Since investing in a sitewide licence in 2018, Australian Catholic University has seen Read&Write become an invaluable tool in its Access and Disability support offering.
It’s also become normalised as a general learning and productivity tool.
12% of ACU students are registered with the Access and Disability Service. Since 2018, they have made Read&Write available to all students.
Read&Write
OrbitNoteRead&Write has remained valuable because it supports student independence and provides a practical layer of accessibility that can be used across different learning contexts.
Background
Australian Catholic University spans across eight campuses; seven in Australia, and one in Rome. Currently, its enrollment exceeds 30,000 students.
Approximately 12% of ACU students are currently registered with the university’s Access and Disability Service (ADS). However, this number doesn’t capture the full picture of students with undisclosed disabilities, health conditions, neurodivergence or carer responsibilities across the university.
A changing support landscape
The ADS National Manager, Trevor Ianna, describes how he has seen student needs evolve in his time with the university.
“In recent years, a lot has been done to reduce the stigma around disability. In particular, students with learning disabilities and neurodivergence. 10 years ago, we would be working with students to encourage them to disclose their learning difficulties, but today that's less of an issue. What we're actually seeing now is quite a lot of students with disabilities disclosing freely to academic staff.”
Another change is in the complexity of student needs. Previously, a student would come forward with one disability and would receive an EIP (Education Inclusion Plan) with reasonable adjustments based on that need. While this is still the case for many students, Trevor notes an increase in students presenting with a combination of learning or physical disabilities, neurodivergence, mental health and chronic health conditions.
As a result, universities like ACU are pursuing more flexibility in their learning support - and ensuring that accessibility is embedded within all learning design.
From individual adjustment to universal design
Growing self-advocacy among students has been matched by institutional change. Trevor notes that ACU is better equipped than ever to support diverse learning needs, providing both student resources and guidance for academic staff.
Through the university’s Centre for Education and Innovation (CEI), learning designers work with academics to coordinate teaching and learning across faculties. Their work is guided by Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which aims to make learning accessible and engaging for all students from the outset, rather than retrofitting accommodations after barriers emerge.
In practice, this means offering multiple ways for students to access content and demonstrate understanding. Teaching materials increasingly combine text, video, audio and other formats, while assessment design is becoming more flexible, with a wider range of submission options available to students.
The library access team coordinates with lecturers to ensure texts are accessible wherever possible, while teaching staff are encouraged to let their students know about the assistive technology that’s available to them.
As part of the drive to embed accessibility into learning design, ACU opted to make its learning technologies available to all students. This includes a site-wide licence to Read&Write.
As Access and Disability Advisor Christie Reskakis explains, this means students can access support without a formal diagnosis, removing a potential financial barrier.
The implementation of a site-wide tool like Read&Write for all students is a big shift.
With Read&Write available to all students, ACU is putting universal design into practice.
Trevor explains the principle of necessary for some, useful for all. “While it may be essential assistive technology for some students, it can also be useful for many others as a general learning and productivity tool. That broader availability helps reduce stigma and normalise the use of accessibility tools.”
“People need efficient solutions to things,” adds Christie. For students feeling the pressure of time constraints due to balancing study with a part-time job or parenting or care-giver responsibilities, tools like Read&Write can help them use their time more efficiently. For example, students can use the text-to-speech or audio maker features to listen to their readings on-the-go.
What Read&Write offers students
Summarising why Read&Write has remained a valuable support at ACU for so long, Trevor explains: “It provides a practical layer of accessibility that can be used across learning contexts. It’s not limited to one particular cohort or diagnosis. Students may use it for text-to-speech, speech-to-text, screen masking, reading support, reviewing written work, or managing large volumes of academic content.”
The team shared some of the most common uses of Read&Write among ACU students.
Supporting comprehension
A student with dyslexia or ADHD can use text-to-speech to listen to readings or assessment instructions while following along visually. That can help with comprehension, focus and retention, particularly when students are managing dense academic material.
It’s not just neurodivergent students who benefit from multi-sensory input. Listening to a text while reading it can be widely used as a processing aid, as it allows the brain to focus on extracting meaning, rather than decoding text.
Minimising fatigue
Students with a chronic health condition or fatigue can use Read&Write features such as Text-to-Speech to listen to digital text instead of reading it, reducing visual and cognitive effort. The Check It, Prediction and Speech Input features can also assist with writing and proofing work. For these students, the benefit is not just academic access, but also energy management.
Improving focus
Students use tools like text-to-speech or screen masking to support active focus and reduce visual stress. In some cases, students may not initially identify the tool as “assistive technology”; they simply recognise that it helps them study more effectively.
Trevor recalls a student’s words to him: “When it came to their weekly readings, their option was to use something like Read&Write to have it read to them, or not do their readings at all. Those were the two options they had. And not because they had any sort of vision impairment. It was literally attention, it was time, it was being able to engage with the material. So that's where that particular student saw the benefit.”
Gaining independence
Christie often hears from students that they don’t want to have to rely on another person to be their scribe or reader. They view that as adding a barrier to accessing learning.
“They would rather opt for something they can use and get familiar with outside of the exam context,” she says, “and then use that same tool within the exam context. It allows them to be a little bit more autonomous.”
It instils confidence in students early on that there is another option out there and they can control it.”
Studying more efficiently
The university has had great feedback from students about the benefits of using text-to-speech to tackle extensive readings.
In my experience, I can read a 23 page article about four times faster by listening to it than I can by reading it with my eyes."
With the Audio Maker feature, users can convert text to audio and listen at double speed – offering an efficient alternative to simply reading.
Also popular among students are the colour-coded highlighting and collect highlights features, which Trevor notes are particularly useful for study and research.
The cost of not having Read&Write
Without tools like Read&Write, some students would likely face greater barriers when engaging with readings, assessments and exams. For example, students who experience difficulties with reading fluency, visual processing, fatigue, pain, attention, executive functioning or written expression may need to rely more heavily on human support, additional staff intervention, or workarounds that are less efficient and less empowering.
Trevor explains further: “In practical terms, this could mean students taking longer to work through readings, experiencing higher fatigue, avoiding tasks, struggling to proofread their own work, or feeling less confident in time-limited assessment environments. Having assistive technology available helps provide another pathway for students to access information and demonstrate their knowledge.”
While assistive technology has not replaced traditional supports entirely, as human readers, scribes and other adjustments are still appropriate in some cases, Trevor notes that, for many students, “assistive technology can be preferable because it allows students to access content or produce written work in a way that feels more self-directed. We see value in students being able to use technology where it supports greater independence, flexibility, and privacy.”
There’s also a logistical advantage. Managing adjustments in a university environment means arranging support across multiple units, study locations, online learning spaces and assessment types. With assistive tools, that becomes more sustainable.
EDUCATION SOLUTION
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