At the core of Apple’s iOS are a wide array of accessibility options to enable users to personalise how they perceive content and interact with their devices. The options are examples of universal design in action. A universal design approach aims to create ‘products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation’
Understanding how to personalise these accessibility options should be part of all educators professional toolset as it allows educators to support learner variability. Providing seamless access to learning devices and materials that can be easily personalised ensures that all students have the opportunity to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes to become expert learners. Expert learners possess specific skills and attitudes and a capacity for sustained learning which are essential to living and working in the twenty-first century.
Another part of our professional toolset is iBooks Author. The intuitive nature of iBooks Author empowers educators to focus on applying the Center for Applied Special Technology’s (CAST) Universal Design for Learning Guidelines (UDL) to create and publish rich, engaging learning materials that include learning supports and scaffolds to empower all students and support them in becoming expert learners.
