Literacy Matters - Vol 21 - Winter 2021

discuss meaningful, self-selected books, engagement with the text and motivation to read is increased (Brooks, 2019), which is closely linked to student reading achievement (Guthrie &Wigfield, 2000). Although students in Quanterious Smith’s class did not experience disruption to their reading lives as a result of the pandemic, how they selected books changed for some of his students. Specifically, without access to the classroom, school, or public libraries, several students started to choose books from one of the online databases that Quanterious linked to their class website. A mix of free and low-cost options for online databases include Overdrive, Oxford Owl, Hoopla, Bookshare, the International Children’s Digital Library, and Epic. Students in Quanterious’s class posted book reviews for at least four independent reading books per nine weeks. They used Flipgrid to rate and provide a review for each book. The rating system that the students devised is a sliding scale with one star being the lowest rating and five stars the highest. Each review must include the title of the book, the author, and a summary that does not give away the ending. Students can include other information as they see fit. Providing students with access to books with digital features and response platforms such as Flipgrid that has audio, transcription, and translation features increases accessibility for students. Below, the authors address accessibility features in further detail.

Accessibility Remote instruction has created challenges for all learners and has created additional barriers to receiving special education services. While educators should consult with special education teachers and services in the schools and districts, some general information about assistive technology resources is described below, including built- in accessibility features in common operating systems, ebooks, and optical character recognition software. Computer operating systems such as Chrome OS, iOS, Windows 10, and macOS have built-in accessibility features that include text-to-speech, dictation, and word prediction (Martin, 2020). Text-to-speech capabilities signifies that the computer will read the text on the screen if the text is in the proper format. For example, it is easier for a computer to read the text from a web page or a word processing document than from a scanned document or image. Dictation features include the ability for the student to speak and have the spoken words translated into typing on a page. When using word prediction, a student simply types out part of a word and the computer offers several options they can then click on to complete the word. This works exactly like word prediction in a chat program on the smartphone. To learn about built-in accessibility features for Chromebooks, iPads, Macs, and PCs, visit the manufacturer websites listed in Table 1.

Reading Matters Technology Matters

AT Resource

Built-in Assistive Technology Features

URL

PC, Microsoft Windows 10

Dication Word prediction Learning Tools/ Immersive Reader (Microsoft software) Select-to-Speak Dictation Word Prediction with onscreen keyboard Speak Selection/ Speak Screen/ Speak on Touch Dictation QuickType (word prediction)

https://www.microsoft.com/en- us/accessibility/windows?active tab=pivot_1%3aprimaryr2

Chromebooks

https://support.google.com/ chromebook/answer/177893?hl=en

iPads, iOS:

https://www.apple.com/accessibility/ipad/

macOS

Text-to-speech Dictation Word Prediction via Apple software

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/ use-accessibility-features-mh35884/mac

Accessibility apps for Chrome Browser

Various Chrome extensions are available for download in the Chrome Web Store. These include not only dictation, text-to-speech, and word prediction but also zoom, volume boost, screen shades, and high-contrast screen options.

https://www.google.com/ accessibility/products-features/

Table 1 Built-In Assistive Technology Features of Common Operating Systems (Martin, 2020)

| 74 | Literacy Matters | Volume 21 • Winter 2021

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