Support for learners

Screen readers

Screen readers can be useful if you take in information best when hearing it (for example, to listen to assignment questions or information). They are also a very useful tool for proof-reading your assignments. When you hear your assignment read out you may be more able to pick up on grammar, sentence, or content mistakes.

Read Aloud

This is a free extension that can read out content from webpages.

Read Aloud

Speechify

This is another free Chrome extension that can read out webpage content.

Speechify

Read Aloud

This is a text-to-speech function found in Microsoft Word that acts as a screen reader and reads you the text from your document.

Read more about the Read Aloud feature on Microsoft’s website

Dictation tools

Dictation tools can be useful if you are unable to do large amounts of typing, struggle with spelling, or find giving a verbal answer easier than writing one down.

Voice In

This is a free extension that will type out what you say in webpage fields.

Voice In

Dictate

Dictate is a dictation feature built into some Microsoft Office products.

It works best with a headset, and it is important to speak slowly and clearly. You will still need to add punctuation marks (such as full stops, commas, and quotation marks) and formatting to your text.

Read more about the Dictate feature on Microsoft’s website

Screen tinter

Screen tinters can be helpful if you:

• have difficulty reading black writing on a white background
• are light sensitive
• need to limit time looking at a bright screen.

Visor

Using this free extension, you can change the colour of a webpage to a pastel or grey overlay, with several colour options. This can help clarity of reading or reduce light strain.

Visor

Change font appearance

Dyslexia Reader

This free extension lets you customise the appearance of text on webpages to make text easier to read.

Dyslexia Reader

Share files from Google Drive

1. Access Google Drive 

• Open your web browser and go to [Google Drive] (https://drive.google.com).
• Sign in with your Google account if you haven't already. 

2. Upload the Word Document

• In Google Drive, click on the “+ New” button on the left side.
• Select “File upload” from the dropdown menu.
• Locate and select the Word document (.doc or .docx) from your computer to upload it to Google Drive. 

3. Open the Word Document in Google Docs

• Once the document is uploaded, locate it in your Google Drive.
• Double-click on the Word document. It will open in a preview mode.
• To edit the document, click the “Open with” button at the top of the screen and select “Google Docs” from the dropdown menu.

4. Edit the Document 

• The document will now be converted into a Google Docs format, and you can start editing. 
• You can make changes, add comments, format text, and more, just like you would with any other Google Docs document.

5. Save and Share 

• The document is automatically saved in Google Docs format in your Google Drive. 
• If you need to share the document, click the “Share” button at the top-right corner, enter the email addresses of the people you want to share it with, and set their permission level (e.g., Viewer, Commenter, Editor).

6. (Optional) Download as Word Document 

• If you need to download the edited document back as a Word file, go to File > Download > Microsoft Word (.docx). 

This process allows you to easily open, edit, and save Word documents using Google Docs, and it automatically saves your progress in Google Drive.