AI tools for educators and accessibility

  • 8 minutes

In the pursuit of empowering every person on the planet to achieve more, Microsoft offers a range of accessibility solutions to help create more inclusive experiences. These solutions include speech transcription and captioning, content readers, translation services, voice assistants, and computer vision.

AI improves accessibility and inclusion

AI technology powers many of these accessible experiences. Let’s walk through a few examples. AI has made significant progress in visual and auditory accessibility. Educators can take advantage of even more inclusive tools to improve learning experiences for all.

Conversation, meetings, and live broadcasting

Microsoft Teams supports speech-to-text transcription and captioning (powered by Azure Cognitive Services) for meetings and calls. These features make it easier for people who are deaf or hard of hearing to participate in online communication. They also benefit people with ADHD, people who are multi-tasking, and people in noisy or low-bandwidth environments.

Content reading

Microsoft products such as Outlook, Microsoft Edge, and PowerPoint include a read-aloud feature that uses text-to-speech technology to read webpages, documents, and emails aloud. This feature makes it easier for people who are blind or have low vision. It's also helpful to people with dyslexia, ADHD, or autism to access and consume digital content. Read aloud also enables all users to multi-task and listen to content on the go.

Communication

Microsoft Translator is a translation service that supports speech-to-speech, text-to-speech, and optical character recognition (OCR) to enable communication across different languages and formats in Teams or Outlook.

Device control

Microsoft products such as Windows and Xbox include voice assistants powered by speech-to-text technology, which gives users of all abilities to control the device and access information and services through voice commands.

Images and surroundings

Microsoft Edge, PowerPoint, and Seeing AI are products that include Azure Computer Vision capabilities. One of these capabilities is image captioning, which provides descriptive text for images to make them accessible to people who are blind or who have low vision. Image descriptions also improve search engine optimization (SEO) and provide alternatives for people listening to content, or people who are in low-bandwidth environments.

Optical character recognition (OCR)

OCR technology enables the conversion of printed or handwritten text into digital text that is accessible to screen readers or text-to-speech software. This technology is helpful to people with vision impairments, dyslexia, or other reading differences. The Microsoft Lens app demonstrates this power by allowing educators to scan a document and translate or read it aloud to meet the needs of the individualized learner.

Personalized learning experiences

Microsoft Learning Accelerators are designed to help educators save time and unlock the full potential of each learner. Microsoft believes that AI has the potential to transform the education sector by personalizing learning experiences to individual learners with tools like the Learning Accelerators. These tools supply individualized learning opportunities through independent practice sessions that offer instant feedback and targeted coaching in an accessible, safe, and inclusive environment. Learning Accelerators are seamlessly integrated into popular products like Microsoft Teams, OneNote, PowerPoint, Word, and more.

Learning Accelerators help educators deliver a more equitable education through building and offering:

  • Foundational math, literacy, and well-being skills
  • Class-to-career skills like information literacy and public speaking
  • Actionable data to inform instructional decision making
  • Inclusive-by-design tools to ensure all learners can access and engage in learning
  • Real-time coaching and individualized feedback

Data analysis

AI systems can help analyze individual learners' performance, adapt to their learning needs, and provide tailored content that is both engaging and challenging. This individualized approach can lead to increased learner motivation and engagement as the learning experience becomes more relevant and rewarding.

Microsoft’s Insights provides educators with at-a-glance views to help track their learners’ academic progress and includes multiple AI-powered capabilities for educators. Data and analytics provide valuable insights for district leaders, administrators, and educators, enabling them to support learners with evidence-based strategies in real time. This approach addresses both the academic and social needs of learners. Microsoft Teams for Education incorporates Education Insights, a tool that offers school and district staff access to various sets of actionable data for informed decision making, catering to each learner's unique requirements.

Key features of Education Insights in Microsoft Teams for Education include:

  • Actionable data for informed educational decision making
  • Integration with other Learning Accelerators such as Reading Progress, Reading Coach, Reflect, Search Coach, and more
  • A unified dashboard displaying academic, social, emotional, and engagement trends of learners
  • Identification of learners who may be struggling academically or facing social challenges through learner spotlights
  • Data filtering options by learner, class, or school and specified time frames

Potential impacts and limitations of AI

Content accuracy is vital in education. When incorporating AI-generated content, it's essential to ensure factual correctness, alignment with learning objectives and curriculum standards, and appropriate context. AI may not know about recent events yet and struggles to interpret sarcasm, irony, or humor. Therefore, it’s important to review any content the AI generates to make sure the content is accurately produced.

Educators also need to be aware of potential impacts associated with AI and understand how to teach learners to navigate AI with critical thinking.

Microsoft has recognized six principles that we believe should guide AI development and use:

  • Fairness
  • Reliability and safety
  • Privacy and security
  • Inclusiveness
  • Transparency
  • Accountability

Learn more about Microsoft’s approach to responsible AI development through our guidelines.

Following are some key points to help educators recognize and address concerns around AI use in their classes:

  • Educators should check the generated outputs for accuracy and correct them as needed. Encourage discussions about fact-checking to help learners think critically. Teach learners to evaluate information and cross-reference sources with tools like Search Coach.
  • Be mindful of privacy and security when using LLMs. Teach learners about data privacy and security to promote responsible digital citizenship.

Educators must engage learners in discussions and activities related to responsible AI to help them develop a strong understanding of the social implications and potential consequences of AI use in various contexts. This knowledge helps empower them to become responsible users of AI technologies in their personal and professional lives.