Our latest thoughts from the world of technology in education & the workplace

Texthelp Blog - Our latest thoughts from the world of technology in education & the workplace

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COVID-19 has placed global education in an unprecedented state of flux. Faced with both new and long-existing challenges, teachers are working harder than ever. They are being called to excel at a job that many of them were not trained for. They’re being asked to create an environment conducive to academic achievement without face-to-face interaction with their students.Many of the difficulties that our educators are facing today have not been directly caused by COVID-19; they were merely exacerbated by it. 

Even before schools closed in the spring, teachers were already grappling with a crisis in student motivation.Student motivation is important because it can be directly linked to attainment. In a survey conducted in 2018, approximately 29 percent of students reported that they were “not engaged” and 24 percent reported being “actively disengaged.” Combined with the added challenge of virtual instruction, motivating students continues to preoccupy educators. In a recent survey on the difficulties of distance learning, teachers cited their biggest challenge to supporting their students was keeping them all engaged. This drop in student motivation is expected to continue as hybrid and distance learning models become normalized.

This “new normal” in education requires meeting old and new challenges with novel solutions. Education leaders should put their focus on giving teachers the tools they need to face the challenge of encouraging engagement and increasing student motivation–even when they are not physically present in the classroom–while also freeing up time for them to focus on one-to-one instruction and support for their students.Technology as an effective tool for student motivationResearch has shown that education technology can help improve student outcomes when executed effectively. 

For example, in a study across grades 1-8 in the U.S., introducing tools such as student response systems devices and computer software improved student motivation and engagement by 9 percent. When deployed along with strategies such as micro-learning, gamification, and effective feedback from teachers, edtech tools can go a long way in inspiring motivation.The use of edtech tools has surged in response to the pandemic-related school closures that began last March. 

With distance and hybrid learning becoming the new norm, our reliance on edtech will only continue to increase. However, in order to truly realize the potential of these tools, we must invest in ones that will allow teachers to support and encourage their students, while decreasing their workload.When determining what tools help to achieve those goals, teachers and education leaders should look for products that:
	

Employ bite-sized exercises and lessons. Research into micro-learning has shown that breaking lessons up into small learning units with micro-assessments can better engage students in online and blended learning environments. In a recent study examining mobile-based micro-learning and assessment homework activities on students’ motivation and learning performance, researchers found that students in an experimental group who experienced micro-learning reported significantly higher perceived autonomy and competence, and higher levels of learner satisfaction and achievement. Interactive exercises like definitions, formulas, small paragraphs, and flashcards with micro-assessment can help encourage student participation and motivation.

Apply elements of gamification. Platforms designed with properties of gamification can also help drive student motivation. Educators can incorporate leader boards or point systems within their lesson plans to help students feel externally rewarded. Although studies into gamification’s impacts are still inconclusive, there are some grounds for optimism: a recent meta-analysis of 30 independent interventions drawn from 24 quantitative studies showed gamification can increase student learning and performance. When used appropriately it can foster enthusiasm, fulfill students’ needs for recognition, and even promote goal-setting, leading to higher levels of engagement. 

Deliver timely feedback. Timely and bite-sized feedback helps students to feel successful as they learn, which acts as a strong motivator for students. However, teachers often have to balance their workload with delivering frequent and high-quality feedback. Technology offers a unique opportunity to ease these challenges. Edtech tools that automate and standardize assessments and deliver instant feedback to students allow teachers to allocate their time on providing individual instruction, support, and deeper feedback instead of grading.  
	
Are domain-specific. Focus on a particular subject area. Reading and math are often key areas of focus, however, achievement gaps in writing are also a particular challenge for educators. Given the scale of achievement gaps in writing, it is important to look at solutions that address this particular problem. Research shows that motivating students to write more, and to do so in longer bursts of time, can improve writing fluency. Performance feedback, such as commenting on the number of words written compared to previous writing, can help students to write more. Technology tools automating performance feedback offer teachers an opportunity to improve student writing fluency and save valuable teacher time. 

Technology can benefit teachers and students alike.

