Assistive Technology and Artificial Intelligenc
Hello,
As I reflected on what I wanted to write about this week, I was given the opportunity to view a fellow classmate's microlearning on artificial intelligence in another class. While I briefly touched on the subject of how artificial intelligence has assisted people with disabilities with learning in a previous blog when referring to Stephen Hawking, I recognized I had not given enough attention to how AI has been used to improve the life and educational opportunities for people with disabilities. This subject is too important to the field of education to not spend a considerable amount of time researching especially since we recently spent an entire week on the subject in this class following my previous blog. This week I came across an article (see below) that explained some of the ways the emerging technology of AI is being used in assistive learning technologies. Two of the ways I found most interesting were smarter glasses that were scheduled to hit the market this year, according to the article How AI Is Making Assistive Technologies More Powerful, but I personally have not seen them on the market. Please let me know if anyone has and what your thoughts are on how the smart glasses work. According to the article the "contrast of an image can be increased" through use of AR using these smart glasses. Another way AI is being used in assistive technology, which is near and dear to my heart since I suffer from hearing loss and use a hearing aid, is cognitive hearing aids. These hearing aids help users tune into what they specifically want to listen to by reading brainwave activity. I know, for me, it is difficult to hear something I really want to focus on when there is any background noise whatsoever, so having cognitive hearing aids would certainly be helpful when drowning out background noise. Any one else see benefits in these two technologies? What other assistive technologies are you aware of that use artificial intelligence. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
How AI Is Making Assistive Technologies More Powerful Retrieved from https://medium.com/magic-edtech/how-ai-is-making-assistive-technologies-more-powerful-670aa043bfcf
Anthony, this is my favorite post yet. Assistive AI is amazing and it is really helping to even the playing field when it comes to learning. Not so long ago some parents that had children with certain types of disabilities would keep their children home. These kids and adults benefit from being around all types of learners. For those of us that have family members on the Autism Spectrum assistive AI technology is life changing.
ReplyDelete-Mandy
Anthony,
ReplyDeleteI must agree with Mandy that this is the best blog on your page yet. Up to this point I did not really put into perspective how AI was helping those with disabilities. Technology has helped those with disabilities for many years with things like hearing aids and motorized scooters. I think AI will take technology like that and move it to new heights. Whether it is cognition, hearing, vision, or mobility the AI world and its capabilities can look to bridge these temporary and permanent disabilities. This will ultimately help improve the lives of millions of people. I cannot wait to see what the future holds and how AI helps with improving the life for those with disabilities. Excellent post! Thanks for the information!
-Kevin
Anthony
ReplyDeleteThere are several companies working to design walking canes for the blind with AI technology. One of the frequent complaints of GPS enabled walking canes is their inability to track objects at the head and neck level which invariably leads to injuries to the user. Hopefully AI will continue to update aids used by all to improve everyone's quality of life.
Tammy
Anthony,
ReplyDeleteWhat magical times we live in. We live in an age when a COVID vaccine can be at record speeds and be more effective than the flu shot by about 30%. Then you drop cognitive hearing aids on me! My mind is blown! I see advances such as the glasses and hearing aids as wonderful for increasing access to educational resources that may have been otherwise limited for some users. I also read the reply from Tammy talking about GPS enabled walking canes for the blind and I am in awe of these products, despite their limitations. The ingenuity and desire to enrich the lives of others is awe inspiring. I just hope that products like these are covered under insurance plans and those who need them are not priced out of obtaining them. Great information, thank you for sharing!
Mike W.
Anthony,
ReplyDeleteGreat post this week. You could not be more spot on regarding the development and implementation of assistive technology within classrooms. Most do not automatically think of how AI can be used as assistive technology, but rather how it can be used to add convenience to their own lives. One of my nieces has a rare form of muscular dystrophy that affects her motor skills and hand-eye coordination. She is unable to walk, but suffers from no cognitive delays or impacts to her speech. In fact, she is one of the smartest kids I know. Writing is difficult for her, as her hands tend to tremble a lot. She has a writing pad that converts her writing into a more legible version. When she first received it, it had to “learn” what she was writing. She wrote her version of every letter in the alphabet, and then selected what she was trying to write for each letter. After a few more calibration tests, she was able to scribble away and have her words converted to a word processing application that would serve as her method for completing schoolwork. Further, as a result of less stress I believe, her actual handwriting has improved significantly, as her writing pad has served in a therapeutic capacity. Technology is amazing and the ways that it enables those previously considered as disabled is even more astonishing. Thanks for your post.
-Donny