Access Technology Skills

Image shows a logo representing Assistive Technology Skills.

Technology is everywhere in education and home life. Access technologies provide access to information for learning, social interaction or leisure. We have come to rely on technology for many forms of our daily communication and productivity tasks.

Click on the logo on the right to go to our resources page for Access Technology Skills. 

Access technology skills include knowing how to

  • operate and maintain devices
  • navigate operating systems
  • decide which device to use for different tasks.

Have you ever heard of "region" (or "landmark") when navigating a website with a screen reader? If so, what are they, what do they do, and why are they important? These were some of the questions asked and answered when PRCVI did a group outreach visit near the end of the 2021-22 school year. Several TSVIs and visually impaired students came together to tackle some web navigat ...

The third Thursday in May is Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). In keeping with the spirit of GAAD in centering the perspectives of users and critically engaging users as co-designers of more accessible and equitable futures, our Outreach Team at PRCVI hosted a virtual panel of recent blind and low vision K-12 graduates. Participants are currently navigating post-second ...

Learning to stay organized is a crucial skill for visually impaired students to learn, and that doesn’t change just because students may be using more digital technology these days! Students need to be able to organize handouts, readings, research, and assignments, and be able to quickly find information during classes and group work. The topic of efficiently organizing and fin ...

Are you and your students baffled by what to do when a braille device asks for computer braille input? (Or maybe you've wondered what the gibberish displayed when a braille device is not connected to anything means!) The PRCVI outreach team has created a guide for teachers on how to enter braille ASCII, otherwise known as "computer braille", into a braille device. We hope you ...

A frequent request the outreach team receives here at PRCVI focuses on strategies for teaching students to use screen reading software such as JAWS, NVDA, or VoiceOver. We are always looking for games or activities to teach skills, rather than just memorizing a list of keyboard commands. At the recent closing ceremonies of the 2021 BC Regional Braille Challenge, which was held ...

The PRCVI Outreach team sometimes gets questions about how to read foreign languages, such as French, with screen reading software. By default, most screen readers should read foreign languages as long as they are marked up correctly within the document. But sometimes, settings may have been adjusted or a different speech synthesizer needs to be used. We have created a guide o ...

Microsoft Word has several features that are useful for commenting on documents. These features include Track Changes, which allow groups to collaborate on editing documents, as well as comments, which allow individuals to make suggestions or provide feedback. These features are often used within post-secondary and workplace environments. The PRCVI outreach team has provided s ...

On Friday, June 19, 2020, Vince Tomassetti, Program Manager at Assistive Technology - British Columbia (AT-BC), joined PRCVI for a discussion on what students should know about getting assistive technology in place in post-secondary education. This informative one-hour session was attended remotely by students and TSVIs from across the province. The conversation was not recorde ...

As a follow up to our original guide for supporting students with visual impairments using Microsoft Teams, we have created two guides that are focused on input devices for iOS with VoiceOver - a QWERTY keyboard or a braille display with six-key entry.  VoiceOver Navigation in Microsoft Teams with a Braille Display VoiceOver Navigation in Microsoft Teams with a QWERTY Keyboar ...

Many teachers are using the Microsoft Teams app on iOS devices with their students. The PRCVI outreach team has spent some time testing the app with VoiceOver and determining the most efficient strategies for navigation using gestures. This first guide covers general navigation of the app with VoiceOver commands. VoiceOver Navigation in Microsoft Teams (PDF) ...

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