COVID-19 has pushed the rapid adoption of technology into the mainstream and it is likely here to stay. As such, we must leverage its potential to help educators create greater opportunities for academic achievement regardless of the learning environment. With a plethora of choices, thoughtful consideration should go into the decision-making around edtech tools. Those that rise to the top should address challenges like student motivation and engagement while also complementing the work of teachers and lessening their workloads, enabling them to spend time where it’s needed – with the students. 
	

Are you looking for effective tools to motivate students and streamline assessment? Click here for a look into the classroom of the future with our writing tool, WriQ.  

Learn how technology can help  teachers to support and encourage their students, while decreasing their workload

Choosing the right tools to boost student motivation

The COVID-19 pandemic has made online and hybrid learning the norm—but today's reality can have a negative impact on student motivation. 

Jason joined Texthelp back in 2012 as our Professional Development Manager for Western US and Canada. He then moved to Product Marketing to help with the launch of Read&Write for Google Chrome in 2013. From there, he transitioned to product management as our portfolio continued to expand. This is where he really came into his own. Successive promotions followed - from Product Manager to Global Product Manager to Director of Product Management to my announcement of Chief Product Officer today.

Jason will be responsible for our product vision, strategy, and execution for the entire company. He’ll be our head product cheerleader! Responsible for the future of Read&Write for Education, Read&Write for Work, EquatIO, WriQ, Fluency Tutor, Browsealoud and Speechsteam and anything else that follows into the future (watch this space!)

He’ll also head up our innovation process at Texthelp. Something that is extremely important to us.  He’s the guy that will help turn new ideas into brand new products or improvements to our existing ones.

With Jason’s passion for technology and insight to guide us, there is no limit to our ability to help our customers. We’ll be able to help many more people around the globe to understand and be understood. He leads a team of four dedicated product managers and proven technology. His experience and expertise puts us in a unique position to understand and respond to what our customers need, now and in the future. 

Please join me in congratulating him on his new role!

Texthelp appoints Jason Carroll as Chief Product Officer

I’m delighted to announce that Jason Carroll joins our Senior Management team at Texthelp in an exciting new role as our Chief Product Officer. 

Prior to joining Texthelp, Jason spent ten years as an Educational and Assistive Technology Consultant. He’s been with us now for almost a decade. And he’s done a tremendous job for us over the last few years managing our products. 

As an EquatIO user, you’ll be well used to creating digital and accessible content within Google Workspace, in Microsoft applications, and within the LTI integrations on your LMS.  

But we quickly understood that using the EquatIO for Google Chrome extension when you were browsing the internet, or EquatIO’s LTI integration when you were on your LMS, left you feeling a bit underwhelmed.  People asked “what if I could open the EquatIO toolbar on any website or any LMS I visited, instead of the abbreviated toolbar that I was used to seeing?” so we took this on board and have added more functionality to the EquatIO toolbar - let's take a look at the updates. 

First up, we added the ability to use the Screenshot Reader so math could be read aloud. Then we provided a Discoverability button so math could be identified on websites, and we added in all three STEM tools (which you’ve found to be very useful). Lastly, you can now use EquatIO in Canvas, D2L, Schoology and Blackboard without having to launch an LTI.

This latest release allows you to open the entire EquatIO toolbar at the bottom of your Chrome window, providing you with a full Web Toolbar experience. 

Why is this so important? The answer is simple. At Texthelp we have been listening to your feedback and you’ve been telling us all the places in which you wish EquatIO would work. These places include websites like Jamboard, Classkick, Whiteboard.fi, Desmos, Gmail, your Learning Management Systems and many others.  

Now when you visit any webpage and click on the Chrome Extension in the upper right corner, you will immediately see the full web toolbar display at the bottom. The ‘Copy Math As’ button will be grayed out until you have actually entered in some form of math or text into the toolbar. 

