Overview

Welcome to lesson 7 of 13 in the Accessible Reading for Educators Course. In this lesson you will learn how students can personalise their reading experience with the EasyReader App.

Lesson Objectives

After studying this lesson, you will be able to:

• List the customizable features available in the Reader screen that enhance readability and accessibility for students.
• Explain how different text, audio, and navigation settings support diverse reading needs, including students using TTS and screen readers.
• Demonstrate how to adjust Reader screen settings such as font type, line spacing, colour themes, and TTS voice options.
• Compare the use of Simple Navigation layout versus the full navigation interface to support different reading preferences.
• Evaluate which reading screen settings would best accommodate specific student needs based on their learning profile or disability.

This lesson should take no more than 15 minutes to complete.

The Reader screen

EasyReader App calls the screen that displays the content of a book as the "Reader screen". The Reader screen contains all the options a student needs to make reading a comfortable and productive experience.

Key options to improve text legibility

Students can change text parameters in a book to meet their personal reading requirements.

Through "Text settings", students can change:

• Text size (students can also adjust the size of text in the Reader screen by using familiar touchscreen gestures and keyboard commands).
• Letter spacing.
• Line spacing.
• Page margins.
• Font including dyslexic friendly fonts.
• Colour theme including a high contrast theme plus the option to create a personal colour theme.

Key options to help students focus on the text

Students can adjust settings to help maintain focus on the text.

Through "Text settings", students can set the number of lines visible. This can be set to one line, three lines, five lines, or all lines visible.

Key options to support students reading with a TTS voice

Students can help support their reading comprehension by using a text-to-speech (TTS) voice. Students can choose from a variety of TTS voices, which includes the availability of voices for over forty languages.

Through "Audio settings", students can change:

• Reading speed.
• TTS voice including adding additional TTS voices.
• Maths settings.
• Pronunciation of words by a TTS voice.

Key options to support students using screen readers

Students who access text-based books using a screen reader can switch to “Screen reader view”. This view optimises the reading experience for students that use a screen reader, especially for those wishing to read the text using a Braille display.

In this view the book appears in a simple, uncomplicated, linear layout with images removed. In this view playback is disabled, enabling students to read through the book using their screen reader’s commands.

Students can toggle Screen reader mode on and off through the "Book options" menu. They can also make this change in Windows through the "Tools" menu.

Key options to support students reading PDFs

Students who require access to PDFs can choose to read the PDF using PDF View or switch to Text View. PDF View presents the document in its original form and Text View switches to show the document using the student’s reading preferences. You will learn more about PDF View in an upcoming lesson.

Key ways to navigate books

Students can configure the Reader screen to show a simple uncluttered interface or switch to having more controls readily available to help navigate the content of books.

By default, Simple navigation layout is turned on. Here, students can Play, Pause, Skip back, and forward through a book.

Students can determine what the Skip back and Skip forward buttons do through "Navigation settings". Options include time intervals, book defaults, and headings.

Students who desire more control over their reading experience can turn off "Simple navigation layout". With Simple navigation layout off, students have additional Heading navigation buttons and a slider they can adjust to move through the book.

Whether a student uses a Simple navigation layout or not, they can navigate to headings, pages, and the bookmarks they have set using "Book navigation".

Summary

In this lesson you looked at the reading screen, familiarised yourself with the controls available on the screen, and discovered settings that can make reading a more comfortable experience for students.

Quiz

Below are three sample quiz questions based on this lesson. Please spend no more than five minutes considering the answers to these questions.

• Which of the following statements is true?
  1. By default, the Reader screen uses "Simple navigation layout" view.
  2. Students can choose to view text-based books using dyslexic-friendly fonts.
  3. Students can correct the mispronunciation of words by the TTS Voice by adding the word to the Pronunciation list.
  4. All the above are true.
• Through "Text settings", students can set the number of lines visible. This can be set to one line, three lines, five lines, or (blank) lines visible.
  1. 7.
  2. 9.
  3. All.
• Students can access over 40 TTS languages. Is this statement true?
  1. Yes.
  2. No.

End of lesson

Thank you for completing this lesson. Please select the 'Next Lesson' option below to continue to the next part of this course.

To revisit a previous lesson, please scroll to the top of this page, visit the Course Outline menu and select the lesson you wish to revisit.

But before you move on, here are the answers to the quiz questions:

1. All the above are true.
2. All.
3. Yes.