Integrating AI in Education: Educational Technology Practices, Tools, and Accessibility
Integrating AI in Education: Educational Technology Practices, Tools, and Accessibility
A. Miller
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly a topic of interest and concern in higher education. Much of the current research focuses on AI policies, how AI is changing education, and the AI use cases that include benefits (e.g., new insights) and concerns (e.g., academic integrity) of AI use. This article focuses on AI integration and builds on my earlier Information Matters article on AI tools, algorithmic literacies, and educational technology, demonstrating how inclusive design impacts accessibility and the design of AI in education. That related article describes:
- Differences among the related literacies—information, digital, media, and algorithmic
- Design principles
- Human-centered AI, inclusive design, and disabilities
- Ways to ensure human-centered AI EdTech through four key guidelines
With this understanding, educators can evaluate existing educational technologies and AI tools as options they may consider adding to their curriculum. This understanding further assumes the educator is already familiar with AI concepts, and if not, consider free AI training options such as Code Academy’s Intro to Generative AI, Code.org’s AI 101 for Teachers, or Common Sense Education’s AI Basics for K–12 Teachers).
The integration ideas presented below may help educators plan for educational technology practices, such as scaffolded lessons and assessments for AI literacy (which include digital and AI literacy frameworks and the benefits and challenges of AI). Additionally, these ideas may help educators get started with AI by offering suggestions on technologies to evaluate.
—educators can evaluate existing educational technologies and AI tools as options they may consider adding to their curriculum—
AI in Education: Domains/Levels
One viewpoint for integrating AI in education can be seen through the use of different levels or competencies depending on the course level, subject, and educator. For example, AI literacy levels could include:
- Beginner level—AI as productive and AI as creative (e.g., design assistance with Canva or writing assistance with Grammarly)
- Mid-level—AI as partner (e.g., debate partner using prompts and a chatbot or interview transcription with Otter.ai)
- Expert levels—AI as investigator (e.g., creating models and predictions with AI or AI creating AI)
Expert levels are more suited for advanced users across disciplines and information and computer science experts, while the other levels are useful to anyone with some level of digital literacy. Though this article takes an educational technology perspective, educators of any discipline could use these levels and conceptual examples to facilitate conversations, discussions, and assignments regarding the realities—for better or worse—that come with AI tools. Since AI is still evolving, the beginner and mid-levels are the focus of the following suggestions for integration.
*AI as productive. This domain includes assisting with repetitive tasks such as editing videos or text, transcribing interviews and generating captions, researching topic ideas, or scheduling events. If done accurately, these types of automation and process enhancements can free up time and resources. In this scenario, students are encouraged to think about accessibility and how technology and digital literacies can help structure activities and learning while addressing the flaws and challenges.
*AI as creative. Although plagiarism and trademark or intellectual property issues are critical to avoid, AI can help brainstorm ideas, especially when facing a mental block, as idea generation can happen in many ways: Through conversations with people, fresh ideas inspired by new surroundings, or AI brainstorming. In this scenario, students are encouraged to explore creativity and reflection while also assessing the liabilities and ethical issues of using AI for creativity.
*AI as partner. This could be for a partner in thought or ideas when giving an AI chatbot a specific prompt and guidelines for exploring a realistic situation or dilemma. Similarly, the AI chatbot could be a debate partner to have an engaging and structured debate with parameters for a specific topic, stance, opening statement, and prompts, such as requiring evidence, using a debate style, and a back-and-forth conversation. In these scenarios, students are encouraged through deeper engagements, which promotes critical thinking while also needing to fact-check the evidence and counterpoints of the AI chatbot.
Outside of generative AI and chatbots used in these three domains, other AI tools can also be used for productivity, creativity, and partnerships. Consider the example AI tools in Table 1, which offer corresponding educational practices and principle or literacy connections. The table is not an exhaustive list but highlights some tools that offer free or basic-level plans (which may have limited features) and some that offer more options with subscription plans. Many example tools also have educational plans that educators and students can use with discounts or increased features. Note that the author does not support or advocate for using any of these AI tools, rather just sharing example tools for different educational practices. It is recommended that each user read and evaluate tool policies before use.
