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  3. Twig Middle School
  4. Teaching tools

Twig Middle School: Enabling Accessibility features

At Twig Science we pride ourselves on our products being accessible for all. Twig Science adheres to the WCAG 2.0 AA standard, and we're working towards WCAG 2.1 AA compliance. We continue to review products and add new accessibility features when we can. 

In this article we will look at:

Read-Aloud Tool: Screen reader for lessons

All lessons feature an audio player which enables users to listen to all the text on the page. The audio player can be found on student-facing lessons as well as the lessons in the educator portal. Step 1 below explains how teachers can find the Read Aloud button. Steps 2 through 4 apply to both teachers and students. 

  1. First, navigate to a lesson in the educator portal. (Teach > Lesson Explorer > Use filters at the top of the page.
    find a lesson twig middle school.png
    Click on the title of a lesson to open it.
    click a lesson title twig middle.png
    Open the Student View drop-down menu and select either Digital (English) or Digital (Spanish).
    student view _ digital twig middle.png
     
  2. To listen to the page, click the Read Aloud button.
    Read Aloud button twig science middle.png

  3. The read-aloud function begins automatically, and words will be highlighted on the screen in time with the audio. Click the Stop button to pause it and the Play button to start it again. Click the X to close and exit the tool. 
    play stop exit twig middle.png
     

     Note

    You can also use the forward and back arrows in the toolbar to go back to the previous section of the page or move forward to the next one. The Pause button functions like the Stop button and will stop the audio from being read aloud until you click the Play button again.
    forward back and pasue buttons twig middle.png

Other accessibility functions in the Read Aloud tool

From within the same menu as the screen reader, you can access the Dictionary, Translate, and Settings features. The table below explains each feature in more detail.
 

dictionary, translate, and settings buttons twig middle.png
Feature Name Description
Dictionary (book icon)
  1. Highlight a word on the screen.
  2. Click the dictionary button.
  3. The definition opens.
    Parents dictionary definition.png
Translate (languages icon)
  1. Highlight a word or phrase on the screen.
  2. Click the translate button.
  3. The translation is provided. The default language is Spanish, but you can change the language in the settings section as described in the next row.
    translation example twig middle school.png
Settings (gear icon) Click the settings button. It will open to the General section.
Here you can change the speed of the voice, the color of the text highlight, the text magnifier size, and whether the read aloud is activated by a click or a hover.
general tab.png
As noted previously, the page can be automatically read to you in English or in Spanish (whatever is displaying to you on your screen) via the Play button in the Read Aloud tool. However, here in the Translation page, you can select something other than English or Spanish. This additional language will not play automatically, but will play as long as you highlight the desired text first and then click the Translate button in the Read Aloud tool. Read more about setting this up in Twig Science Middle School: Using translate tools. translation 2 twig middle.png

In the Screen Tools section, you can change colors and opacity.
screen tools twig middle.png
 

Optimized keyboard accessibility

Twig Science has optimized keyboard accessibility which ensures every action can be accessed and triggered using only your keyboard.

Screen Readers

Twig Science has been tested and reviewed to ensure the site is compatible with screen readers that you download and install separately. We've provided easy access to relevant information, and have reduced unnecessary auditory clutter on icons and decorative images for ease of use. 
 

Closed Captions

Closed captions are available for both videos and Digital Interactives.

Closed captioning for Videos

Closed captions are available for all videos. Students and teachers can enable or disable closed captions using the video control panel. Follow the steps below to turn on video closed captions.

  1. Click on a video to start playback.
  2. In the bottom right-hand corner of the video player, click the CC icon.
    click cc button.png
  3. Choose the language of captions you wish to turn on.

 Note

English (United States) captions will always be available; additional languages may depend on your subscription.

Closed Captioning for Digital Interactives

Any Digital Interactive which contains sound now comes with closed captioning available in English or Spanish.  Students and teachers can enable or disable closed captions using the side control panel.

Click the CC icon to enable or disable captions. 

CC.png

This feature ensures that students can follow along with any Digital Interactive audio content, supporting diverse learning needs to create a more engaging educational environment.

 

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