Introduction
The Immersive Reader feature provides every GLOW user a set of customizable tools to enhance their academic access. Immersive Reader supports fluency for multilingual students with translation tools; offers text decoding features for students with dyslexia; provides text-to-speech audio; and includes visual scaffolding options to improve reading comprehension and reduce cognitive load.
Why Might You Use Immersive Reader?
Individuals can use Immersive Reader to optimize their engagement in multiple ways:
- Enhance your focus by listening while reading while in GLOW
- Adjust the font to make text larger or dyslexia-friendly
- Choose a reader that speaks your dialect (e.g., U.S. English, Australian English, etc.)
- Translate into your target language for extra practice, or your first language for enhanced comprehension
Using Immersive Reader
Students can use Immersive Reader on every Page, Syllabus, and Assignment in all GLOW courses. Click the “Immersive Reader” button at the upper right of the GLOW page to convert the page to a focused, accessible page with 2 main tool overlays:
- text-to-speech controls at the bottom of the page;
- display, grammar, and translation options in a right-hand panel, launched from icons at the upper right.
Watch a short [01:15] video demonstrating how easy it is to use Immersive Reader in GLOW.
N.B.: Immersive Reader is not currently available in the Canvas mobile app.
Learn More
Immersive Reader is not just in GLOW! It’s built into many Microsoft applications, including those available to the Williams community – for example, Word and Edge. Learn more about using Immersive Reader across other applications.
Find out about other supports for academic accessibility at Williams by contacting the Office of Accessible Education. Faculty can always reach out to their department’s Academic Technology Consultant for support with this and all other Williams technology.