The Open University (OU) is a pioneer in making learning accessible to all. This project, supported by the OU’s Open Societal Challenges initiative, explores how virtual assistants and AI can remove barriers and enhance support for disabled students. With the participation of students, experts and staff, we will design a new assistant that makes best use of the opportunities new technologies offer.

Assistive technologies for education have always been able to change lives but have historically often been expensive and specialised. However, this has changed with many mainstream accessibility features in computer and mobile operating systems, and through web browsers or online services. There are also many features and strategies that are used by individuals, but not always shared with others who may find them effective.

We know that students benefit from needs assessments and conversations with advisors, but their expertise is a very limited resource even in institutions and countries that provide the most support. Virtual assistants can offer a similar dialogue-based approach to personalised support, and could support students where experts are not available and enhance independence.

Through participation and partnerships, the project will develop a design and knowledge base for the assistant that it is suitable for learners in a wide variety of contexts and with a wide range of disabilities. Building a diverse community around this endeavour will support continued development, piloting and improvement, with the assistant becoming more capable of understanding and supporting individuals across study contexts, and up to date on new and changing technologies. We are collaborating with Jisc to engage with the UK sector and accessibility expertise, and are keen to develop collaborations around the world with interested people and organisations.

This project has ran a series of workshops with disabled students and experts to explore the space and co-design principles for these systems.  The aim is to take a participatory approach so that we can understand how such systems can be appropriate to the needs of students and other stakeholders, are attractive to use, and benefit students as much as possible.

A further phase of the project involves a survey, working with students, gathering suggestions on what helps them with study, and processing these so that they can be effectively suggested by the assistant, as well as gathering further input to the design.

The outcomes of the project will include a design specification, knowledge base for use in training an assistant, prototype, and roadmap for future activities.

To understand more about what we are doing, check out the Research Themes that are guiding our activities.

This Digital Access Advisor project has been reviewed by, and received a favourable opinion from, the OU Human Research Ethics Committee – HREC reference number: HREC/4698/Coughlan