Educational Practice | Principle / Literacy | AI Tool / EdTech Example |
LLMs and Chatbots can be used for initial research, as a debate partner (using prompts for conversational arguments), and as a research partner (prompts for summary and analysis). Keep in mind that the structure of the prompt may impact accessibility and biased results *Productive, Partner | Inclusive design, digital literacy, AI literacy | Chatbox https://chatboxai.app/en HuggingFace https://huggingface.co/ LM Studio https://lmstudio.ai/ OpenAI https://chatgpt.com |
Learning Assistant or Learning Management System (LMS) for educational subjects or foreign languages. Personalized learning and gamification experiences based on user preferences by combining AI and subject content for lessons, conversational exchanges, and educational content suiting learner abilities and learning preferences. *Productive | Universal design, digital literacy, human-centered AI | Duolingo https://www.duolingo.com Speechify https://speechify.com/ Congnii https://www.cognii.com/ Explain Everything https://explaineverything.com/ Schoox https://www.schoox.com/ Quizlet https://quizlet.com/ Kahoot https://kahoot.com/ |
Image and Content Creationuses a creator’s text description and prompts to generate images with that vision. Image and video editing can also use AI to enhance image quality, such as removing backgrounds, auto-generating short clips, or optimizing for various platforms or media formats. Some offer gamification and LMS integration. *Creative, Productive | Media literacy, digital literacy, AI literacy | Canva https://www.canva.com/magic Adobe Creative Suite https://www.adobe.com/products/firefly.html Genially https://genially.com Midjourney https://www.midjourney.com/ Leonardo.ai https://leonardo.ai/ Opus Clip https://www.opus.pro Freepik https://www.freepik.com |
Writing Assistance for text, grammar, tone, style, and suggestions for concise language and transition flows. *Productive | Information literacy, digital literacy | Grammarly https://www.grammarly.com Hemmingway App https://hemingwayapp.com |
VR/AR for interactive and immersive experiences, field trips, and journeys designed for engagement on desktop, mobile, big screen TVs, mobile VR headsets, and immersive simulation rooms. *Partner | Digital literacy, AI literacy | Convai https://convai.com/ Skybox https://www.blockadelabs.com/ Google Expeditions https://sites.google.com/view/virtuarealities/vr-resources/google-expeditions |
Audio, Video, and Transcription can benefit from AI used to extract or transcribe media, the output of which can be used in research or educational settings (e.g., interview data transcribed to text for analysis). High-quality voiceovers are also possible with useful voice generation, cloning, or dubbing tools. *Partner, Productive, Creative | Digital literacy, media literacy, AI literacy, accessibility | Otterai https://otter.ai/ Speechify Zoom AI Companion https://uit.stanford.edu/service/zoom/ai ElevanLabs (audio) https://elevenlabs.io Runway (video) https://runwayml.com/ Soundraw (audio) https://soundraw.io Synthesia (video) https://www.synthesia.io |
Image and Alt Text generators improve the accessibility of media content on the web. *Productive, Partner | Digital literacy, media literacy, AI literacy, accessibility | Arizona State University’s Image Accessibility Creator https://asuo-ai-labs.streamlit.app/Image_Accessibility |
| Research tools that help with the research process include creating study guides, mindmaps, and question-and-answer guides based on synthesizing content uploaded to the tool. | Digital literacy, information literacy, AI literacy | NotebookLM https://notebooklm.google Research Rabbit http://researchrabbit.ai Perplexity https://perplexity.ai |
| Lesson plans, assessment, and discussion board tools that help educators create lessons, quizzes, presentations, rubric builders, discussion topics, etc. | Digital literacy, AI literacy, universal design | Khanmingo https://khanmigo.ai Swaybeta.ai (Carnegie Mellon) https://www.swaybeta.ai Nearpod https://nearpod.com Quizizz https://quizizz.com Snorkl https://snorkl.app |
| Accessibility-minded tools that help everyone, especially people with disabilities. Examples include tools to break down tasks, check the tone of text, and organize thoughts; Tools for vision and hearing challenges, which help with wayfinding, reading photos and products, and providing live captions. | Digital literacy, AI literacy, human-centered AI, accessibility | Goblin Tools https://goblin.tools Evelity https://www.evelity.com SeeingAI https://www.seeingai.com CaptionEd https://caption-ed.com Live Transcribe https://android.com/accessibility/live-transcribe |
