{"id":5955,"date":"2026-03-14T13:22:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T20:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/2026\/03\/14\/weekly-reflection-8-2\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T13:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T20:22:07","slug":"weekly-reflection-8-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/2026\/03\/14\/weekly-reflection-8-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Reflection #8"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past week, we have explored inclusive technologies and accessibility features to ensure the technologies we use are available and usable for all learners. This connects to UDL, which means Universal Design for Learning, which can be applied in all practices, whether in the classroom or online. We are focused specifically on the online format through technology for inclusion.<\/p>\n

During class, we dove into a feature that allows you to see how accessible a website is. This website is called WAVE<\/a>, which stands for Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool. This website analyzes a URL to determine its accessibility and identifies issues such as errors, contrast problems, features, structure, and other alerts. Using all this information, the feature gives the URL website a score on a scale of 1-10. When I plugged my WordPress website (this website<\/a>!) into the tool, it got a score of 4.2. This score is quite low, and there are several errors shown below. The biggest problem the website has is the contrast between the background and the text. By changing these colours, the website would improve significantly. Using this feature, I tested another website called Cool Math Games<\/a>. This website scored a 9.5 out of 10. This score is very good for accessibility, with no errors, no contrast errors, and over 100 features. The area that is still lacking on this website is alerts, which means there is some redundant text, possible headings, and suspicious links (which I assume are ads). This still provides great accessibility and supports most users on this website. <\/p>\n

Adaptive technologies: I do not remember many being used in my schooling experience, other than laptops. Having been in schools today, I see many uses of adaptive technologies. The use of computers (Chromebooks specifically) has increased, as they are an important feature, especially for accessibility. Some students use laptops for writing, whether that\u2019s speech-to-text or vice versa. In other classrooms, I have seen many teachers use a microphone that connects directly to hard-of-hearing students\u2019 hearing aids to help them hear instruction or lessons better. This is essential, as some students may not yet be able to read or write, and beginning with support can open the door for them to express themselves and potentially flourish. Accessibility looks different to every student, and as we continue to identify student needs, student growth will be seen. Though accessibility is so important there are a few challenges when it comes to implementing some aspects. The use of computers will depend on the school and budget. Some schools or districts may not be able to afford having this type of technology. Another con mentioned in our group discussion was students becoming overreliant on technology, however students are learning and do want to try things that others are doing and will often take inituative to learn new things not using their adaptive tech as well. <\/p>\n

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This image should be used to view the website\u2019s results and increase curiosity about using the website on one\u2019s own. Wave Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools<\/em>. WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool. (n.d.). https:\/\/wave.webaim.org\/<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past week, we have explored inclusive technologies and accessibility features to ensure the technologies we use are available and usable for all learners. This connects to UDL, which means Universal Design for Learning, which can be applied in… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5955\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}