EU4ALL workshop organised in EADTU Annual Conference 08

Open education environments through participation in online virtual communities for students with special needs and older students.

The EU4ALL project consortium www.eu4all-project.eu organises the 2nd workshop in the EADTU’s annual conference (www.eadtu.nl/conference-2008) after the success of the 1st wrokshop in last year’s EADTU conference. This year’s EADTU confernece focusses on “Lifelong learning in higher education”, directly related to the concept raised within the project of “Accessible Lifelong Learning”.

Partners of the consortium will talk about the project’s activities and products in the context of Open Education Environments in Higher Education, for supporting students with special needs and older students. What is the present situation and future prospects? Trends and best practices will be exchanged and participation is welcome from all groups.

The Conference takes place at 18 – 19 September in Poitiers, France where people from academia and professionals in e-learning and Higher Education are expected to attend. In EADTU’s conference, the non-profit makeing organisation e-ISOTIS (Information Society Open To Impairements), the University of York and the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia will give presentations on 19 September from 11:00 to 12:30, in the session “Open Educational Resources in a lifelong learning context” under the following titles:

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e-ISOTIS Attends the European Conference on 'European Day of People With Disabilities' (5th/6th December 2007)

Each year, in the first week of December, the European Commission organises a policy conference to mark the ‘European Day of Disabled People’ which coincides with the UN International Day of Disabled People (3rd December 2007) and also in cooperation with the European Disability Forum (EDF).

The conference covered three main topics ‘Free Movement of People With Disabilities and of their families’, ‘Mainstream Goods and Infrastructure for All’ and ‘Services For All.’ This conference was one of great importance, as the EU is celebrating the 50th Year of the Rome Treaty and 10th Year of Article 13 and the European Year of Equal Opportunities For All.
e-ISOTIS was proud to attend this great day, and as it is by invitation only, was privileged to be considered and also participate and discuss with other high level stakholders from the disability community the activities and the projects we are involved.

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Access to e-Government Services Employing Semantic Technologies

e-ISOTIS (Information Society Open To ImpairmentS) participates in the European Project Access-eGov (Access to e-Government Services Employing Semantic Technologies) which is an IST project partially funded under the IST Programme of FP6 (eGovernment research). The consortium consists of eleven partners from five European countries: Slovakia, Poland, Germany, Greece, and Egypt that will carry out the project between January 2006 and December 2008.

The main objective of Access-eGov is to increase the accessibility of public administration services for citizens and business users by supporting the nteroperability among existing electronic and �traditional� government services.

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ASK-IT presentation in printed and electronic media

ICT and disability: the case of ASK-IT

Presentation issued in I4D November 2006
Click here to read the article.

Some words about the magazine:
The i4d (Information For Development) print magazine is one its kind, and is intended to provide a much-needed platform for exchange of information, ideas, opinions and experiences, both inside and outside the Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) sector. While several electronic publications do currently exist, i4d is perhaps the first that addresses the need by utilizing the strength and potential of the print media.
www.i4donline.net

02/01/2007: EU4ALL (European Unified Approach for Assisted Lifelong Learning)

e-ISOTIS (Information Society Open To ImpairmentS) participates in the European Project EU4ALL. EU4ALL aim is to improve the efficiency and efficacy of implementing an open e-learning service architecture for ALL. To achieve a wide impact the approach taken is not to develop a single EU4ALL system but a standards based framework that facilitates the integration of the approach with a wide range of eLearning systems.
More information is available from www.eu4all-project.eu.

This project is a European one that comprises 13 organisations from 7 different member states. It started on 1st of October 2006 and will last till 30th of September 2010.

This project is partially financed by the DG Information Society Technologies under FP6.

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02/01/2007: eABILITIES (A virtual platform to enhance and organise the coordination among centres for accessibility resources and support)

e-ISOTIS (Information Society Open To ImpairmentS) participates in the European Project eABILITIES. eABILITIES aims at developing a framework for current and future actions in research, education and technology transfer in the field of ICT accessibility in the home, vehicle and working environments in Europe. With this purpose, eABILITIES will enable, organise and promote the share of related knowledge, communication, facilities equipment and personnel resources.
More info on the project will soon be available from www.eabilities-eu.org.

This project is a European one that comprises 11 organisations from 6 different member states. It started on 1st of September 2006 and will last till 31st of August 2008.

This project is partially financed by the European Commission within the Information Society Technologies (IST) Sixth Framework Programme.

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22/12/2006: Check and Go

e-ISOTIS (Information Society Open To ImpairmentS) participates in the European Project Check and Go. Check and Go aims to fill the communication and information gap between people with disabilities and their potential employers and trainers in companies in order to facilitate the access of this disadvantaged group to practical vocational training and to the labour market. In order to reach its objectives, the project includes counselling, training and practical support for an efficient exchange of information between people with disabilities and companies in the critical phase of the application for a job.

This European project is comprised of 13 organisations from 6 different member states. It started on 1st of September 2006 and will last till 31st of August 2008.

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22/12/2006: GAMBE (Community close vocational integration of people with disabilities)

e-ISOTIS (Information Society Open To ImpairmentS) participates in the European Project GAMBE. GAMBE

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15/11/2006 VOCA2: Mentoring people with disabilities into the labour market

Do you have experience with mentoring or with easing people with disabilities into the labour market? If so then the VOCA2 project would be pleased to hear from you.
VOCA2 is an EU project partially financed by the DG Education and Culture of the European Commission under the Leonardo Da Vinci

24/10/2006 EU Leonardo Project AHVIIT

This project, partially financed by the Community Vocational Training Action under the Leonardo Da Vinci Programme, seeks to improve the inclusion of workers or trainees who are blind or visually impaired in vocational training programmes using visual materials, by delivering these in a non visual format, which is touch and sound. The project will design, produce and test pilot learning materials, as well as create an online training programme for teachers.

The need is identified by the low employment levels and specialist training facilities available for this group. Unless facilities and systems are devised and introduced now, the acceptance of e-learning as an essential feature for modernisation and adaptation of training systems across the EU may continue with the substantial exclusion of this group.

The added value is in removing unemployed people from incapacity benefits, state or charitable support and allowing them full inclusion in the workforce as well as the career enhancement of workers already within the target group.

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