For GAAD 2025, discover how Microsoft accessibility instruments improve training, creating inclusive and fascinating school rooms the place each scholar can thrive.
Accessibility instruments for studying play a major function in scholar success, serving to all college students totally have interaction with what’s taking place in school and past. By offering entry to content material that may in any other case be tough to entry, these instruments assist to create a extra inclusive classroom the place everybody can really feel understood, valued, and supported for his or her distinctive strengths. International Accessibility Consciousness Day (GAAD) 2025, celebrated on Might 15, reminds us that everybody deserves the chance to thrive.
Each scholar—whether or not they have a everlasting incapacity, a brief problem like a damaged hand, a situational incapacity similar to problem studying in vivid daylight, or just wants further assist with studying or writing—can profit from higher accessibility to digital instruments to assist their studying expertise. At Microsoft, we imagine accessibility isn’t only a characteristic—it’s a basis for empowering all college students and educators to achieve their full potential. Constructed-in accessibility options throughout Microsoft software program and {hardware} can amplify everybody’s success, no matter studying variations or bodily skills. Discover Microsoft accessibility instruments and see how one can make studying extra inclusive, partaking, and equitable to your faculty group.
Accessibility instruments
Foster a studying area the place everybody has the instruments to thrive.
Constructing an inclusive studying setting
Each scholar’s studying wants are distinctive. Some might have a incapacity, whereas others is likely to be studying English, recovering from an harm, or attempting to focus in a loud residence setting. Microsoft accessibility instruments are designed to empower each scholar to have interaction independently and confidently of their studying. These instruments include built-in accessibility options, eliminating the necessity for further downloads or stigmatizing third-party purposes. College students get the assistance they want, proper after they want it.
Get began with Microsoft accessibility instruments as we speak and learn to create a extra inclusive classroom expertise with skilled studying from Microsoft Study.
Immersive Reader
Out there in Microsoft merchandise like Studying Coach and Microsoft Edge, Immersive Reader will help college students enhance studying comprehension, whereas additionally supporting studying variations. College students can use line focus to focus on one a part of the textual content at a time. They’ll break phrases into syllables, alter font dimension, and improve line, phrase, and letter spacing to scale back visible crowding to enhance readability. For educators in Kent College District in Washington, US, utilizing Immersive Reader helps ensure that all college students are empowered to share their voices and take part.
I feel after we’ve received youngsters that want totally different assist mechanisms to be taught, the Microsoft assisted studying instruments grow to be actually, actually important. Final yr, I had a scholar that had dysgraphia and dyslexia and so having the ability to take heed to the audio was crucial and the Immersive Reader was important for the success of this scholar.
Amber Raftery, sixth-grade trainer, Kent College District, US
As teacher-librarian and expertise integration specialist Amber Gonzalez shares, the ability of Microsoft 365 is that accessibility and assistive studying options like Immersive Reader are only one click on away—serving to to make it simple for each scholar to get the assist they want, after they want it.
Studying Coach
Studying Coach is a free, standalone Studying Accelerator that makes use of AI-powered tales and customized follow to assist college students enhance their studying fluency. Utilized by half 1,000,000 learners in over 190 international locations worldwide, Studying Coach will help make studying extra partaking and accessible with built-in instruments like Immersive Reader, offering a possibility for college kids to spice up their potential and confidence. Educators may recommend studying practices and monitor scholar progress with new educator options in Studying Coach.
After three weeks of Studying Coach, we noticed college students acquire one studying stage—typically even one and a half. Some jumped two ranges in simply six weeks. And practically half the category reached their anticipated studying stage.
Kris Vande Moortel, former trainer and Microsoft training advisor, Belgium
Studying Coach with AI-powered tales helps college students take cost of their studying and push themselves additional by offering individualized assist. Some lecturers are seeing exceptional progress in a fraction of the time—giving them extra alternatives for one-on-one consideration the place it’s wanted.
Microsoft Translator
Translator presents real-time translation of textual content and speech in over 60 languages, serving to to make communication simpler for college kids, mother and father, and caregivers who communicate totally different languages. For educators in Texas Metropolis Impartial College District, the embedded assist of Translator in Phrase and cell gadgets helps make sure that multilingual college students have help after they encounter an unfamiliar phrase.
We discovered that Microsoft Translator is vital to enabling English as a second language (ESL) college students to maintain up and to be taught together with the remainder of the category. When they’re hung up on a phrase or a phrase or need to learn to say one thing in English, they will transition again to their native language and use Translator to rapidly contextualize in English.
Hope Smalley-Jackson, enterprise trainer, Texas Metropolis Impartial College District, US
College students can use Translator at college, residence, or every time they want language assist. It could actually assist bridge communication gaps, supporting accessible classroom studying with cross-language understanding and even multilingual informal conversations to assist college students and households.
Extra instruments
If typing is hard—whether or not resulting from studying challenges, a brief problem like a damaged arm, and even fatigue—college students can use dictation to show speech into textual content effortlessly. Instruments like dwell captions additionally assist by changing speech to textual content or translating languages in PowerPoint, OneNote, and Microsoft Groups conferences, offering assist for folks with listening to disabilities, auditory processing issues, or language wants. Plus, dwell captions totally helps a number of languages, making content material accessible for multilingual audio system, too.
Help accessibility with AI
Moreover, AI-powered instruments will help you tackle particular scholar wants. As an example, a 2024 research commissioned by Microsoft from skilled providers agency EY highlights how AI will help tackle the precise challenges confronted by staff who’re neurodivergent or residing with a incapacity. The research discovered that Microsoft 365 Copilot helped:
Take away boundaries that come up like drafting communication and organizing ideas.
Reclaim time and vitality by simplifying duties like summarizing and proofreading.
Increase confidence and sense of inclusion by enhancing efficiency and work high quality.
Whereas the research centered on office settings, the insights will be utilized to instructional environments. Simply as AI instruments can assist various worker wants, they may also be instrumental in addressing various studying wants. Copilot helps educators personalize instruction, making it simpler to tailor classes to particular person scholar necessities. Educators in Northern Eire noticed this firsthand when the Training Authority of Northern Eire (EANI) adopted Copilot.
EANI initially rolled out AI-powered studying instruments on a small scale, deciding on key revolutionary educators to pilot the free model of Copilot Chat of their school rooms. In addition they launched coaching periods centered on efficient immediate writing, showcasing Microsoft 365 Copilot capabilities. Educators rapidly found the sensible advantages of upgrading to Microsoft 365 Copilot for duties like creating PowerPoint shows, producing questions in Microsoft Kinds, and creating differentiated classroom sources. The substantial time financial savings and enhanced skill to fulfill various scholar wants drove widespread employees adoption and rising enthusiasm.
Make your classroom extra inclusive by utilizing AI to distinguish supplies for college kids. Attempt utilizing the devoted IEP assistant software in Khanmigo for Lecturers or use Copilot Chat and your personal prompts and recordsdata that will help you draft components of an individualized training program (IEP).
For Copilot Chat, be sure you check in along with your faculty’s Microsoft account to make sure your information is protectedthen copy and paste this immediate:
You’re a particular training trainer drafting an IEP for a (grade stage) scholar who (describe scholar’s wants). Write a purpose for (space/subject) that’s particular, measurable, attainable, cheap, and time certain.
Whether or not you’re exploring AI, excited to strive Studying Coach, or trying to make your classroom extra inclusive with instruments like Immersive Reader and Translator, GAAD 2025 is the right time to dive in. Get began and discover Microsoft accessibility instruments to assist each scholar thrive.
