Assistive Technology

Bookshare® allows students to find their course books in accessible formats in one place and read with powerful tools that make learning easier. They can listen to books in audio, follow along with karaoke-style highlighting, enlarge text sizes, read in braille, and adjust other settings to suit individual learning styles. Bookshare® is free for all US college and graduate students with qualifying disabilities.

In Outlook you can use the Immersive Reader button to listen to text found in emails and hide any pictures or other visuals. Customize your reading experience using the variety of immersive reader settings.

To learn more, visit: Open Immersive Reader in Outlook for the web.

In a Canvas course, you can use the Immersive Reader button to listen to the text on the page and hide any pictures or other visuals. Customize your reading experience using the variety of immersive reader settings.

To learn more, visit: How do I use the Microsoft Immersive Reader in a course as a student?

Kurzweil assistive technology provides reading, writing, and study support. Bristol currently has a campus-wide license making this powerful software available to current students, faculty and staff. Kurzweil 3000 runs as a desktop application on Mac or Windows, but it also has a web-based service called "Firefly", and a Chrome, or Firefox extension for reading the web. 

Students, faculty or staff interested in receiving a Kurzweil account can contact Access & Disability Services atODSAccess@BristolCC.edu or 774.357.2955.

docReader can read documents aloud to you in Canvas. 

To learn more, visit: ReadSpeaker docReader tutorial. 

webReader is available on Canvas and reads content out loud, can change font, color, and contrast.

To learn more, visit: ReadSpeaker webReader tutorial. 

YuJa Panorama is an accessibility tool that all students can access in Canvas. Students can adjust how texts, handouts, and assignments to various formats such as PDF, EPUB, or audio podcast.

To learn more, visit: YuJa Alternative Formats tutorial.

Easily record lectures for notetaking and study skills through phone or tablet apps or equipment. Recorders are available on loan through the Library Learning Commons. Record lectures to review outside of class for note-taking purposes.

Learn more about FERPA and Lecture Audio/Video Recording.

Notability is a note-taking application for iOS and macOS. The application allows notetaking and annotation of PDF files.

Recording smartpens allow students to write notes by hand while recording lectures. The pen syncs the written notes with the recording. Notes can also be uploaded to student’s computer if a digital version of notes is needed. 

Smartpens are on loan from the Library Learning Commons.

Smart devices (phones, tablets, laptops) have magnifying applications for users to enlarge screen or font.

Canvas offers “content adjustment” tools for users to change readable font types and sizes, through the YuJa Panorama icon (at the lower right corner of the Canvas screen).

QuickLook Magnifier is an advanced magnification tool that uses a camera to capture and enlarge the image; as well, it can be used to change the color of an image to produce various effects enabling visually impaired people to see the image better. Quicklook allows you to adjust the orientation of its screen for ease of viewing, as well as enabling one to freeze the image projected.

The Topaz XL Magnifier is an advanced magnifier that assists a person with reading and viewing photographs or other images. The Topaz XL works by placing an item under a camera, which then captures a live view of the image and projects it onto the screen. The individual can then adjust the image in various ways, such as color, magnification, brightness, and definition.

ZoomText is an integrated magnification system tailored for students with low vision. ZoomText can also read documents, emails, and the web.

To learn more about access to ZoomText, please contact Access & Disability Services at ODSAccess@BristolCC.edu or 774.357.2955.

Change font, text size, colors, reading space, formatting, and more in Canvas!

To learn more, visit: Web Accessibility Widget tutorial.

Grammarly is a free writing tool. It reviews spelling, grammar, punctuation, clarity, engagement, and delivery mistakes in English texts, as well as detects plagiarism, and suggests replacements for the identified errors.

Microsoft Office and Microsoft Word provide several accessibility tools including Immersive Reader and Screen Reader for audio text as well as Dictate for voice note-taking.