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Accessibility Tools on the Lessons & Assignments Platform

Learn about our accessibility features and tips for maximizing the Threads & Themes assignment platform for students with learning differences / special needs

Written by Neta Raz Studnitski

Overview

Threads & Themes is committed to maintaining a high level of accessibility, and delivering instructional materials that truly benefit every student. We design and develop our product to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA and Section 508 conformance standards. You can learn more about our accessibility process and our alignment to those standards in our Accessibility Statement. In keeping with our mission, we are committed to making continuous improvements in accessibility across Threads & Themes.

Our lessons & assignments site is built and tested for use on a broad range of internet-enabled devices, so that a maximum number of students can interact on their personal devices. Specific site features for accessibility include, yet are not restricted to:

  • ‍Text-to-Speech

  • ‍Closed-Captioned Video

  • ‍Audio Question Types

  • ‍Audio Student Response

  • Single Question View

  • Keyboard Navigation**

  • Compatibility with Screen Readers (NVDA, JAWS)**

  • Type-ahead (jump to / select items in lists by typing first letter(s) of the item)

  • Line Reader

  • Color Contrast

  • Masking Tool

**on supported items (see more below)

Guidelines for Accessible Assignments

While Threads & Themes aims to support the highest level of accessibility, ultimately assignments and assessments are editable before and during delivery, by teachers who know the needs of their students best.

A fully accessible assignment will allow students to utilize external accessibility tools, such as screen readers and keyboards. To ensure an assignment is fully accessible we recommend utilizing only the supported question types listed below and avoiding usage of the unsupported enriched content or text formatting items. If unsupported enriched content is entered into an assignment, we highly recommend it would be in addition to the fully supported items and not instead of them. If adding unsupported enriched content nonetheless, we recommend also adding descriptive text into supported plain text fields to accompany it.

Supported Question and Content Types

  • Multiple Choice question

  • True/False question

  • Multiple Selection question

  • Short Answer question

  • Plain Text Block content

  • Stand-alone Image content items (When alternate text is specified)

Unsupported Formatting Features

  • Non-default Color Selection

  • Headings

  • LATEX

Unsupported Enriched Content Features

  • Audio

  • Emoji

  • Giphy

  • Image

  • Math

  • Video

  • File

Required Assignment Settings

  • Display Each Item as a Separate Page - Enabled

Accessibility Tools & Student-Specific Accommodations

🌟 Text to Speech / Read Aloud Accommodation

🎧 Set Text to Speech as an accommodation for specific students.

Please read this article for additional information on Threads & Themes assignments platform in-house Text to Speech feature, it's capabilities and options.

🎧 You can also enable text to speech capabilities on the student device instead.

Chromebooks:

  1. At the bottom right, select the time. Or press Alt + Shift + s.

  2. Select Settings .

  3. At the bottom, select Advanced.

  4. In the "Accessibility" section, select Manage accessibility features.

  5. Under "Text-to-Speech," turn on Enable select-to-speak

iOS Mobile Devices:

  1. Launch Settings from your Home screen

  2. Tap Accessibility

  3. Tap Speech

  4. Tap the switch next to Speak Selection

iOS Desktop/Laptop Devices:

  1. Open “System Preferences”

  2. Choose “Accessibility”

  3. Choose “Speech”

  4. Mark “Speak selected text when the key is pressed”

🌟 Add Alt-Image Text

Add Image Alternate Text to images uploaded into your assignment

🌟 Line Reader

Line Reader allows learners to overlay a movable, highlighted bar directly on top of any assignment, focusing their attention on one line of text at a time.

This means students don't need to lose their place or feel overwhelmed by a dense, busy page while working through an assignment. They can guide themselves through a reading passage, isolate a single question, or steady their focus on long-form or passage text immediately as they engage with the material.

The Student's View

When students open an assignment, they will see the menu of Global Learning Tools on the right side of their screen, and a Focus Tools icon will appear within it.

Clicking on the Focus Tools will open another menu, where the Line Reader toggle button will be listed.

Students will toggle the Line Reader button ON to enable it. Then they will proceed to click on a specific line of text within text passages, questions or instruction fields for the gold highlight bar to appear and track the text lines.

Students can click, drag, use arrow keys (Up/Down step lines, Left/Right switch panes), or Escape to dismiss.

🌟 Add Audio / Video

🎧 Add audio to any question type so students can both listen to and see the content.

You can add audio anywhere that you see the "+" symbol. This means that you can read aloud answer options (for example in Multiple Choice or Multiple Selection questions), and send your feedback messages in audio format instead of text as well!

Video is an option, too! If recording a short video with your webcam is preferable to recording audio, you can select the "Video" option instead of "Audio."

🌟 Audio/Video Response

🎤 Students can respond with audio on Audio Response questions, or record a video with their webcam using Video Response questions!

🎤 Students can even use the "Send feedback" feature to respond with audio so they can take the same assignment as the rest of the class. Just use their recorded audio "feedback" to grade their answer on any question type, even those that don't support audio responses, such as multiple choice.

🌟 Closed-Captions for Video Content

Using video content can sometimes pose an accessibility issue, for example, making videos accessible to the hearing impaired or to presenting videos to an audience speaking a different language.

Threads & Themes' Assignments platform offers Closed-Captions for videos added using links from YouTube or from Vimeo.

Threads & Themes will carry over and present the same CC languages supported for the video on the original platform.

🌟 Student Accommodations

  • Time limit extensions: Students with this accommodation are granted extra time when taking assignments with a time limit.

  • Answer Choices Reduction: Remove one answer choice from multi-selection questions for students with this accommodation.

  • Color Contrast: Students with this accommodation can adjust their display to High Contrast.

  • Masking: Students with this accommodation can add masking panels to their assignments, to reduce page clutter and avoid distractions.

  • Translation: students with this accommodation can translate assignments to their designated translation language, when a translator tool is enabled on an assignment.

Please read this article for additional information on the student accommodations - set-up instructions, capabilities, and more!

Additional Tips for Delivering Accessible Assignments

🌟Chunking Material / Frequent Breaks

All responses in Threads & Themes assignments auto-save so students can work on an assignment in multiple sessions. To break up the sessions for the student, select the assign settings to display each item as a separate page - this will present a single-question or a single-section view for the student. You can also try adding a text block after each section notifying the student to stop and take a break:

🌟Insert Support Resources into the Assignment

You can add support materials right into your assignment! For example:
🧮 Insert an image of a multiplication chart.
🧮 Embed an external webpage
🧮 Insert video tutorials for instruction

🌟Modify a Grade Level

An assignment written can easily be copied and modified for any student.
📍Duplicate the assignment
📍Rename the new clone of the assignment - e.g. "Dividing Decimals Purple Group"
📍Modify the new assignment to meet student needs - e.g. reduce answer choices on multiple choice questions, add audio, swap out a grade level reading passage for a reading passage on the students' level, add text boxes or videos with additional directions and/or resources, reduce rigor, etc.
📍Assign to the individuals (or groups) who need this assignment

🌟Tag and Track Standards according to IEP goals

Tag questions with standards. Monitor progress towards mastery of standards in your reports.

🌟Use the Free Response Question for Choice in Response Type

🎤 Students can respond in a variety of ways on Free Response questions. Try adding a "Show Your Work" to a Free Response question for even more options!

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