FREE February / March 2023, Closing The Gap Resource Dir…

Example of an AI-Learners Addition Game: Add Fruit

over seventy math games across six core math areas for stu- dents learning math at the PreK-2nd grade level. All games meet the highest level of accessibility standards and are com- patible with assistive technology such as screen readers, mag- nifiers, switch devices, eye gaze, and more. The games are en- gaging and personalized to meet students’ complex needs, and AI-Learners provides comprehensive analytics to help parents and teachers support their students. AI-Learners is free for all students, and parents and educa- tors can create individual accounts for their students. Hundreds of parents have already created accounts for their children, and schools will begin free trials during the 2023-2024 school year. You can check out the website at www.ai-learners.com and create a free account for your children to practice their math skills now! Please reach out to Adele with questions or feed- back. You can reach her at adele@ai-learners.com PROBLEM WITH EXISTING EDTECH WEBSITES After speaking with hundreds of parents and educators, Adele learned that Lara is just one of many students with dis- abilities who cannot effectively learn from current Educational Technology (EdTech) websites. These websites are designed for the general student population and thus do not meet the com- plex needs of students with cognitive, behavioral, and physical disabilities. Existing EdTech games are inaccessible due to poor color contrast, small buttons, stressful features, or incompat- ibility with assistive technology. Games are not personalized to a student’s abilities and thus give students math questions that are too easy or too hard. Moreover, engagement features are overwhelming for students with cognitive disabilities like dys- lexia or ADHD who struggle to concentrate. Parents and edu- cators also voiced that they want to see more analytics about how their students learn to understand their student’s abilities

Adele’s younger sister Lara

better. Overall, EdTech companies are not effectively support- ing the learning of students with disabilities, and parents and educators are seeking a new tool that helps their students learn math. EQUITY IN EDTECH DEVELOPMENT EdTech is becoming an increasingly popular method of sup- porting students’ learning. Recent advances in artificial intelli- gence and machine learning help us apply data analysis and scientific methods to optimize game designs, integrate adap- tive algorithms, and create comprehensive analytics. Students with disabilities can greatly benefit from this style of learning as individualized instruction is necessary to meet students’ com- plex needs. However, academic research and commercial prod- ucts focus on helping the general student population, leaving out students with disabilities. Little scientific evidence is avail- able to demonstrate how students with disabilities learn, and few companies and researchers are collecting and analyzing data on the learning patterns of students with disabilities. In the 2020–2021 school year, the number of students ages 3–21 who received special education services under the Indi- viduals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was 7.2 million, or

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