The U.S. Department of Education is committed to supporting innovative advances in educational technology to improve teaching and learning across the nation's education systems and to support educators as they incorporate emerging technology into their learning communities. Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education is a complex and rapidly…

The proliferation of the Internet, computers, and mobile devices means that students of all ages, socioeconomic statuses, geographical locations, and abilities have access to higher education institutions that were previously unavailable. As the population of the United States ages and the number of students with diagnosed disabilities grows,…

Assistive technologies are often promoted to schools, parents and educators as tools to assist students with special needs by providing a compensatory value, to remediate learning problems and to promote personal independence. These technologies range from simple spellcheckers to more complex speech recognition systems and educational software.…

This synthesis examined the research literature from 1965 to 2009 on the assistive technology that is used by individuals with visual impairments. The authors located and reviewed 256 articles for evidence-based research on assistive technology that had a positive impact on educational performance. Of the 256 studies, only 2 provided promising…

While it is difficult to identify an exact number of children with hearing impairments, the General Accountability Office and IDEAData.org report that the incidence of children who are deaf or hard of hearing is small, representing about 1% of all identified students with disabilities (GAO, May 2011; IDEAData.org, 2009). Variability in the…

Students with disabilities are guaranteed access to assistive technologies (AT) by provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) (2004) and its predecessor, the Technology Related Assistance Act (Tech Act) (1988). Design and development of AT, including devices and software programs, has burgeoned to a point…

Educators in today's classroom face increasing challenges which include the changing complexities of student needs, the intricacies of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the demands of high stakes standardized state assessments and the continuous and often widely publicized issues associated with budget constraints. With all of these challenges,…

Research shows that assistive technology (AT) can help young children with disabilities to learn developmental skills. Its use may help infants and toddlers to improve in many areas: (1) social skills including sharing and taking turns; (2) communication skills; (3) attention span; (4) fine and gross motor skills; and (5) self confidence and…

A study was undertaken to explore program policies and practices related to the accessibility of American distance learning courses to qualified students with disabilities. A literature review was conducted, a draft list of accessibility indicators was created, examples of applications of the indicators in existing distance learning programs were…

As educators' awareness of their responsibilities towards ensuring the accessibility of the learning environment to disabled students increases, significant debate surrounds the implications of accessibility requirements on educational multimedia. There would appear to be widespread concern that the fundamental principles of creating accessible…

These three issues of "TECH-NJ" from 2000 to 2002 focus on technology and children with disabilities in New Jersey. The issues address how technology can support language development and people with learning disabilities, and technology tools that support reading. Featured articles include: (1) "Adaptive Technology Center for New…

Standards-based reform efforts are highly dependent on accurate assessment of all students, including those with disabilities. The accuracy of current large-scale assessments is undermined by construct-irrelevant factors including access barriers, a particular problem for students with disabilities. Testing accommodations such as the read-aloud…

Captioning--a visual representation of the audio portion of videotape material--enables deaf learners to have full access to materials used in the classroom. With an ever-expanding pool of captioning agencies providing a wider array of options, including modem technology, and because of the greater availability of other low-cost captioning…