Inclusion for the Visually Impaired Student by using Immersive Reader

            This week’s blog is about assistive or adaptive technology for the visually impaired in a school. At the school I currently work, I am aware of two students in regular education classrooms that have a visual impairment. As the new media specialist, I thought it would be best to research technology to assist in their education and support their learning. I was in a professional development recently where they introduced “Microsoft Immersive Reader" as a tool for students. The following blog will discuss its features and uses for visually impaired students.

            “Immersive Reader is a full screen reading experience to increase readability of content in OneNote documents. Learning Tools is designed to support students with dyslexia and dysgraphia in the classroom, but can support anyone who wants to make reading on their device easier.” In the Immersive Reader program, you are able to upload or take a snap picture of any form of text. Then you can change the font, the size, spacing between letters/words and the colors of the text or background. The program also reads the text to the individual if necessary. Immersive reader can also break apart the sentence by parts of speech and adds pictures in place of the words if additional vocabulary knowledge is needed. It has a picture dictionary for struggling readers that may not know the meaning of words. It can also translate the text in any language, which is helpful for (ESL) English as Second Language students. Readers can also highlight one line at time to read and change the speed of the text being read aloud.

            As a teacher, I could think of various ways to use Immersive Reader, especially with my ESL students or struggling readers. Teaching young ESL children to read is difficult without knowing the vocabulary in their own language so Immersive Reader can assist with pictures and translations. Our school will be one-to-one with devices next year each device has the Microsoft Bundle that includes Immersive Reader. The two students with vision impairments will have more of an equal opportunity to learn because of this program. Also, if we go full virtual learning, it will be easy to teach the students and their parents how to use the program. Neither of our visually impaired students are fully blind but need different accommodations for being able to see text. One student needs larger text and sometimes a darker background, which the program can do. The other student is slowly losing her vision and will need the text read aloud until she can learn Braille. The school library had purchased several books with larger print for these students but it is not nearly enough. I can imagine the possibilities with the “Immersive Reader” Program for their future education.

            This website has a video that gives a deeper look into Immersive Reader and another video that shows how a first grade teacher uses the program in her classroom with all of her students. https://schoolsict.co.uk/what-we-do/office-365/learning-tools/immersive-reader

Resources:

Use immersive reader for one note (n.d.) Retrieved from https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/use-immersive-reader-for-onenote-10712138-b4ed-4513-958d-d9a1b3038170

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Website: K-12 Blue Print (https://www.k12blueprint.com/news/ten-tips-school-library-media-specialists)

Title of blog: Ten Tips for School Library Media Specialists

            In this Blog post, I will be sharing the article, “Ten Tips for School Library Media Specialists” by Frances Bryant Bradburn. The website I found this article from is for educational leaders that are implementing technology programs. The article I choose to share gives ten tips for media specialists that will help change their library technology program. I found the article very helpful as a future media specialist. It gives an awareness of what my role will be in the media center as an educational leader. Some of the tips I found particularly helpful were as follows:

            Tip # 1 Focus on Instruction and Resources, Not Things- A study performed by the Department of Library and Information Sciences from the University of North Texas concluded that school librarians were able to create positive changes within their schools by taking primary roles in assisting students and staff to acquire information skills.” The role of a school media specialist will be to help guide teachers and students to resources within the school they made need. He/she will also assist with technology support when teaching skills that will require the use of technology making you a Technology Leader in the school.

             Tip # 5 Turn part of the media center into a Maker Space- This tip gave the great idea to allow students to try different ways of learning, including multiple facets and technology within the school library. One of the suggestions was a 3D printer and combining the library with your Technology Hub. The technology plan should have a section that allots technology use in media center. A Maker Spaces can be allowing a station where students can create things using cloth, buttons, even sewing machines. The thought of using Maker Space in the elementary media center has be excited to start figuring ways to make it work. Time was the number one barrier in a study performed by Melissa P. Johnston, Assistant Professor at the School of Library and Information Studies, College of Communication & Information Sciences, University of Alabama. She also states that, “Respondents commented on not having enough time to work with teachers, to plan, to learn about technologies, and to devote to any one activity because of the various tasks for which school librarians are responsible, and multiple respondents noted ‘too much to do,’ and ‘not enough time to devote to any one role to be fully involved in accomplishing it.’” Time will have to be managed well and as I work through a new role as the school media center, I will have to prioritize my time wisely.

             Tip # 6 Keep the books but consider why and which ones- This tip brings into question some of the traditional ways libraries run. For example, using encyclopedias and dictionaries for research or sorting the library by genre as opposed to the Dewey system. Turning to the internet more for research really makes you consider internet safety and “Fake News” that is facing our students. As well as the responsibility on librarians and teachers to teach students how to be safe on the internet.

            Tip # 10 Ask teachers what they want. It is important to ask teachers and the principal what they want from you the media specialists. As the media specialist, you serve the school and it is important to know what your expectations are and what your faculty needs of you. When you are creating a technology plan, it is vital to involve teachers at every turn. In the article, A Technology Plan that Works the authors talk about five lessons that help make a successful technology plan and almost all of the lessons involve the teachers in some way. “Keeping the focus squarely on people—as opposed to technology—will help schools smoothly introduce a technology initiative and maintain enthusiasm for the project in the long term.”

The article overall was easy to read and gave great advice about how to conduct yourself as a school media specialist. 

Resources:

Daniella Smith, (2010),"Making the case for the leadership role of school librarians in technology integration", Library Hi Tech, Vol. 28 Iss 4 pp. 617 - 631

Johnson, M. P. (2012).  School librarians as technology integration leaders: Enablers and barriers to leadership enactment. School Library Research, 15. 

Overbay, A, Mollette, M. and Vasu E (2011) “A Technology plan that works.” Educational Leadership, February. www.ASCD.ORG