Introducing the student accessibility toolbar (particularly useful for SEND learners)

We understand that every child learns differently and has their own personal learning style and preferences. Therefore, we are thrilled to announce our new accessibility toolbar, specifically designed so that every child can learn on EdPlace in the way they choose to reach their full potential!

There are two ways of accessing the toolbar. Students can access the toolbar by logging into their account and clicking on the 'Accessibility' tab which is located on their dashboard:

If they make changes here, then they will be saved and applied every time they login to the EdPlace website. 

Alternatively, they can access the toolbar whilst in a specific activity by selecting the accessibility icon that appears in the  middle on the right-hand side of the screen:

Doing this will only customise the view for the single activity they are currently working on. 

When they load the toolbar, your child will be provided with these options: 

Below is a summary of each feature and how they can use each to help achieve their best:

Adaptable font size

Learners can decrease and increase the size of the font to make it easier to read which is particularly helpful for students with any kind of visual impairment. 

9 different font options

Learners can choose from 9 different font types to select the one they find easiest to read (including our specific dyslexia-friendly font which has been recognised by the British Dyslexia Association).

Ability to change the background colour

Learners now have the ability to change the colour of the background and fonts presented to reduce visual stress. 

Reading ruler

The reading ruler function underlines text to enhance reading fluency and remove the issue of missing lines whilst reading. 

Reading window

This feature allows students to focus on a specific section of the page in isolation which encourages greater focus. 

Dictionary

Learners can now highlight and click on any word to find out its definition. 

Translate

All text can now be translated into more than thirty different languages. This can be really beneficial for students if English is not their first language.

Plain text mode 

Learners can now remove the images in an activity and just view the questions without any distractions if they prefer. 

Magnifier

By using the magnifier, learners can click and drag the magnifying glass to magnify any element shown on their screen to provide greater support for those learners with any type of visual impairment. 

User guide

This is the user guide button which will give you and your child an overview of the toolbar and how to use it. 

Read aloud and volume

With these features within every activity, learners will be able to always customise the audio so that they can have text read to them at their preferred volume level. This can be very useful for students with a lower reading age, whilst also assisting students that are visually impaired. Children in Key Stage 1 who are just learning to read can use this feature as they may need additional help to complete activities successfully. These buttons are located with the accessibility icon on the right-hand side of every page and question within every single EdPlace activity. 

Please note, some of these features are only available when accessing the student account via our website, and all of these features will work best in this mode. For this reason, we recommend that students login via our website rather than our apps, if these accessibility features are important for their learning. 

We hope that these features will enable your child to learn on EdPlace in a way which they find fun and easy - if you both don't have to sweat the small stuff, then they can really give 100% to their learning!

If you need any help with this or have any more questions or suggestions, please contact our friendly Customer Support Team at help@edplace.com.