Accessibility and Concerns
Some of these AI tools and EdTech options may not be accessible to people with disabilities, while others may have features better suited for people with motor, vision, hearing, or learning impairments. Accessibility is a key factor in universal design and should be considered when selecting AI tools and EdTech to require learning and teaching practices. With 1.3 billion people worldwide who identify with a disability of some kind, it is important to consider possible EdTech barriers that may exist for some learners. Related studies found that applying accessibility and inclusive design to the design of online surveys and user testing protocols positively impacts the research study experience in higher education when those web-based experiences are co-designed with people who identify with a range of abilities (Miller, 2025ab). The same theory applies to the design and selection of AI in education. If we design and select educational technologies that address accessibility, the technology experience will be more usable and helpful for more people. For example, AI EdTech, designed to be used with a keyboard (not just a mouse), enables navigation that is helpful not only to people with motor or vision impairments but also to people who may have a temporary hand injury or who have device preferences.
Additionally, many AI tools may seem beneficial to students (e.g., productivity, creativity, partnership); however, they are not perfect. For example, even if AI tools can automate some activities that may speed up a student’s productivity, that does not mean a student should no longer be able to perform those skills. Additionally, AI tools can still mislead students about learning or skill proficiency, as well as misinformation. AI tools also come with a number of disclaimers, use policies, and data or content policies, much of which are lengthy and difficult to comprehend. That, too, is a burden and impacts the use and understanding of what is happening with your data and the data you are accessing. These are certain areas, along with privacy, accessibility, and inclusive design, that AI and AI educational technologies need to address moving forward. For more information on the role AI will play in education, see the World Economic Forum’s Insight Report. Finally, questions important questions to consider before adopting an AI tool.
A Way Forward
AI revolutionizes communication and learning with automation, personalization, and efficiency. However, AI primarily streamlines processes and enhances experiences for those adept at the various literacies, especially digital and AI literacies, while ignoring those who may struggle with technology or the accessibility of technology. Thus, to make AI tools more equitable and usable, inclusive and human-centered design should be a critical element in the design of AI tools from the start.
Understanding and addressing the challenges and realities of people with disabilities (even when we review existing AI tools) can help educators, instructional designers, and administrators advocate for inclusively designed educational technologies as human-centered AI benefits everyone. This shift in mindset is needed in higher education so that accessibility meets AI with a criticality equal to academic integrity. Only then can AI truly empower students and educational frameworks.
References
Miller, A. (2025a). Accessibility, disability, and inclusive instrument design: A critical literature review interrogating the user experience of online surveys and interviews. The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, 9(1/2).
Miller, A. (2025b). Human-centered design, disability, and accessible research experiences: A multiple method study, co-design framework, and model for inclusive instrument design [Doctoral dissertation, University of Missouri]. MoSpace Repository.
World Economic Forum. (2024). Shaping the future of learning: The role of AI in education 4.0. Insight Report. https://www.weforum.org/publications/shaping-the-future-of-learning-the-role-of-ai-in-education-4-0/
Cite this article in APA as: Miller, A. Integrating AI in education: Educational technology practices, tools, and accessibility. (2025, May 15). https://informationmatters.org/2025/05/integrating-ai-in-education-educational-technology-practices-tools-and-accessibility/
