10 Ways Google Is Making Education More Accessible

Technology can serve as a powerful tool to enhance inclusivity and accessibility in the classroom. In fact, 8 in 10 learners find that technology helps them participate more easily in school. Google is leading the way in this effort, offering a range of tools and features designed to support all students. 

Inclusion in Technology

Accessibility tools are built into every single Google Workspace application. Support is available to help with learning, including closed captions when presenting slides, alt-text on images and text-to-speech available in many languages in Google Docs. There is even a dedicated accessibility menu embedded in the Tools menu that lets you add on-screen reader, braille and screen magnifier support for projects. Additionally, personalised accessibility settings in Chromebooks help students to learn in ways tailored to their needs.

Here are ten ways that Google has designed its hardware and software with inclusion in mind:

LARGE MOUSE CURSOR

For those with low vision or a larger mouse cursor for demonstration purposes, it's easy to adjust the mouse cursor size (and colour too).

DARK MODE

Make the background dark (instead of light) to help reduce eye strain or help with reading content.

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

For people who use a keyboard, screen reader, braille device, or screen magnification, they can now use first-letters navigation in Google Drive to locate files more efficiently.

MOTOR AND DEXTERITY

Go keyboardless and use voice typing to enter, edit, and format text in Google Docs and Slides.

GOOGLE MEET PINNING

Help students focus with this clever feature, which allows them to just view the teacher and hide other participants.

CUSTOMISE CAPTIONS

Easily adjust the caption size, colour and typeface for a closed caption experience. You can also turn on captions in Google Meet to view subtitles in real-time.

OCULAR CHARACTER RECOGNITION

Make billions of PDFs accessible to screen readers with this built-in feature.

READING MODE

Available to anyone using the Chrome Browser, it is easy to change the layout, font and background colour of any website text as well as remove images and hyperlinks.

CHROMEBOOK ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES

Chromebooks have a whole host of accessibility features built into the device, many of which can be turned on and off easily in the quick settings menu. Whether students need dictation, sticky keys or even colour correction for a visual impairment.

APPS AND EXTENSIONS

Alongside all of the tools embedded in Google Workspace, there is a range of apps and extensions that integrate with the Chrome browser to support students' needs further.

With Google's commitment to accessibility, students can learn in ways that are tailored to their individual needs, unlocking their full potential and empowering them to succeed.