ADCET Webinar: ADHD & Artificial Intelligence - Strategic tools and academic practices for students with ADHD

This webinar, presented by Tiana Blazevic, discussed the use of specific artificial intelligence (AI) study tools that may assist students with ADHD. Additionally, this presentation briefly discussed recent research on the use of AI for students with different learning modalities before showcasing some of the ways that students at all program levels can use AI tools in their academic practice. This interactive presentation showed participants how students with ADHD can utilise websites such as Notebook LM, Mindgrasp, Goblin Tools, and others to reduce cognitive overload.

Not long ago, Tiana said to her PhD supervisor: “It takes me such a long-time to absorb material, I think I am just a slow reader”. She responded: “Tiana, I have noticed that your brain actually works really fast, you can make connections quickly, I think the challenge is translating it out of your brain and onto the page.” That moment was a bit of watershed for her as someone with a late diagnosis of ADHD. She had never considered that those fleeting moments of clarity, the “aha” moments, were her neurodivergent brain putting too many connections together too quickly. Her PhD, and her role, requires broad and extensive reading of many different fields: neuroscience, education, psychology, religion, philosophy, metaphysics, medicine, history, and sociology. This led to feelings of overwhelm and overload: 'What should I read first? Where should I begin? What is even worth reading?'

Comprehension and memory are also a challenge. As soon as an “aha” moment came, so did another, and another, and then she could not even remember the first “aha” moment. She then had to re-read the paragraph, or argument, all over again, another day wasted and no writing. Tiana felt like Sisyphus and his boulder. She had the same issue during her Master of Philosophy from 2019-2021, and despite receiving the Deans Commendation for her thesis, it was a gruelling time, a different type of boulder, and she was undiagnosed and unmedicated.  

By 2023, Tiana was feeling burnt out, stressed, and overloaded. She was halfway through her PhD, and she decided that following conventional study methods never suited her anyway.

This interactive presentation briefly discussed recent research on the use of artificial intelligence for students with neurological conditions like ADHD before showcasing some of the ways that these students can use AI tools effectively.

Presenter

Tiana Blazevic, Coordinator, Neurodiversity Project, University of Adelaide Disability Support Services

Tiana comes from a background of Academic Learning Advising and Teaching at the University of Adelaide, Macquarie University, and Kaplan Business School. Tiana has worked 1:1 with students who have neurodivergent conditions since 2020. Tiana is a neurodivergent educator with ADHD and Dyslexia and believes in a strength-based approach when working with students. Tiana has a broad range of research interest but is particularly interested in artificial intelligence and algorithms in the classroom and its effects on the teaching of history.

(April 2025)

ADCET is hosted by the University of Tasmania