Once you’re ready to copy that item to your clipboard click on this in the lower right corner of the toolbar to view all the formats in which we allow you to copy your math. Keep in mind that the platform in which you wish to ‘paste’ your math must be able to accept one of the following formats: Image, LaTex, MathML, Spoken Text, HTML, SVG, URL, or you may even download the image and use the image in places like Kahoot or Quizizz for Formative Assessments for example.

New Use Cases for the EquatIO Web Toolbar

In my time as the Product Manager for EquatIO, the number one request through the feedback form, Twitter, & emails has easily been for Jamboard integration with EquatIO. Now you can take your ‘Jams’ to a whole new level in your Math & STEM classes. Simply open up a Jam, invite some colleagues or students to collaborate with you, and you can all paste your math easily right inside Jamboard. 

With the newest update to the EquatIO toolbar, you no longer need to use the Copy Math As button in TinyMCE editors within Canvas, D2L and Schoology. You don’t even need an LTI integration. Instead, now you can simply click on the EquatIO Chrome Extension and insert and edit math using the EquatIO toolbar you’re accustomed to. And the best news? You can now use EquatIO within Blackboard.

Check out our new playlist to see how EquatIO can work within your LMS

In summary, this new and exciting web toolbar really provides endless possibilities for digital and accessible math. This truly is only the beginning. We plan on developing this toolbar even further to work in even more of the Ed Tech environments you use with your students.  

We can’t wait to read your blog replies and your Social Media posts on Twitter, Facebook, & Instagram. Make sure you tag your posts with @Texthelp or use the hashtag #EquatIO so we can learn where you are most excited about using the new EquatIO Web Toolbar.

EquatIO's web toolbar now allows you to add and create maths in many places such as Jamboard, Classkick, Whiteboard.fi, and Gmail.

Infinite possibilities with EquatIO

Infinite possibilities for digital math with EquatIO

The EquatIO team is always on the lookout for ways to improve the digital math experience. When we heard that you were having trouble creating math with the EquatIO web toolbar and within your Learning Management Systems (LMSs), we got on the case right away to see what we could do.

Release More Education on Making Sites Accessible

My biggest learning from the web accessibility quiz is just how much need there is for it! Oftentimes, when we are designing technology, we don’t keep everyone in mind. It is important that everyone, regardless of their ability, is able to access the information they need, when they need it. The one thing that the industry could do differently is to release more education or courses on how to go about making sites more accessible. That way, we can reduce the learning curve and make more sites accessible to everyone!

If you feel like Jeanne and are searching for some support, check out Texthelp’s web accessibility resources. You’ll find everything from recorded webinars to guides and more.

My biggest learning from taking the quiz was that I need to be more cognizant of web-accessibility for neurodiverse individuals. There are some great questions to think about when providing web-access. There were so many examples of how I can provide a better service.

- Sonja Talley, Principal HR Consultant -

Discover these examples for yourself and take the quiz. Not only will your knowledge be tested, you'll also be given the opportunity to access free resources, to take your expertise to the next level. 

There is a lack of knowledge in our industry. Many don’t realize that these issues even exist, let alone understand that there are simple things they can do to address them. These things should be the required curriculum of every web development and web design course of study to ensure that the next generation of websites is built in a way that makes them accessible to all.    

As a digital marketing company, we’ve always looked at web page headings as an opportunity to help improve technical SEO. Web page headings help website crawlers understand the main sections on a web page, and helps search engines better categorize and index content. But, a consistent web page heading structure also can help readers who have difficulty processing information understand and follow the flow of a piece of content. If you publish blogs on your website, or if you create landing pages as part of a marketing strategy, consider a standardized web page heading structure to help content be consumed more easily. 

We recently did an accessibility evaluation and failed miserably. Our site is hard for screen readers to read, doesn't communicate well to those who are colorblind, has no alt text for images, and so many other accessibility issues that we're now looking into addressing. 

My plan for the new year is to hire a web developer who specializes in accessibility to go over our site with a fine-tooth comb and address these issues. I want to make sure as many people as possible can use our site because our customers come from all walks of life with all different circumstances.

