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HOLISTIC APPROACH TO ACCESSIBLE HIGHER EDUCATION
Begins: 2021-11-01
Ends: 2024-10-31
ITD reference office: Genoa
https://hedforall.eu

Framework

The strength of our society lies in education and research in Higher Education Institutes. However, too many Students with Disabilities (SwD) (i.e., visual, hearing, physical/mobility/ impairments and learning difficulties) are denied this right due to numerous barriers and obstacles to accessible digital education (i.e., accessible digital material and Distance Education/e-learning). Teaching SwD in Higher Education presents unique challenges for SwD and their educators, caused by the lack of accessible digital resources based on the type of disability (visual, hearing, mobility/physical impairments and learning difficulties) and the lack of digital competence of academic personnel in order to cope with the SwD’s needs. Teaching staff and accessibility advisors often don’t know how to support SwD. Indisputably there is a gap of transnational research on the specific needs of SwD on accessible educational material and on the needs revealed by Distance Education (DE) for them, as well as on the knowledge and experience that teaching staff and accessibility advisors in HEIs have, in relation to various forms of accessible materials and provision of accessible DE courses for their SwD.

Objectives

The HEDforALL project aims at improving the inclusion of SwD (i.e., visual, hearing, physical/mobility/ impairments and learning difficulties) in Higher Education Institutes (HEI) and support academic personnel to develop digital competences in order to cope with the SwD’s needs on accessible resources and the shift to digital education and e-Learning. The ultimate aim of HEDforALL is the development of a set of educational material, development practices and DE/e-Learning methodologies for the implementation of digital education in higher education. The project’ s specific objectives are:

  1. To identify the needs and requirements of SwD for accessible materials regarding different subjects/courses taught in higher education and the needs revealed by distance education to SwD themselves.
  2. To examine existing knowledge and experience of higher education teaching staff and accessibility advisors in relation to various forms of accessible materials and distance education practices for SwD in order to/and determine their training needs; to examine the impact of the training on their knowledge
  3. To build capacity and professional development for teaching staff and accessibility advisors that will enable them to develop accessible educational materials and DE methods for inclusive DE classes in order to provide SwD with meaningful, high-quality educational opportunities
  4. To develop the most suitable accessible educational materials for SwD in terms of accessibility, usability and educational efficacy and evaluate it in-depth through studies with end-users.
  5. To develop training material for teaching staff and accessibility advisors (e.g., Accessible Material Guide, Educational YouTube videos, and Guide for DE programs), with a concrete set of practices and guidelines for accessible educational material production as well as for the implementation of DE programs to SwD.
  6. To implement pilot accessible DE courses with SwD, and evaluate its accessibility adequacy and learning results.
  7. To implement the first open and free online repository of accessible educational material of different subjects to be used by educators and any interested party.
  8. To share project results at international level.

Activities

To achieve the aims of the project 8 project results and 4 multiplier events will be delivered.

The first part of HEDforALL involves research conducted on end users, namely SwD, teaching staff and accessibility advisors. Studies will involve as participants at least 120 members of teaching staff and accessibility advisors (30 accessibility advisors and 90 members of teaching staff) from Higher Education Institutes and at least 100 SwD with visual, hearing, physical/mobility impairments and learning difficulties. The research studies will be conducted with the participation of different groups of SwD, based on the type of their disability, and will investigate their needs in adapted accessible educational materials regarding the different subjects/courses taught in higher education and the needs created to them by distance education. Moreover, it will focus on the knowledge and experience that teaching staff and accessibility advisors of SwD have, regarding adapted educational materials and application of DE to SwD, in order to determine their training needs.

The second part of the project involves the design and development of adapted educational material and its assessment by SwD regarding accessibility, usability and educational efficacy. In addition, it will focus on the implementation of pilot DE courses and assessment on their adequacy, satisfaction and learning results. Furthermore, this part involves the development of an online repository of accessible educational material of different subjects that will act as a single point of reference to be used by educators and any interested party.

Lastly the third part of the project involves the implementation of multiplier events and activities for sharing and promoting the project results. This part of the project focuses on informational/educational sessions in each partner country and internationally of teaching staff and accessibility advisors in order to build capacity and professional development on ways of making digital education more accessible and inclusive.

Sharing and promoting actions and sustainability activities, along with the targeted effort to align this project with specific EU initiatives for safeguarding inclusive digital learning opportunities will be reinforced.

Impact

During the project the following results are expected:

  1. A Report on the identification of the needs of higher education SwD (visual, hearing, mobility/physical impairments, learning difficulties) in accessible educational materials regarding different subjects/courses taught in higher education.
  2. A Report on the existing knowledge and experience of teaching staff and accessibility advisors in relation to various forms of accessible materials. The report will present their training needs regarding the use and development of accessible educational materials and the provision of accessible DE courses.
  3. A Report on the impact of the training (educational/informational session and educational material) on the knowledge of teaching staff and accessibility advisors regarding alternative types/forms of adapted accessible educational materials and the application of DE to SwD.
  4. Development of the most suitable accessible educational materials for SwD in terms of accessibility, usability and educational efficacy through the evaluation study of end-user requirements, effectiveness and satisfaction.
  5. Development of an “Accessible Material Guide” for the production of adapted accessible educational materials and a “Guide for DE programs” for implementation of DE courses for SwD.
  6. Building capacity and professional development for teaching staff in developing accessible educational materials and DE methods for inclusive distance education classes.
  7. Pilot implementation of accessible Distance Education courses in partner countries and assessment of its adequacy, satisfaction and learning results.
  8. Development of an online repository of accessible educational material. The uploaded material will be freely available to be downloaded and to be used by any interested party. Initially it will include the accessible material (text books, handouts, presentations, images, maps, diagrams etc.) developed during the project but it could be enriched and built up by registered contributors from the academic community and other bodies specialised on the development and production of accessible educational material.
  9. E-Learning Educational sessions for teaching staff and accessibility advisors in each partner country and at EU level. In this way, the project will contribute in promoting inclusive DE and will increase the motivation and readiness for university life both to SwD but also to the whole academic community.
  10. Development of an electronic Index of related bodies in order for them to be part of the project’s initiative for the creation of an “Accessibility Network” for sharing and promoting derived solutions and support inclusion in HEIs on an international level.
  11. Production of educational/instructional videos on development and production of accessible educational material and on the provision of DE courses to SwD.

On its completion, HEDforALL outcomes will:

  1. Meet the needs of SwD in accessible resources and support them during higher education.
  2. Improve higher education system by moving towards more proactive intervention approaches that increase all HEIs’ capacity to provide high-quality accessible educational material and support inclusive DE for SwD.
  3. Contribute to the digital transformation of HEIs.
  4. Enable teaching staff to develop digital skills and key competences on producing accessible educational material.
  5. Support teaching staff and accessibility advisors to be effectively prepared to support SwD to participate in all educational opportunities, making steps towards inclusive, equal education for all.
  6. Develop attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, skills and behaviours that support inclusion. By raising awareness and promoting derived solutions that support inclusion, it is envisaged that EU countries will enable more interaction between SwD and students with no disabilities.
Project manager:
Staff:
Themes:
Partners:
  • Università della Macedonia, Salonicco, Grecia
  • Università di Alicante, Alicante, Spagna
  • Università di Colonia, Colonia, Germania
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