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The term ‘digital assistive technology' refers to the use of ICTs for the support of older people's everyday tasks. These tasks could range from online shopping to information seeking and searching the web in a variety of ways eg. by the use of desktop or ubiquitous computing. Currently, research under the New Dynamics of Ageing Programme, funded by the ESRC, EPSRC, BBSRC, MRC and AHRC, and research funded by other bodies, including SPARC, tries to improve older people's quality of life through the exploitation and exploration of new developments in computing and information technology. However, the acceptance rate of digital assistive technology by older people is still low, while the abandonment of already existing technologies increases. The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for process requirements to inform the decision‐making of designers and implementers of digital assistive technologies. These process requirements should facilitate the development of more adaptable user‐centred systems that can dynamically accommodate the changing needs of older people and decrease the rate of abandonment of digital assistive technologies.

The development of telecare services across the UK has been supported by grants from the respective governments of Scotland and Wales, and by the DH in England. New services are being established to sometimes operate alongside existing community equipment services and community alarm services. Elsewhere they are embracing a wider range of services including rehabilitation, intermediate care and health services designed to reduce the use of unscheduled care services. This paper discusses the difficulties in understanding the scope of telecare services, and the definitions of services that will need to be confirmed so that service users can choose appropriately if offered direct payments. Two different service models are offered, one of which uses telehealth as an umbrella term to cover all telecare, e‐care and m‐care, and telemedicine where the former includes all such services offered in the service user's home, including those of a medical nature. The second model views telecare alongside assistive technologies and telemedicine as one of three different technology groups designed to make people more independent or to bring care closer to home. There is significant overlap between the three groups, which justifies the introduction of a new term ‐ ARTS (assistive and remote technology services) ‐ to describe this area of support.

The chapter Technological Advances in Special Education provides information on advances of technology and how such technological advances have influenced students with disabilities and special education across the globe. The chapter presents technological advances that benefited students with disabilities in developed countries as well as potential technologies to support students with disabilities in developing countries. The scant exiting literature on developing countries suggests some universal themes regarding technology for students with disabilities including access and training. Additional attention and research is needed on assistive technology to support students with disabilities in both developed and developing countries, with recognition that what works is developed counties may not work in developing.

Definitions of assistive technology are varied and sometimes contradictory and this raises particular issues for a new Journal seeking to address this area. A preference for loose and wide definitions is seen as leading to a more inclusive grasp of the field. Disability itself is a contested concept and this has affected the approach taken to technology use for groups that have been identified as having special educational needs. A key focus of the Journal of Assistive Technologies is on the practices of technology use, rather than the tools themselves, and this is discussed in the light of the social model of inclusion. The use of the term e‐Inclusion leads to a discussion of a tentative taxonomy of this area: technology to train and rehearse; technology to assist learning and technology to enable learning. Practitioners and researchers from a range of backgrounds are invited to contribute to the debates raised in this article.

This chapter focuses on the increasing use of both assistive technology (AT) and teacher assistants (TAs) to support students with disabilities within the inclusive classroom, and why it is vital that teacher assistants have appropriate training in the area of AT. A description of assistive technology and its role in inclusion of students with special needs is provided along with a description of training in assistive technology that was undertaken with teacher assistants. Implications for training and support of teacher assistants in the area of assistive technology are also discussed.

This article aims to introduce the Kellogg College Centre for Research into Assistive Learning Technologies, which is a new research centre based at the University of Oxford.

The article briefly sets the context of the centre within the current literature, and outlines the centre's current plan of work. The centre has funding for two years to look into new developments in the application of digital technologies to support the learning and educational achievement of young people in school and higher education with a range of specific learning difficulties. This will begin with a substantial research review, as well as in‐depth studies of current initiatives in secondary schools and higher education.

The findings from the research review will aim to be published and disseminated to the research community within the first two years of the centre's life.

It is hoped that this centre will be able to contribute to the existing research on the uses of a range of assistive technologies in educational settings.

Assistive technology has the potential to enable people with disabilities to live, learn, and work more independently through the application of specialized technologies that reduce, eliminate, or minimize the impact of a disability. This chapter provides an overview of the international application of assistive technology, summarizes the purpose of this new book series, and highlights the chapters in this volume that reflect the most recent research concerning the efficacy of assistive technology.

This research study aims to evaluate the capacity and sustainability of an accessible society as a smart society and services with the help of MOOCs and assistive technologies within the learning analytics framework.

Qualitative research was employed in this research that interview forms were conducted to get data from 60 participants. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data.

Research results revealed that MOOCs and assertive technologies are crucial for smart society and opens a map for open pedagogy. Accessible media, services and applications in smart societies are key elements for disabled people lives.

Research is limited to numbers of research participants in northern part of Cyprus.

Establishing strategies and policies for the smart and accessible society and services are intensified need for the disabled people within the framework of learning analytics.

Assistive technologies become medium of facilitating accessible and smart society and services for everyone.

Education plays a great role to enrich services of societies in order to create inclusive efforts to the life of disabled people. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO) underline the main theme of making inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. In this respect, accessibility, inclusiveness, equity, equality, quality for lifelong learning are main components to foster accessible and smart society for everyone. Integrating the importance of learning analytics creates a value for understanding of being smart society.

There is a need for more in‐depth exploration of the e‐learning experiences of disabled learners in higher education, taking into account the complex relationship between learners (skills, knowledge and beliefs), their assistive technologies and the e‐learning contexts in which learners are required to operate. Participatory methods appear to have great potential in enabling the voice of disabled learners to be a more central focus of e‐learning studies. This paper will describe and evaluate a two‐year research project called LExDis, which aims to use participatory methods to explore the e‐learning experiences of disabled learners in one higher education institution. The experience of conducting phase one of the LExDis project will be discussed with regards to three main challenges to using participatory methods: informed participation; valued participation; and empowered participation.

While many low-income countries are signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), providing for the needs of students with disabilities in these countries is often difficult. Many governments in low-income countries experience difficulties in obtaining and supplying appropriate assistive devices and products to people in need; have issues with poor infrastructure and in general lack appropriate knowledge around the types of assistive technologies (ATs) available and how to use these to assist people with disabilities. The authors of this chapter will discuss the use of low-tech AT for students with disabilities in low-income countries, the benefits for inclusion and the difficulties involved. Reference to India will be used to explore the use of low-tech AT in a low-income country. Included in the chapter will be information on an innovative problem-based learning project implemented in six countries (five of which may be considered low-income countries), undertaken with preservice and in-service teachers.