This concept of providing students with "supplementary aids and services necessary to achieve educational goals" could soon be applied to all students.

1. Do mobiles assist learning?
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act defines the
concept of the Least Restrictive Environment as the
opportunity for a student with a disability to be "provided
with supplementary aids and services necessary to achieve
educational goals if placed in a setting with non-disabled
peers." (Daniel R.r. v. State Bd. of Educ., 874 F.2d 1036, 1050,
5th Cir.1989) This concept of providing students with
"supplementary aids and services necessary to achieve
educational goals" could be applied to all students. By
leveraging the capabilities of mobile devices, teachers can
support their students in creating a personalized learning
environment with the least number of barriers.

2. The Value of Working Digitally
In a traditional classroom, the only available technology may be
analog -- paper, whiteboards and books. However, for some
students, paper-based products may be the limiting factor. As
Karen Janowski (KarenJan) wrote in A Letter to My Teacher:
Dear Teacher,
I want to learn.
I want to be independent, but sometimes your curriculum is the
disability.
When you give it to me in paper form, I can't access it.
When text is digital, I can manipulate it. I can make it bigger,
pick the right font, add more white space -- it's easier to read.
When text is digital, I can add a voice and listen to it.
I don’t have to struggle with reading each word . . .
By providing students with the option to access content on a
mobile device, we begin removing many of the restrictions
previously placed upon their learning environment.

3. "In the print vs. screen debate, the answer will
probably always be 'it depends.' It depends on
the person, the text, the task and the context."
Justin Reich
Anything Digital Can Be Heard
Imagine if books could talk. Think about the benefit of allowing
students to experience text through more than one modality,
providing them even more opportunities to connect with the
written material. Consider the potential if students could
leverage text-to-speech in order to:
- Decode and comprehend an article that would otherwise be
above reading level
- Independently listen to written directions rather than asking
for support
- Enhance their writing and editing process by listening to each
paragraph for grammar, structure or sentence variation
Depending on the device, text-to-speech may work in a variety
of ways. On iPad, enabling Speak Selection in the Accessibility
features not only allows all text to be heard, but -- as of iOS6 --
also includes word highlighting.

4. For students working on any laptop with the Chrome Browser,
or on a Chromebook, the Chrome Speak app and iSpeech Select
and Speak extension convert web articles, Google Docs and
even test questions into audio.
And on any Mac product, students can access text-to-speech in
two different ways. First, within any program, they can
highlight the desired text and then access Speak Selection from
the Edit menu (Edit>Speech>Start Speaking). Second, it is
possible to configure custom keystrokes in the System
Preferences.
Credit: Apple Inc.

5. My elementary students loved using these two techniques in
our Mac lab -- both for reading online as well as to support
their writing process. When allowed to customize the listening
experience in terms of the voice, speaking rate and keystroke,
they also started taking more ownership of their learning
process.
Anything Digital Can Be Seen, Manipulated, Experienced
With mobile devices, neither we, as educators, nor our
students are limited to a single modality for presenting content
or demonstrating understanding. Regardless of the device, the
potential exists to create and consume images, audio, video,
text and more.
Imagine if teachers included QR codes or Augmented Reality
with paper-based activities. Picture a scenario where students
can leverage video, audio or screencasts of their thinking to
replace or enhance written assignments.
What might students create if they could choose the tool that
best supports their ability to demonstrate their understanding
and meet the desired learning objectives? Rather than being
told to start with a designated product, such as an essay or
poster, think about what may happen if students are instructed
to create the product that best represents their learning.

6. When the focus shifts toward the achievement of learning
objectives, rather than the completion of a specific product,
students can start to create and innovate within a virtually
limitless environment.
The Asymmetric Impact of Mobile Devices
In the same way that students determine their preferred
method for studying, such as using flashcards or writing lists,
they will also identify the digital features that best support and
demonstrate their learning. Text-to-speech may unlock content
for some students while being irrelevant to others. Adjusting
text size or watching video may be empowering for one group,
but not all. In the article, Special E-Readers for People with
Dyslexia, Justin Reich says, "In the print vs. screen debate, the
answer will probably always be 'it depends.' It depends on the
person, the text, the task and the context."
Mobile devices won't have the same impact on all students, but
they will allow teachers to work with "it depends" in
meaningful ways. They can use the features of iPads,
Chromebooks, Android and laptops to guide the creation of a
Least Restrictive Environment for all of their students. Not only
that, students become architects of their own learning
environments because they can determine the aids and
services most applicable to them.

7. Full article on: http://assistivemart.com/top-ld-topics/do-
mobiles-assist-learning.html
Reference: Written by Beth Holland for Edutopia. She is an
instructor and Communications Coordinator at EdTechTeacher.