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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Because teacher appreciation shouldn’t be confined to just one week (and it was hard to pick just five winners), we want to share all your words of thanks so the amazing nominees get the special recognition they deserve. Read the messages of thanks in our slide decks below. If you spot a nomination for someone you know, why not screenshot the slide and share it with them and us on Twitter @Texthelp.

Alyson nominated her colleague Liz Hardy from Wheatland Center School, WI because…

“Liz is an inspirational colleague and an amazing teacher. This weekend she brought joy to our Wheatland community by planning her half-marathon race route through the district neighborhoods. The number of people who made signs, decorated the race route, and cheered her on along the way is a huge testament to the relationships and connections Liz puts at the forefront of all she does as a teacher. She always puts kids first, has an amazing heart, and helps in whatever way that she can. Thank you, Liz for all that you do!”

Cheryl wanted to thank Jodi Tack at KC Ling Elementary, MI for helping her daughter...

“In a heartbeat Mrs Tack and the entire school district set up virtual learning for our students. Mrs. Tack emails my daughter daily. She also replies to email very quickly. They have multiple google meets with her class for test reviews and assignments.”  

Suzanne had some words of thanks for her colleague Josie Costa from Dwight Belizzi School, CT…

“Josie has been a tremendous friend and supporter when I started teaching at Dwight Belizzi School several years ago. She has helped me with learning the curriculum; old and new and with some challenging students as well. She is a mentor even now as we focus on online learning. Thank you Josie for everything you do!”

Cheryl wanted to thank her son’s teacher, Rebecca Ancira at Murchison Elementary School, TX for...

“Being an amazing supporter and encouraging my son this year. Before & during this crisis, she has been there for my son as she is with all of her students. She makes them all feel special while teaching the subjects & life skills. We love Mrs. Ancira!!”

Nicole nominated Megan Mitchell from North Bend Elementary School, WA for… 

“Being a creative and tireless advocate for keeping our kids connected, learning, and enthusiastic during these challenging times. She has developed a weekly routine to connect her class online with consistent small groups focused on continued learning and reaching goals. She sends fun activities for the kids to do beyond ‘homework’ and shares creative endeavors that the kids have been working on each week."  

"Last Friday, she had a neighbor donkey participate in the online class meeting - how cool!  She always finds a way to connect with individual kids on their unique level, and identify how to best navigate different personalities and learning styles.”

Thanks to everyone who took part and highlighted the amazing work teachers are doing across the country. We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we did and if you have some kind words to share, leave them in a comment below & let the appreciation continue.  

As part of Teacher Appreciation Week, we asked you to nominate a special teacher in your life by telling us how they go above and beyond for their colleagues & students. We were overwhelmed with the outpouring of appreciation and have shared all the amazing stories of teacher appreciation we received.

Sharing the love: teacher appreciation stories

Sharing the love: Teacher appreciation from parents, students & colleagues

As part of our Teacher Appreciation Week celebrations, we asked you to nominate a special teacher in your life by telling us how they go above and beyond for their colleagues & students. We were overwhelmed with the outpouring of appreciation and have shared our winning nominations again below in case you missed them. 

So what is WCAG? WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and are part of a series of web accessibility guidelines published by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). The guidelines aim to make your content accessible to a wider range of people with disabilities, including blindness and low vision, deafness and hearing loss, learning disabilities, cognitive limitations, limited movement, speech disabilities, photosensitivity and combinations of these. It’s quite a long list but it represents about 1 billion people across the world.

The guidelines inform the international standard for web accessibility, and legislation such as the EU Directive for Web Accessibility, outlines that organizations must comply with WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards.

Following the guidelines will not only make your web content more usable to ALL USERS, but will also ensure you're in compliance with legal requirements.

Make sure all images that are visible to screen readers have descriptive ALT text. For example, an image of a pie chart might have ALT text reading: “Pie chart illustrating that “40% Voted Yes and 60% Voted No.”

Format links to contrast from the body text, such as using underlines or icons next to the text. Use descriptive TITLE text, and descriptive link text such as “click here to download policies PDF.”

Add a border to input fields, populate the LABEL tags for each field, and add helper text that provides an example input for each field. Make sure form elements are not hidden or inaccessible by using the tab key.

Set the contrast ratio between text and the text’s background to be at least 4.5 to 1. If your font is at least 18px bold, the minimum drops to 3 to 1. Use a color contrast tool to analyze your site for AA and AAA standards.

Apply H1, H2, H3, and H4 tags for your headings and apply landmarks such as main, form, and navigation to the structure of the page.

Use aria-hidden=”true” on elements such as pull-quotes, dividers, and icons to hide them when the site is accessed by screen readers.

Select an easy-to-read font, and limit the number of fonts used on the site. Use relative units for font sizes so they can be increased with screen magnification. Avoid very small text.

How do I improve web accessibility for users of assistive technology?

Many users with disabilities use assistive technologies to access digital content. Assistive technologies include screen magnifiers, screen readers, alternative keyboards and pointing devices, and site, or browser based assistive tools.

Understanding how assistive technologies work and applying the principles of accessible design allows you to successfully deliver web content for every user.  The practices of accessibility affect all areas of a website, including: 

Your code needs to be optimized for screen readers, including appropriate HTML markup structure. Users should be able to navigate the entirety of the site, including any forms, using only a keyboard. Accessible coding is generally the responsibility of a web developer.

