Since the turn of the millennium, a profuse number of individuals across the globe, have a digital technology in some form, immersed within their lifestyle. The broad debate surrounding the use of digital technology in education continues to materialise as our society modernises (Blamires, 1999; Prensky, 2002; Rai, 2008; Kaye, 2017). Despite various controversies surrounding the issue, Selwyn (2011) attempts to overcome the scholarly misassumptions. Selwyn (2011, p.2) appreciates that technology has now ‘become part of the furniture’ in our classrooms. Nonetheless, Selwyn (2011) insists that technology continuously has the potential to create a ‘free, fair and liberat[ed]’ (ibid, p.33) educational experience for students.
What is an Assistive Technology?
The cultivating, widespread used of ‘AT’ in education is because of the growing concern that ‘people with learning disabilities generally still experience significant barriers [and] can be considered excluded…therefore technology can help to relink the marginalised to their community’ (McKenzie, 2007, p.21).
Take a break from the written text and watch the video below for a further introduction to how ‘AT’ can support learning:
There are many ‘AT’s that exist in our society, which have been designed to support students in overcoming their barriers to learning and most importantly enhancing their learning process. Ultimately, it is important to recognise Rahamim’s (1999, p.75) dated, yet valuable assertion that ‘for some students, [technology] can provide access to the curriculum and facilitate involvement with peers’. Similarly, McKnight and Davies (2013, p.5) resonate with Rahamim’s (1999) perception, by stating that ‘assistive technologies are seen as a means of providing the support that is needed to facilitate education [whereby] every effort should be made to ensure that this right is not denied to any’. This web page will focus in detail upon Speech-to-text (STT) software’s. However, the list below identifies a few of the sheer scale of Assistive Technologies used by our learners today:
- Text-To-Speech (TTS): enhances the learning process particularly for learners who find difficulty in reading print. To give an example, but certainly not limited to learners with dyslexia or visual impairments.
- Assistive Learning Systems: Microphones and transmission technology is used to project the voices of teachers and students within the classroom. This would be beneficial for all learners, especially in classrooms that a filled with many pupils and also support the learning process of students with auditory impairments.
- Proofreading software’s: the most common use of ‘proofreading’ utilised by numerous students and teachers would be the ‘spell check’ device features most famously within the latest versions of Microsoft Word©. The ‘spell check’ feature is useful for all learners. However, this would contribute to the learning process of students’ whom have barriers of comprehending written mistakes.
- Smart Pens and Note Taking Technologies: This is a form of voice recording that simultaneously records auditory information and then can be transformed into digitalised text on a computers. For learners who find difficulty in note taking and comprehension of information, difficulties with handwriting and spelling difficulties can use this ‘AT’ in an attempt to overcome these barriers.
“Assistive devices and technologies are those whose primary purpose is to maintain or improve an individual’s functioning and independence to facilitate participation and to enhance overall well-being. They can also help prevent impairments and secondary health conditions. Examples of assistive devices and technologies include wheelchairs, prostheses, hearings aids, visual aids, and specialized computer software and hardware that increase mobility, hearing, vision, or communication capacities. In many low-income and middle-income countries, only 5-15% of people who require assistive devices and technologies have access to them”
(World Health Organisation, 2019)
Various legislative regulations exist to ensure that children, with specific disabilities can access services such as education, as equally as their peers through the support of an ‘AT’ (Removing Barriers to Achievement, 2004; Disability Discrimination Act, 2010; Equality Act, 2010; Children and Families Act, 2014). As a consequence of various legislation, ‘the role of technology within the curriculum has evolved from an optional extra that teachers could choose to ignore…to an entitlement for students that teachers are under statutory obligation to provide’ (Paveley, 1999, p.43).