My company is in photography, videography and travel business. In my opinion, what our industry could do better is to understand how to make our visual content pieces more accessible for people with disabilities. This may include learning how to write better alt text for all our imagery, writing our own captions for our videos instead of relying on auto-generated captions, and ensuring our websites work with the most common screen readers. I think this is important because viewing art, whether that is looking at a photograph or watching a short film, is one of the pleasures in life and everyone should be able to enjoy it when they want to.

In our industry, the concept of accessible websites can be very new, even though the Americans with Disabilities Act is not. Not only are developers blindsided by the unexpected requirement of making their sites accessible, but they are also downright frightened by demand letters and lawsuits.

What this industry needs to do differently regarding web accessibility is to gain the right perspective. Stop with the quick fixes and understand what makes a website accessible the right way. Look at accessible issues from someone else's point of view. For example, try using a screen reader yourself or disable your CSS to see how your site looks. Applying the right fixes may not be as hard as some developers think, and once you learn the correct way to do it, the fear can go away.

I am in the travel, tourism, and hospitality sector and there are so many accessibility issues on business websites that are costing sales and sending customers to other businesses. The most common issues are in relation to contact forms using graphical captchas to prevent spam. Additionally, many web designers create inaccessible calendar form fields which make filling out a contact form or doing booking searches impossible.

Form fields should be able to be filled out by keyboard users and people using screen readers — disabled people make up more than 20% of the population. This is a large customer market segment that could be lost by not making these things accessible. I travel with my sighted wife usually but I like to be able to do a lot of the research and price comparison work myself and inaccessible websites cause great annoyance and anger, and lead to me choosing a different business.

Discover more about web accessibility and gain valuable resources to help you become more inclusive. Alternatively, why not test your knowledge? Take our web accessibility quiz.

Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published. 

In this blog, eight Marketing professionals reflect on web accessibility initiatives that could be done differently. Have a read and let us know what your biggest challenges are in the comments section!

8 web accessibility initiatives that can be done differently

With web accessibility being a big focal topic at the moment, we recently published a web accessibility quiz that allows individuals to test what they know about web accessibility. We then asked our friends in the Terkel community to take the quiz, and reflect on their biggest learning. And share their thoughts on what they feel their industry could do differently.

In this blog, eight Marketing professionals reflect on web accessibility initiatives that could be done differently. Have a read and let us know what your biggest challenges are in the comments section below!

Brightspace is a popular Learning Management System which makes it easy for teachers to create and organize course materials. With its most recent update, students can now use Read&Write within Brightspace content to access the learning support they need.

When you’re in your course, just click on the Read&Write extension and you’ll see the familiar purple puzzle piece appear throughout Brightspace. Read&Write will now be embedded into Content and other course tools. 

Whenever you want to read text aloud, look up words, make highlights or simplify text, just click on the puzzle piece and Read&Write tools will be right at your fingertips.

Check out the video below to see Read&Write in action: 

Using Read&Write for Google Chrome in Brightspace

If you use Google Classroom or a different Learning Management System, check out this recent blog article highlighting how you can use Read&Write. 

We’re always looking to improve our products and we welcome customer feedback. Let us hear your thoughts on these updates as well as any suggestions for future improvements by leaving a comment below.

Bright future for Read&Write in Brightspace LMS

Texthelp is excited to announce a new and improved experience when using Read&Write for Google Chrome in D2L’s Brightspace LMS. Read on to find out more about the updates and what they mean for your online classes. 

Dyslexic minds often process information visually and with originality. To their teams, people with dyslexia are often known as the problem-solvers. That’s because they’re able to recognize patterns and discover connections that others have missed. They are able to look at tasks with a holistic and creative approach, and are renowned for being detailed verbal communicators. But for many dyslexic people, sharing their talents doesn’t come without its stresses and strains.

In the modern workspace, much of our communication is in the written format. There’s an ever-increasing demand for accurate and speedy work. But if written communication doesn’t suit everyone, what then?

Literacy software helps to make the workplace more inclusive. It offers employees a choice in how they work, levelling the playing field so that every employee is empowered to succeed in their career. 

"Colin is intelligent, but doesn't show it on paper." 

