AHEAD, in partnership with AONTAS, the National Adult Learning Organisation, and the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA), are delighted to bring you GATHER, a free 3 day online assistive technology (AT) event.  

Did you know that between your phone, your laptop and whatever tools your workplace or educational institution provides, you likely have access to: 

• Amazing literacy aids like digital reading coaches and advanced writing support to hone your reading and writing skills and the teaching of those skills 

• Incredible technologies to help you type and edit through your speech and have documents read back to you in a voice of your choice 

• Simple and beautiful organisational tools to help you and your learners manage their busy lives and studies 

• Specialist apps that can do all sorts of tricks, like assist blind learners in navigating the physical world, provide ambient sound to support learners who are easily distracted to focus, or provide live captions of speech to deaf learners 

Pretty neat, yeah? And new assistive features and products are being released every week which can unlock learning for you and your students. But, we know it’s hard to find a community that can help you:  

• stay on top of new developments,  

• build confidence in using these technologies, and  

• share insights from different learning contexts. 

That is why AHEAD, AONTAS and NALA have joined forces to host GATHER. This 3-day online event aims to: 

• Bring educators and support professionals from community education, further and higher education together to informally learn from experts and each other about all things AT; 

• Raise awareness about the broad range of available AT and how to use it, with a strong focus on assistive features within free and mainstream technologies;  

• Encourage educators to model AT use in their teaching to increase awareness and normalise usage; 

• Explore barriers to embedding AT in education; and  

• Highlight success stories. 

If you are AT curious, an AT user or an AT advocate, then ‘GATHER’ with us for this 3 day online Assistive Technology event for fun, insight, and chats about all things AT. 

Assistive Technology has many voices and we want to hear yours. There are four types of presentation submissions that we are seeking, so you can share your AT project or initiative with our AT Gathering. 

1. "How did you do that?" – 10 minute demonstrations of AT.

2. Short and snappy presentations – 15 minutes long.

3. A.T. related presentation -  30-45 minutes.

4. Pre-recorded video presentation 10- minute long video about an AT topic.

Submissions Deadline: 5pm on Thursday 6th of April 2023. Submissions will be reviewed and we will contact contributors as soon as possible.

Download the GATHER 2023 Submission Form
Email completed submission forms to events@ahead.ie with the subject line 'GATHER Submission'.

Following review, AHEAD may offer you a different format of presentation.

Suggested topics:

• AT projects, case studies and initiatives that have been implemented across your institution or centre. 

• Creating AT champions and using buddy/mentoring systems to support AT use. 

• Modelling AT in your classroom to lower barriers and support student success. 

• Research in the field of AT in tertiary education. 

• New ways of approaching AT needs assessments. 

In the event, all presentations will be recorded and shared publicly under a creative commons license to promote AT use, and AHEAD reserves the right to use these videos in a range of settings, e.g. for sharing on social media and inclusion as learning material within AHEAD courses. 

Please ensure your presentations are accessible. We are happy to offer guidance and support if needed. Please contact our Digital Media Officer, Danielle O'Rourke, for assistance with this: danielle.orourke@ahead.ie

Please Note: AHEAD is not seeking submissions from AT software companies for this event.