Students have reading aids available to them for each problem. These can be accessed by highlighting a portion of the problem (text or equation) to get the side menu to pop up with options available like "listen," "dictionary," and "translate" as shown on the right side of the screen. Students will have a menu with the setting options for translate, text-to-speech, and reading aids on the left side of the screen.
Text-to-speech
Students can highlight the words or sentences they want read out loud, and then press the "listen" option that pops up on the side menu.
After they press the "listen" option, the program should begin to read the highlighted text out loud and the play bar will appear on the left side under the settings bar. They can replay it, pause the reading, skip forward 5 seconds or skip back 5 seconds, change the volume and reading speed of the voice from this settings bar.
Dictionary
Students can define words in assignments with the "dictionary" option. To do this students can highlight the word in question, and then click on the "dictionary" option that pops up on the side menu.
After they click on the "dictionary" option, a pop up window will appear with the definition of the word that the student wanted to define. Plus a settings bar at the top of the window where the student can have the text read out loud and the available text settings for the definition.
Translate
Students can highlight the text and click the "translate" option from the pop up side menu.
When they click on the "translate" option, a menu will appear that will let them select the language they would like to translate the text to. There are currently 27 languages available to choose from.
After the student selects the language, there will be another pop up window that will display the translated text in the language the student choose. Plus a settings bar at the top of the window where the student can have the text read out loud and the available text settings for the translated text.
Student Reading Aids Settings
To open the settings, students can click on the hamburger menu icon on the tool bar near the left side of their screen.
In the settings menu, students have a number of options to customize their learning experience ranging from:
- Text Settings
- Click and Listen
- Enlarge Text
- Text Mode
- Page Mask
- Download MP3
- Help
1. Text Settings
The text settings menu allows students to customize their text options, highlight colors, text colors, keyboard shortcuts, pop up menu options, and more.
2. Click and Listen
Students can turn on the Click and Listen option in the settings menu that allows them to click any text and immediately have it read a loud.
3. Enlarge Text
The Enlarge Text option, will make any text the student highlights larger and displayed near the bottom of the screen.
4. Text Mode
Text mode will display all of the text in the problem in a separate pop up window, where it is easier for the student to have the text read a loud with the play bar at the top of the window.
5. Page Mask
With the Page Mask setting turned on, this will create a mask on the webpage to allow the student to focus on small bits of information on the webpage at a time. The mask is tied to the mouse or touchpad of the student's device, so all they have to down is move the mouse or touchpad up and down to move the mask.
6. Download MP3
Students can download an MP3 file of the audio version of text from the webpage that they can use for personal learning.
7. Help
The last option in the settings menu is the "help" option which provides an intensive guide on how to use the student reading aids tool.
Calculator
Calculators are only available on some LevelSet problems. Teachers should not allow students to use hand held calculators on the LevelSets as they will be available in the program when appropriate. Students can click on the calculator icon to bring up the calculator.
There are no calculators on LevelSets A through E and F BOY.
LevelSet F MOY calculator for #1-4, 14-15, 17-30.
LS F EOY calculator for #1,2,5, 18-30.
LS G BOY calculator for #1-4,13-14,18-30
LS G MOY calculator for #2-5, 8-30
LS G EOY calculator for #1-5, 10-30
LS H BOY calculator for #1-5, 8-30
LS H MOY calculator for #2, 7, 9-30
LS H EOY calculator for #2-3, 6-7, 9-30
LS I BOY calculator for #2-4, 10-30
All other LevelSets allow calculators on all problems.
Teachers can allow students to use handheld calculators for problem sets as appropriate. The program does not provide a calculator outside of LevelSets.