Internet of Things (IoT) as Assistive Technology: Potential Applications in Tertiary Education
Scott Hollier, Shadi Abou-Zahra · 2018 · Proceedings of the 15th International Web for All Conference (W4A 2018) · doi:10.1145/3192714.3192828
Summary
This short paper explores how consumer Internet of Things (IoT) devices could serve as assistive technology for students with disabilities in tertiary education, based on qualitative interviews with five students representing hearing, mobility, print, low vision, and dyslexia-related disabilities at Curtin University in Australia. The paper is co-authored with the W3C’s accessibility strategy lead Shadi Abou-Zahra, connecting the findings to the W3C’s Web of Things (WoT) standardisation work. The authors argue that IoT has the potential to function as assistive technology in its own right — similar to how a screen reader provides content access for blind users, IoT’s always-on, real-time connectivity can ensure people with disabilities quickly and easily obtain assistance and support. Four factors have driven recent consumer IoT adoption: improved connectivity (always-on broadband versus the dial-up of early smart appliances), the ability to capture highly specific data from sensors, affordability (Amazon Echo Dot at , Raspberry Pi at ), and dramatically improved user interfaces — particularly voice interaction through digital assistants, which inherently improves accessibility by eliminating the need for visual interfaces. However, the paper also identifies six concerns that are amplified for people with disabilities: interoperability (proprietary systems making customised AT integration difficult), accessibility support at the device/data/protocol level, identification and configuration of accessibility features through platform APIs, privacy (IoT may expose more sensitive disability-related information), security, and the absence of accessibility guidelines for the distributed nature of IoT.
Key findings
Despite having limited IoT experience (only one student owned a Google Home beyond smartphones), all five students were able to envision practical IoT applications for their education. Three key proposals emerged: (1) Real-time captioning via smart speaker: a digital assistant could listen to a lecturer’s speech and output live captions to a screen (via Chromecast) or directly to students’ devices, leveraging the combination of connectivity, speech recognition, and low cost to provide an access benefit. (2) Smartboard content delivery: information written on a smart board could be converted to text via OCR and distributed directly to students’ devices through an LMS, ensuring compatibility with their assistive technologies and supporting remote learners — current video lecture recordings typically exclude board content. (3) Engagement monitoring: sensors could monitor environmental factors (noise levels, CO2, humidity) and lecturer/student behaviour to detect when engagement drops, enabling real-time adjustments to content delivery — particularly valuable for students with attention-related disabilities. Students were enthusiastic but also raised concerns: devices could be hacked, looking at screens constantly during class could cause distractions, interoperability was a major worry (students needed IoT to work with their specific AT and preferred devices), and privacy/security concerns were heightened given the disability-sensitive nature of the data. The students’ reliance on built-in smartphone digital assistants (all used them) over standalone smart speakers reinforced the importance of integrating IoT accessibility features into devices students already own.
Relevance
This paper connects two important developments — the consumer IoT revolution and the need for accessible education — through the often-overlooked perspective of students with disabilities themselves. The finding that non-expert students could quickly identify practical IoT solutions that the education sector has failed to implement despite technical feasibility highlights a persistent gap between technological capability and real-world deployment for accessibility. For accessibility practitioners in education, the three proposed applications are immediately relevant: real-time captioning via consumer speech recognition, smartboard-to-LMS content distribution, and engagement monitoring. The W3C WoT connection is significant: the paper argues that just as the Web provides a universal interface layer for traditional internet services, WoT standards should provide a universal, accessible interface layer for IoT, ensuring that accessibility is built into the protocols and APIs rather than added as an afterthought. The six identified concerns — particularly interoperability and the absence of IoT accessibility guidelines — remain unresolved and have become more pressing as IoT deployment has accelerated since 2018.
Tags: Internet of Things · assistive technology · higher education · W3C · voice assistant · captioning · smart speaker · interoperability · privacy · digital inclusion
Standards referenced: W3C Web of Things