Examples of assistive and inclusive technology that ANU students use.
Assistive technology
Assistive technology (AT) is an umbrella term for the many different tools that students and staff with physical, cognitive, or learning disability can use to enable their day-to-day computing and to engage with their learning environments.
In education, the term inclusive technology is often used to refer to AT as well as more general technologies such as organisers or notetaking apps that can assist with learning (ADCET – external site).
Examples of the types of AT or inclusive technologies that ANU students use include:
This AT is primarily used by students who are blind or vision impaired and allows them to navigate online using a keyboard and receive an audio description of the content. Examples include NVDA, JAWS, ZoomText, Window Eye (with Windows 10 and newer), Voice Over (with Apple computers). Screen readers can also be used in parallel with refreshable braille display, which enables the user to read the contents of the screen using braille.
This AT provides a text that synchs with speech. Captions can be essential for students who are deaf or have hearing impairments that prevent them from understanding what is being said. These are also used by many other students. Examples include Windows 10 live Caption, MS Teams and Zoom live captioning, and captioning on Echo360, Vimeo and YouTube videos.
Transcripts can provide an equivalent experience of video or audio. Transcripts enable users to read the content presented in a medium that they may not have access to. Transcripts should describe relevant visual content that is not presented in the audio.
This AT is useful for students who are unable or prefer not to use a mouse and keyboard as it enables them to interact with their device using voice commands. Examples include Dragon Naturally Speaking.
This AT enables users to dictate content rather than type, which can be useful for students with ADHD or Specific Learning Disabilities who may have challenges with writing. Examples include Dragon Naturally Speaking and dictation functionality within Word.
This AT assists students with taking notes and summarising content. Microsoft Copilot uses AI to generate summaries of Teams calls and documents. Teams itself can be used for captioning and generating transcripts.
You can learn more about AT and which technologies are useful for specific disabilities on the ADCET Inclusive Technology (external site) webpages.
Designing for Assistive Technology
It is important to remember that AT is only effective if the environment has been designed for it. So:
- A screen reader will assist only if the digital content has been created to be navigated and interacted with using a keyboard.
- A virtual meeting session in Zoom or Teams will be accessible only if the accessibility settings have been enabled.
Assistive technology and generative artificial intelligence
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has resulted in new AT options and is being used to enhance the functionality of existing AT. Examples include:
- Copilot in Teams for notetaking and transcription
- An image description add-on to the NVDA screen reader.
Benefits and risks
This is a rapidly moving area and has the potential to make accessing and interacting with digital content significantly easier.
Student use of AT with integrated genAI must be taken into consideration when making decisions about genAI use for learning activities and assessments. A blanket ban on genAI use for a particular task may result in ANU not meeting its obligations under Australian legislation.