Assignment 2- Explain, describe, and/or demonstrate how read&write for GoogleChrome might be used to support the learning needs of a particular individual or the needs of an entire class.
Which learners would benefit from Read&Write for Chrome?
- Read & Write can support the learning needs of ALL students!
- Learners with visual impairments
- Learners who are hard of hearing or Deaf
- ESL learners
- Learners who need extra background knowledge to access information
- Learners who work better with fewer visual distractions
- Learners who work well collaborating with others
- Learners who work better on their own
- Learners excel showing what they know using text
- Learners that excel showing what they know using voice
The reading features I found most exciting and usable are:
- Simplify- by pressing this button, users can de-clutter websites and choose to reduce the amount of text on the screen. Imagine how we could reduce anxiety with our students who are overwhelmed by too much text!
- Picture Dictionary- supports understanding with use of symbols and images for selected words. I worked with a student 15 years ago, who would have been so excited to have this feature, instead she was stuck asking her family, teachers and intervenors for A.S.L or gestures to explain unknown words.
- Screen Masking- clicking this button will remove distractions by highlighting one passage at time when reading. This tool is completely changeable so that the user can choose contrasting colours that work best for their vision needs. It reminds me of the UDL idea that we are designing the "seat controls" to allow every body type to fit into the fighter jet.
The writing features I found most exciting and usable are:
- Voice Notes- records a short audio file of your voice and records it into a Google Doc as a comment. So exciting that every group member can contribute and share their ideas in a way that suits them best.
- Collect Highlights- when you press this button, your highlighted words or sentences are collected and organized by colour in a google documents. This is a tool that I wished I had known about in University, it would have helped collect and organize ideas from large websites and documents.
- Word Prediction- predicts the word being typed and the next word to be typed. I love how this tool has become universal in all technologies, allowing for smoother/quicker writing.
Explore and Play
- The best way to explore Read & Write is to play around with all the features! Check out the two Youtube videos below to see how to install Read & Write on your computer and for an overview of the features.
- Even though it is very user friendly (just hovering over the Doc tools will give you its name), I found that having this "Quick Reference Guide" was helpful for exploration.
read-write-for-google-chrome-quick-reference-card.pdf | |
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