School boards and governments have devoted significant funding toward improving internet infrastructure so that their students are able to access reliably fast internet. The CRTC recently has estimated that 85.7% of Canadian households were meeting their broadband speed recommendations.
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Despite the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) recommendations that Canadians should be able to access 50Mbps download and 10Mbps upload speeds, many rural and remote environments lack the infrastructure that is necessary to meet minimum speed recommendations. In Ontario, there is a massive variety in access to internet speeds. As many AT tools and products are being developed as server-side applications, the internet has increasingly become a critical component to consider as part of a student's work environment. It is important to understand and gather data about the Student (e.g., What are the student's cognitive strengths and weaknesses?), the Environment(s) in which the student works (e.g., What are the instructional and physical arrangements?), the Task(s) the student has to accomplish (e.g., What are the curriculum objectives?), and then which AT Tool would best suit the student's needs (e.g., Is a system of AT tools and strategies required for a student with these needs and abilities to do these tasks in these environments?). The SETT framework encourages teachers to examine ecological variables in a systematic way. When selecting appropriate AT tools for students, there are many variables that must be considered.
It is important, therefore, to consider the internet as part of a student's learning environment when selecting AT tools and products for students.
With more students working or attending school from home than ever before, access to server-side AT would be a barrier to learning for the 11.0% of Canadian households who do not have any internet access (with this statistic being an even more pronounced 31.0% in lower income households). It would seem that server-side applications would be preferable to client-side applications because they allow students and school boards to access a wider variety of AT products at lower cost both in the home and school environments, but with reliable internet access being a critical component of the student's ability to access these server-side applications, this is not always the case. Server-side applications are often referred to as “cloud-based” tools. In other words, the user's computer must connect to a program that is hosted on a server computer that is not local to the user. Server-side applications run through a remote server and, therefore, require a reliable internet connection to operate appropriately. They also allow users to use computer applications when internet is unavailable or slow. They may be preferable when users want to ensure the security of their data. Client-side applications run on a user's local computer and, therefore, do not require an internet connection to run. In recent years many AT programs have moved from client-side to server-side applications. For example, a recent survey of teachers in Ontario focusing on the barriers to AT integration in their classroom identified the internet as a significant challenge when it comes to using technology in the classroom, with teachers noting that their students’ AT do not always reliably connect to the internet. While there are many reasons for abandonment of AT, a proposed barrier to AT use is the internet. While AT has been shown to improve reading comprehension and vocabulary, writing fluency, and motivation to write, it is often abandoned or inconsistently implemented.
Some common AT tools that are used in classrooms include programs that can convert printed text to voice (text-to-speech e.g., Kurzweil 3000, Natural Reader), that can help students organize their writing (graphic organizers e.g., Inspiration, Mindomo), that provide students with spelling suggestions as they type (word prediction e.g., WordQ, Read & Write), and that can convert information spoken by students into text on their screen (voice recognition e.g., Dragon Naturally Speaking, TalkTyper).ĪT has been thoroughly investigated and has been found to be beneficial for students with learning disabilities. AT has been deemed a critical component of the successful classroom inclusion and academic success of students with learning disabilities as it can help them circumvent areas of challenge and complete tasks more efficiently and independently. Assistive technology (AT) is any technology that allows an individual with a disability to increase, maintain, or improve their functional capabilities.
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