Education Technology Must Be Accessible For All Students
We’ve seen the use of education technology become more prevalent
this past year. We’ve also seen an additional disruption in
education as COVID-19 impacted student achievement, particularly in
diverse student populations with accessibility needs. Aside from the
overarching challenges of learning from home, the nation’s
nearly 7 million students with disabilities had
additional obstacles to overcome during the pandemic. For these
students, the move to Zoom wasn’t a fixall solution for remote
learning.
We should applaud the schools and teachers that rapidly adopted ed
tech tools to support remote teaching and learning. However, at the
same time, we cannot forget that education technology and
accessibility aren’t mutually exclusive. We have the opportunity —
and the obligation — to make tools supportive of learning inside
and outside the classroom, for everyone.
Mathematics is one subject area for which the pandemic created a
spotlight need for more accessible, digital, and personalized
learning. Historically, the teaching and practice of math has been a
paper-based exercise. During the pandemic, math went online, and
teachers more than ever realized the widespread benefits to creating
digital math. These benefits included accessibility for those who
struggled to use traditional instructional materials or who needed
certain accommodations, such as text-to-speech or speech-to-text.
In addition, digital math tools developed on the foundations of
personalized learning and Universal Design for Learning have given
students choice and have allowed them to play to their strengths.
Students can now choose to listen to their math lessons and respond
either by typing, hand-writing, or dictating their responses. This
not only helps diverse learners and those with vision impairments,
but also provides multiple means of expression for visual or auditory
learners. Accessibility and personalization within these tools has
made math increasingly accessible for students of widespread
abilities.
I believe that in years to come we will continue to see the use of
education tools and technology rise across the curriculum. Even more,
tools will increasingly be designed to make learning accessible
across student populations, environments, and subjects, while taking
into account learners of all abilities.
After working in the education space for over two decades, I believe
we need to challenge education technology providers to build
accessible solutions for everyone. Being inclusive — inside and
outside the classroom — makes our communities and world stronger.
Each year, and this year is no different, my goal is to continue to
increase the appreciation of what technology can do for learning and
understanding. I have witnessed first-hand the joy of understanding
what had been previously inaccessible. It’s worth the effort on
everyone’s part.
Martin
McKay is the founder and CEO of Texthelp,
a leading technology company focused on helping
all people learn, understand, and communicate through the use of
digital education and accessibility
tools.
About the Author
Martin
McKay is the founder and CEO of Texthelp,
a leading technology company focused on helping
all people learn, understand, and communicate through the use of
digital education and accessibility
tools.