Think about users with vision impairments and make sure that the use of colors, contrast, and font sizes is optimized for visibility. Colors should not be the only element used to indicate important information. 

Ensure that screen readers and other devices can translate visual content into speech or text by providing text alternatives for graphic elements and links.

To help you delve deeper into web accessibility and create digital content that's inclusive, we've pulled together several free resources for you to explore:

Webinar and WCAG checklists for designers and marketers


Discover more the WCAG guidelines and what they mean.

What is WCAG 2.1 and how do I make sense of the guidelines?

Have you ever avoided delving into WCAG compliance due to its complexity? Never fear, we’re here to help. This blog will highlight the main components of web accessibility, without all the technical jargon. 

Whether you're an employee, or an employer looking for ways to support your remote teams, here's 11 ways that might help those struggling to get used to working from home...

Here's 11 ways that might help employees struggling to get used to working from home.

11 ways to help you get used to working from home

We know how unsettling change can be, especially when it swoops in swiftly and is accompanied by the unknown and uncertain. If you’ve recently moved to remote working, you might be struggling to get used to a new daily routine, or are finding it challenging to communicate with your colleagues online. ​We want to help support you in getting used to your new way of working, so we’ve put together some tips and tricks for you to try.

The WriQ Add-in offers features to help educators improve student writing outcomes. By visualizing insights on student writing levels and comparing with national norms, WriQ makes it easier to differentiate and personalize student instruction than ever before.

The easiest way to show you the power of WriQ is to watch this quick demo…

Introducing WriQ for Microsoft Word

Ready to experience the benefits of WriQ?

You can get the Add-in from the Windows Store now or you can opt to start a pilot.  Our complimentary pilots are an easy way to really test the power of WriQ with your students and fellow educators. If this is something you’d like to do, simply complete the pilot form. 

WriQ - the writing achievement tool is now available as a Microsoft Add-in, for Word users.

A new way to experience WriQ

Since we released WriQ as a Chrome extension two years ago, we've seen WriQ mature into a fully fledged writing assessment and student achievement tool. And now we're excited to offer the same solution from Microsoft Word users. Read on to find out more…

Maintaining a positive company culture can be difficult at the best of times. It’s something that comes naturally from your people. So as a leader, it is your responsibility to positively influence and nurture what’s going on around you. That’s incredibly important in times like these when your employees can’t as easily build company culture amongst themselves.

Right now, showing support to your remote teams is the most valuable thing you can do - and when I reflect on how we’re retaining positivity with my team at MVMNT, I can point to five key areas…

Guest Vlog: How to maintain a positive company culture while working remote

Hear from our friend Miles Skelton, Co-founder and Director at MVMNT, for advice on retaining company culture among your remote teams.

How to maintain a positive company culture while working remote

Video: How to maintain a positive company culture while working remote

In this guest blog, our friend Miles Skelton, Co-founder and Director at MVMNT, shares some advice on how to retain a positive company culture while working remote...

Younger students often use manipulatives in their classrooms to explore math concepts. Therefore, we have incorporated virtual manipulatives into this latest update of EquatIO mathspace! Now, teachers and students can mimic what can be achieved in the physical classroom on a digital platform, which offers additional opportunities for comparisons, discovery, collaboration, and personalization.

When you log in to EquatIO mathspace, you will now see dynamic fraction bars and circles with shading options included in the Smart Shapes tab to help with ratio fluency and comparative quantities. Embedding these dynamic manipulatives into a Google Workspace for Education App with the EquatIO mathspace integration is a great way to enhance a lesson and make the material more than just ‘digital paper’.

Additionally, in the Shapes tab we have a variety of standard elementary manipulatives including:

Now users can create math & stem thumbnails easily right from their mobile tablet. They then can be shared easily with students and easily submitted back to the teacher to receive feedback. There is no app to download in order for users to access EquatIO mathspace. Simply visit equatio.texthelp.com from their iPad browser and they will be asked to sign in using their credentials for EquatIO. Once inside you will see the same EquatIO dashboard you are accustomed to seeing on your computer.

We are really excited about all of the new ways EquatIO can help younger students communicate their thought processes and explore math concepts. We would love to hear what other items you would like to see us build to help make your students’ math digital. Leave your suggestions in the comments below!

While a lot of our initial EquatIO releases and updates focused on supports for Middle and High School students, we wanted to spend some time creating features that would support Elementary School students as well. Keep reading to see what we’ve come up with!

EquatIO mathspace: it’s elementary my dear

The overall goal of EquatIO is to make it delightful, intuitive, and fun for students to communicate their thought processes. While a lot of our initial EquatIO releases and updates focused on supports for Middle and High School students, we wanted to spend some time creating features that would support Elementary School students as well. Great news: Introducing EquatIO Mathspace for iPad!

Blog

Sharing the love: Teacher appreciation from parents, students & colleagues

What is WCAG 2.1 and how do I make sense of the guidelines?

11 ways to help you get used to working from home

A new way to experience WriQ

Video: How to maintain a positive company culture while working remote

EquatIO mathspace: it’s elementary my dear

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