Name of Assistive Technology
Uses of Assistive Technology
The website enables users to insert files of various formats and listen to them because of AI technology used on the website. Some text files can also be converted into audio files (Dawson et al., 2018). The technology can be useful to students with dyslexia and with a weak understanding of listening task skills. The technology can be used in combination with on-screen text in the classroom, which will make it more effective.
Beneficiaries of Assistive Technology
Persons who would most benefit from this technology are people with dyslexia, which is one of the Specific Learning Disabilities. People suffering from reading and listening comprehension can improve their skills, pace, and understanding by using assistive technology like a natural reader website (Dawson et al., 2018). In addition, using the natural reader in combination with FM listening devices can enlarge the influence group because people within the autistic spectrum who experience hardship in focusing and understanding materials can benefit from such technology.
Use of Assistive Technology vs. Use of Instructional Technology
The major difference between assistive technology and instructional technology is that the first one contributes to students’ independence in studying more and hence supports students with specific needs differently. By definition, instructional technology, or in other words educational technology, has the purpose of developing the knowledge of the student, whereas assistive technology aims to enhance participation, independence, and well-being of the student with specific needs.
Use of Assistive Technology and Universal Design for Learning
Universal Design for Learning framework has three major principles, which are recognition learning, strategic learning, and effective learning. These principles are followed by the employment of assistive technology and enhanced by it. UDL also changes every year, but some rules, such as using technologies to support students’ differences, remain the same (Özaydın et al., 2017). By meeting the needs of children with unique learning impairments, assistive technology guarantees that UDL requirements are met and that all students receive an equitable education (Özaydın et al., 2017). Equality is a also key because it is one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which are often endorsed by organizations like IDEA and UDL creators. UDL model is also useful for educators who believe that one approach in education suits every student (Özaydın et al., 2017). Assistive technology can make incorporating the model in educational facilities faster and more effective by reducing the work of the teachers. Those are ways of how assistive technology supports the Universal Design for Learning framework.
References
Özaydın, L., Kayhan, N., Toker, M., & Karahan, S. (2017). Resource Room Implementation in a Secondary School and On-the-Job Training of Teachers. Psycho-Educational Research Reviews, 6(2), 111–136. Web.
Dawson, K., Antonenko, P., Lane, H., & Zhu, J. (2018). Assistive technologies to support students with dyslexia. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 51(3), 226–239. Web.