Checking Out Tech: Reader Mode Activated

 Making sure all students have the ability to access content and class materials is of utmost importance. It is personal for me because of a few friends and family members who experience a range of accessibility issues. I was excited to do some exploring this week to find a tool which would be applicable to disabled students and show people how easy it is to make education more inclusive for everyone!

 After some digging and exploring, I am choosing to share about a Chrome extension instead of a specific program or other tool. 

There are a few reasons I've chosen an extension:

1. Most schools use Chrome as their browser of choice even if the district is not a Google district (I know my district uses Chrome even though we are a Microsoft for EDU district).
2. Chrome extensions are usually free or at least have free versions a person could use before deciding to pay for a higher level extension.
3. Chrome extensions are easy to add to Chrome, and easy to use while completing web navigation.

The Chrome extension is called Reader Mode and can be found here: https://readermode.io/ Their site provides the link to the extension in the Chrome Webstore, as well as a comparison between the Free, Pro, and Premium versions of the extension.

This extension provides a one click way to take a cluttered webpage and turn it into just the text and images which should be the focus of the page. The extension allows the user to change the font, size, spacing, background color, and other options to make the information more accessible. This extension also includes a text-to-speech feature with speed control.

Here is an example of an NPR article in its normal mode:

Here is that same NPR article after Reader Mode has been activated:

One more example using and especially cluttered local news site:

The obvious use for this extension would be for students, faculty, and staff who are visually impaired. My middle school students spend a lot of time doing research across the internet, so when they are not in a database like Gale, this extension would allow any students who are visually impaired to get rid of the clutter on sites and even use text-to-speech if necessary. However, this extension could also benefit students with dyslexia, students with ADD or ADHD, or students who have sensory issues and feel overwhelmed by the ads and sidebars of the average website.

Some districts allow students to add extensions to Chrome themselves, while others push through these additions from their technology support teams. If that is the case, I think sending a brief explanation, as well as the link to Reader Mode's website would be enough to convince most educational technology offices to add this extension to student devices.