HEDforALL
Leader: University of Macedonia
Project Coordinator: Dr. Konstantinos Papadopoulos
Website: https://hedforall.eu/
Partners:
- University of Alicante (SPAIN) – http://www.ua.es
- University of Cologne (GERMANY) – http://www.uni-koeln.de
- CNR-ITD (ITALY) – http://www.itd.cnr.it/
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:
- 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.
- 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
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- To implement pilot accessible DE courses with SwD, and evaluate its accessibility adequacy and learning results.
- 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.
- To share project results at international level.
Implementation & Results
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Building capacity and professional development for teaching staff in developing accessible educational materials and DE methods for inclusive distance education classes. - Pilot implementation of accessible Distance Education courses in partner countries and assessment of its adequacy, satisfaction and learning results.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Production of educational/instructional videos on development and production of accessible educational material and on the provision of DE courses to SwD.