For example, in Chapter One of a report upon ‘Assistive Technology’ by the House of Commons (2018), they illuminate the critical importance of all schools within England, to accommodate their learners who have specific difficulties, through ‘educational [and] training provision that is additional to, or different from that made generally for others of the same age in mainstream schools in England, maintained nursery schools in England [and] mainstream post-16 institutions in England’ (Parliament. House of Commons, 2018). Thus, it is decisive that schools support their students’ barriers to learning, through provisions such as ‘AT’, which can contribute and enhance the learning processes of students with diverse difficulties. Overall, educators and institutions should make every effort to employ various ‘AT’s, to ensure that the right of access to education is not denied to any learner.
Thus, it is crucial to recognise that an ‘AT’ has the astounding potential to ‘enable students to complete tasks more effectively and independently which results in improved performance on a variety of reading and writing tasks… this in turn leads to greater academic success’ (Forgrave, 2010, p.122). Forgrave (2002) aptly recognises the academic opportunities that an ‘AT’ can provide for a learner.
However, it is important to reflect on the problematic aspects of Forgrave’s (2002) comment, which is also common among many academics and their work upon the use of ‘AT’ in education. Forgrave (2002, p.122) wrongly implies that it is solely the technology alone which contributes to the learning process and somewhat instantly leads to greater academic success. Despite the advantageous potential of assistive technologies, it is vital to understand that ‘although technology can be used to overcome [academic] barriers…. digital technologies on their own can do little to alter…peoples lives [and] the fit of education in their lives’ (Selwyn, 2011, p.102).
In order to overcome this problem, this web page will avoid focusing solely upon the impact of the technology and how it leads to a specific, desired outcome. Thus, we avert from analysing the impact of ‘AT’ from a behaviorist perspective. Therefore, as academics evaluating the contribution and support and ‘AT’ can have upon the learning process of students, rather than a specific outcome, it is likely that there will be many constructivist undertones embedded throughout this web page. Before now, this has been highlighted by McKnight and Davies (2013, p.61), whom suggest that any exploration of ‘AT’ should be considered using a holistic approach, whereby ‘the user, the technology and the context of use’ are explored, as opposed to the ‘AT’ itself.
Fundamentally, it is crucial that any evaluation of an ‘AT’ does not presume that the technology ‘fixes’ the problematic aspect of the students learning process. The most effective analysis of ‘AT’ is by academics who grasp that ‘assistive technologies are enabling technologies…those that allow some form of learning that was not previously possible to take place’ (McKnight and Davies, 2012, p.13). Ultimately, any analysis of a digital technology, should consider its impact upon the educational process. Additionally, any evaluation of a digital technology should also take into account the cultural and personal implications that the technologies may induce upon it’s users.
Enabling Learning: Theoretical Assumptions:
The above paragraph introduces the theoretical foundations of enabling technologies which are paramount to any complex evaluation of the use of technology within education.
We must recognise that teaching and learning practices and procedures have underlying values, whereby institutional structures, pedagogic practices and user control of technologies, all have theoretical assumptions and values behind the intent of use. Therefore, it is crucial to recognise that:
“Differing learning paradigms have clear implications for the design and use of software within educational settings’
Dornan (1999, p.19).
The two most prominent learning theories that are embedded throughout this discussion are those from a Behaviourist and a Constructivist perspective. To briefly illuminate the fundamental assumptions to each learning theory, please watch the video below:
In particular, this webpage will correlate to the theoretical assumptions embodied from constructivist perspective. There will be frequent references to how digital technologies are used to attain user attention. Constructivist assumptions suggest that attention moves from instructional activities to constructional processes and the situation becomes much more personalised.
There will be many references to how technology can liberate students, and enable motivation, encouragement and engagement. Many theoretical assumptions will often be displayed in a bold text, to highlight our embedded constructivist assumptions of how Assistive Technologies contribute to the active learning and teaching process of students.
“The Constructivist model is knows as ‘situated learning’, where the learner is engaged in an active process, in which knowledge, as a function of prior experiences is mapped onto prevailing mental structures’
Dornan (1999, p.21)
THE DRAGON IN THE CLASSROOM 