PANDA's Guide to Digital Accessibility Tools

Welcome back to our series focused on accessibility and inclusion for learners with disabilities! This month we’re sharing a final resource from our friends at PANDA, a curated list of technology tools for the classroom that have been tested and vetted by Minnesota ABE teachers. 

PANDA’s accessibility tech catalog has tools for reading, writing and math that can be quickly downloaded or accessed on the web, most of them for free. PANDA’s catalog also includes a guide to the built-in accessibility features of Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android all in one place. It’s worth every tutor and teacher’s time to explore a few of these powerful tools that can expand the accessibility and possibilities for learning on the devices many of your students use every day.

For a taste of what you’ll find when you start to explore, we’ll highlight just one of our favorite tools from the catalog, Immersive Reader. Immersive Reader is a reading tool that allows you to customize the display of text with font, colors, spacing, line focus, and more. You can also access a picture definition and translation of a word, as well as highlight parts of speech, with a few simple clicks. And it reads text aloud too! 

Ready to try Immersive Reader with your students? Get started with this brief tutorial on how to launch it on a Windows device and navigate all its features. If you’re on an Apple or Chromebook device, you can access Immersive Reader by downloading the free version of the Helperbird app. And don’t forget to visit PANDA’s catalog to find other great tools to add to your repertoire!