processing software (such as " Microsoft Word" or " Open Office Write"), and generate automated summaries. Other users prefer listening rather than reading, including listening and reading at the same time, to help them read and understand the content. Some browser-based tools (sometimes called " add-on" or " extension") provide additional functionality to assist reading.
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Most web browsers provide options to control potentially distracting content such as pop-up windows or animations. Some browser-based tools (sometimes called " add-on" or " extension") provide additional capability to identify and block animated, blinking, flickering, or otherwise distracting (sometimes hazardous) content.
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Some specialized web browsers and online services convert text into symbols and icons, that are easier to understand and use by some people with learning disabilities. There are different approaches and initiatives in several countries so it is important to become familiar with the services and developments in your region. Local disability organizations may have more information about available services and products.
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Sign language avatars are software tools that convert text into computer-generated sign language animations. While these do not achieve the quality of professional sign language interpreters, they can be used individually and independently to convert text into sign-language. Some websites provide sign language videos as an alternative to audio and text.
Related Resources: back to page contents

assistive technology

Assistive technologies are software or equipment that people with disabilities use to improve interaction with the web, such as screen readers that read aloud web pages for people who cannot read text, screen magnifiers for people with some types of low vision, and voice recognition software and selection switches for people who cannot use a keyboard or mouse.

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Better Web Browsing: Tips for Customizing Your Computer ◦ Web Accessibility Initiative ◦ W3C

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This document provides references to resources, including detailed documentation and step-by-step guides, to help you customize your particular web browser and computer setup. Websites often have text that is difficult to read, controls that are difficult to click, or audio and videos that are difficult to hear.