Building Sustainable Assistive Technology Capacity: From Preparation to Practice
Dr. Elizabeth Stewart
About the Author
Dr. Elizabeth Stewart is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Alabama. Her work focuses on implementing assistive technology, building capacity, and promoting inclusive educational practices. Drawing on her experience as a special education teacher, she considers how university faculty and school personnel can better identify, implement, and sustain AT supports.
Dr. Stewart leads and collaborates on HEAT, a higher education faculty development initiative, and BOOST, a school-based AT coaching initiative. Together, they show how educators' professional preparation connects to the knowledge, resources, and support they need when working with students in school settings.
The problem highlighted in this brief
Assistive technology (AT) is often treated as a specialized topic rather than an everyday element of professional preparation and educational practice. As a result, teachers and related service providers may enter schools with uneven knowledge and confidence in AT, while implementation often depends on a single specialist or a one-time workshop. In this interview, Dr. Elizabeth Stewart describes two complementary initiatives at the University of Alabama: the Higher Education Assistive Technology (HEAT) Cohort, which supports faculty in integrating AT across preparation programs, and BOOST (Building Opportunities for Ongoing Support and Training), which coaches practicing school teams. Both initiatives aim to make AT knowledge and implementation more consistent and sustainable.
Why does this topic matter to teacher preparation?
Preparing educators to use AT requires more than introducing devices or offering a standalone technology course. Future special educators, general educators, and related service professionals need opportunities to recognize barriers, consider AT during assessment and instruction, collaborate with AT users, and make context-sensitive decisions. Faculty need practical examples, partnerships, and professional learning that fit existing courses. Linking higher education preparation with school-based coaching can help make AT knowledge and practices more sustainable.
About This Brief
This brief examines ways to build sustainable assistive technology capacity across professional preparation and school practice. Drawing on Dr. Stewart’s discussion of HEAT and BOOST, it explains why AT should be integrated into a range of courses, how ongoing coaching can strengthen school teams, and why interdisciplinary and user-centered approaches matter. It also identifies priorities for future research, including how AT knowledge translates into practice, what prevents faculty from integrating AT into their courses, and how schools can sustain effective AT practices over time.
Research and Practice Context
Connecting Professional Preparation and School-Based Practice
HEAT and BOOST target different but connected points in the professional pipeline. Through HEAT, faculty support embedding AT into existing coursework, helping future educators and related service providers view technology as part of assessment, literacy, communication, transition, and inclusive instruction. Through BOOST, school teams work alongside coaches to identify students’ needs, solve implementation problems, and develop their own capacity instead of relying on an outside specialist. Dr. Stewart emphasizes that AT decisions should begin with the student, the task, the environment, and barriers to participation—not with a device. The initiatives also create opportunities to connect university teaching with school needs.
The following sections summarize seven interview questions with Dr. Elizabeth Stewart. The discussion addresses the HEAT and BOOST initiatives, professional preparation, school-based coaching, future research, interdisciplinary collaboration, and practical resources for building sustainable AT capacity.
Conversation with Dr. Elizabeth Stewart
Q1: What Issues Are You Trying to Address Through HEAT and BOOST?
Dr. Stewart explains that AT is still too often seen as a specialty rather than a routine part of education. Professionals may complete their training with insufficient exposure to AT, and the resources and knowledge they encounter in schools can vary widely. HEAT addresses this issue in higher education by building faculty capacity, while BOOST supports school teams. The shared objective is to make AT knowledge and decision-making part of the educational system rather than leaving it with one enthusiastic individual or specialist.
Dr. Stewart: “For me, the bigger goal really isn't just more AT training, it's building sustainable capacity.”
Q2: How Do HEAT and BOOST Support Future Professionals and Students With Disabilities?
Dr. Stewart describes HEAT and BOOST as two ends of the professional pipeline. HEAT helps faculty integrate AT into courses for future teachers and related service providers; BOOST identifies what school teams need to use AT in authentic settings. BOOST insights can inform professional preparation, while HEAT can strengthen future practitioners. Both initiatives ultimately aim to improve access, participation, independence, and educational opportunities for students with disabilities.
Dr. Stewart: “We are hopefully doing work that is really beneficial and meaningful for those future professionals because ultimately the people who will benefit from all of this are students with disabilities, and that's the big goal.”
Q3: How Can We Integrate Assistive Technology Into Professional Preparation?
A dedicated AT course can help, but Dr. Stewart argues that AT should also appear throughout professional preparation. Coursework on assessment, literacy, communication, behavior, and transition can incorporate AT considerations. She advocates authentic learning experiences: examining case scenarios, identifying environmental and instructional barriers, exploring possible tools, interacting with AT users, and observing implementation. For integration to be feasible, faculty need relevant examples, resources, professional learning, and community partnerships, not just being told to cover additional content.
Dr. Stewart: “If students are learning about assessment, they should be considering AT. If they're learning about literacy or communication or behavior, transition, AT belongs in all of those conversations.”
Q4: How Can We Support Practicing Educators and School Teams?
Dr. Stewart notes that one-time workshops can introduce useful tools but rarely resolve the time, resource, and implementation challenges educators face when they return to school. BOOST uses an ongoing coaching and capacity-building approach, working with teams around their students' actual needs. Rather than serving as a substitute AT specialist, the coaching team helps school personnel solve problems and build confidence so they can sustain effective practices themselves. This process prioritizes the student’s goals and barriers before selecting a particular technology.
Dr. Stewart: “We are helping them to problem-solve and make those connections, and ultimately to build confidence over time. So the goal really isn't for us to come and become the school's AT team or AT specialist.”
Q5: What Gaps and Opportunities Do You See for Future Research?
Dr. Stewart identifies several research gaps at the intersection of professional preparation and practice. Researchers need to understand what future educators learn about AT, whether they can recognize and address AT needs once employed, and what prevents faculty from incorporating AT across the curriculum. She also emphasizes a longer-term question: whether professional development leads to lasting changes in practice and organizational systems. HEAT and BOOST may provide opportunities to study both ends of this continuum and examine what remains after coaching, funding, or individual champions are no longer present.
Dr. Stewart: “I think there's a lot that we still need to understand about what happens between the professional preparation and the actual school-based practice.”
Resources and References
Every state has an AT Act program that may provide device demonstrations, lending, training, technical assistance, and connections to other AT professionals. Dr. Stewart recommends starting with your state's program.
- APTAT (Alabama)
Accessing Potential through Assistive Technology (APTAT) is Alabama’s state AT Act program. Dr. Stewart identifies it as a valuable partner and example of the resources that state programs can provide. Website: accessingpotential.org.
The AT Alabama Conference brings together people with disabilities, families, educators, related service providers, and individuals from diverse disciplines to learn from one another and explore assistive technology.
Together, these resources can help educators build relationships across professional preparation, school practice, research, and the communities of people who use assistive technology.
Suggested Citation
Kim, T., Stewart, E., & the CIDDL Team. (2026). Building sustainable assistive technology capacity: From preparation to practice. The Center for Innovation, Design, and Digital Learning.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.