Can Digital Learning Finally Meet Every Student Where They’re At?

I’ve yet to meet a teacher who doesn’t want to give every student the attention they deserve. The challenge is...you can’t clone yourself.

In a single class, you might have one student ready to fly ahead, another who needs step-by-step guidance, one who’s exhausted before you even start, and another who’s quietly masking how much they’re struggling. And that’s before we even talk about communication preferences, sensory needs, or different ways of showing understanding.

What We Know vs. What’s Possible

Research has been clear for years: personalising learning works. It improves engagement, supports inclusion, and helps students make meaningful progress. But you can’t deeply personalise learning for 25 kids at once without help. Even the best teachers can’t hold 25 completely different lesson plans in their heads while also managing behaviour, checking understanding, and meeting admin demands.

What the Research Says

In December 2024, the Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne released "Neurodiversity and Digital Inclusion: Creating the Conditions for Inclusive Education Through Universal Design for Learning".

The project was co-designed by Dr Matthew Harrison, Jessica Rowlings, Emily H. White, Melissa Vallance, and Dr Nikita Potemkin, the report brings together literature review and the research that highlighted 36 recommendations for teachers to help them leverage technology to support academic and social learning for all students through the UDL framework, with a particular emphasis on creating the conditions for supporting neurodivergent students across their schooling.

Some standouts include:

• Designing accessibility from the start not as an add-on

• Allowing multiple ways to access and express learning (visual, audio, text, interactive)

• Embedding built-in sensory supports and self-check-ins to help regulate energy levels

• Interactive explicit teaching aligning with the principles of UDL

• Respecting all communication preferences whether speech, typing, AAC, drawing, or something else entirely.

The core message? When we design for inclusion, everyone benefits.

The Big Question

So, here’s the question I keep coming back to...How can we create a digital learning tool that genuinely respects every learner’s needs, energy levels, communication preferences, sensory input and more, while also freeing up teachers to work in small groups or one-to-one?

The right technology could give teachers breathing room to do the human work of teaching while ensuring every student gets a tailored, engaging, and inclusive learning experience.

Your Voice Matters Survey

I’m currently exploring this question as part of my Master’s research and early-stage development work. This is a chance to build something with teachers, parents, and students... not just for them.

If you have ideas, frustrations, or wish-lists for what would actually help in the classroom or at home, I’d love to hear from you.

Fill in the quick survey here: Help Us Build Every Brain - A Learning Platform Designed for ALL Brains - Google Forms

Try the very early prototype (very early and nothing like it needs to be but to give you an idea of the flow) : Every Brain

Check out the research paper here: Neurodiversity and digital inclusion: creating the conditions for inclusive education through universal design for learning