That’s the phrase that’s written on most of Colin’s reports from his school days. And unfortunately, it’s a phrase with which many people with dyslexia can relate. 

As someone with dyslexia, Colin experiences difficulty processing information in his short-term memory. He also struggles with organization and has challenges when it comes to writing and spelling. 

Colin is also very well respected in his job, receiving many promotions before settling into his current role as Governance Manager in the UK Civil Service. But his succession didn’t come without its challenges.  

It must be said that a world that’s not inclusive hinders the talents of people with neurodiversity. Colin experienced a time in his career where his job was on the line. Why? Because his role involved a lot of reading and writing, and the supports were simply not there.

Fortunately, Colin’s Line Manager stepped in. Through inclusive practice, he was provided with adjustments to support his way of working. And because of that, Colin began to thrive. One of his supports was Read&Write for Work.

 “I have strategies to deal with my dyslexia. And one of the most important ones is Texthelp Read&Write. It helps me when I'm drafting any work-related papers, it picks up spelling mistakes, homophones, all the things that dyslexics have problems with. I've been using it for about 20 years.” - Colin Moloney

Read&Write is a literacy software that supports users with neurodiverse conditions like dyslexia. Its features support employees to work in a way which suits their strengths. And, it's also designed to empower efficiency and productivity in the fast-paced world of work. 

Many individuals with dyslexia process information best when it's audible. Text-to-speech technology allows them to decode text in their preferred way, helping them to take in information much quicker and proofread their work much faster. Read&Write for Work offers text-to-speech across any platform or device and supports easy listening on the go.

Speaking of the software, Chris Pickup, a Finance Administrator with dyslexia states;

“Read&Write helps me to work at a faster rate. I can use text-to-speech instead of reading documents, which in turn allows me to work more quickly, as I am a slow reader.”  

Individuals with dyslexia might find it difficult to focus. Read&Write provides a screen masking feature that helps to focus the users attention on content they want to read. It helps to reduce what many dyslexics describe as ‘distorted and moving text’. This makes it easier to interpret, and supports task completion. 

Explaining the benefits of screen-tinting, Taljinder Duggal, Corporate Communications and Engagement Analyst with dyslexia and dyspraxia, explains;

“When reading an Excel document, the text and numbers used to dance all over my screen. The moment I added the screen masking feature, through color theory and by using the pink and blue tint overlays, the Excel sheet almost ironed itself out. I could read it seamlessly.”

In the workplace, urgent matters creep up. Employees need to be able to react quickly, and with accuracy. Diction provides an alternative method of input. Employees simply speak their thoughts and watch as the words appear on screen. This helps those with dyslexia to get their thoughts down, without worry over the mechanics of spelling. Helping them to respond much faster, without feeling overwhelmed. 

It offers a thoughtful adjustment. And supports an inclusive workplace

Employees with dyslexia may have their own coping mechanisms. But Read&Write provides an extra level of support. Providing the software helps you to demonstrate your commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion, and ensures your employees feel supported. Having the software readily available also means the support is there for those that may not have disclosed their disability or who may not know they have dyslexia.

"Read&Write changed my life" | Employee testimonial

A workplace culture that embraces diversity supports personal achievement and organizational success. It helps organizations make the workplace a place where great things happen - for everyone. 

To find out more about Read&Write, visit our dedicated product page. Or, reach out to our team to discover how Read&Write can benefit your organization.

Literacy software helps employees with dyslexia to overcome challenges. And empowers them to harness their unique strengths. Discover how.

How can literacy software support employees with dyslexia?

One in 10 people have dyslexia. For many, the digital workplace creates barriers to their success. Literacy software helps employees with dyslexia to overcome challenges and empowers them to harness their unique strengths. 

Blog

Choosing the right tools to boost student motivation

Texthelp appoints Jason Carroll as Chief Product Officer

Infinite possibilities for digital math with EquatIO

8 web accessibility initiatives that can be done differently

Bright future for Read&Write in Brightspace LMS

How can literacy software support employees with dyslexia?

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