Includ-ed, red europea de educación inclusiva

Summary

The DARe-Learning project responds to the lack of knowledge among academic teachers of the modern understanding of disability. The knowledge of how persons with disabilities function in daily lives should become part of their basic vocational qualifications and be moved from the special education sector to mainstream education and training. The innovative nature of the project consists of well known and tested (in a number of commercial projects and in academic contexts) mixed form of education known as blended learning (a combination of distance learning and conventional education). Such a way of acquiring knowledge about disability will be appealing to the participants. It will engage them more and exercise further knowledge already acquired in the group training sessions.

Project object:

The main aim of the project is to enhance the level of vocational qualifications of academic teachers in regard to their knowledge of disability and modern educational methods used in working with persons with disabilities. An additional benefit will be an opportunity for teachers to develop their competences in the use of IT and communication technologies. All the technical solutions applied by the project will be adapted to the needs of persons with disabilities. Specific project objectives are:

- Provision of reliable knowledge on disability and its types; physiological and psychological consequences and barriers persons with disabilities are faced with in access to education and the labour market along with ways of eliminating them,

- Developing an active attitude in academic teachers supporting people with disabilities in regard to supporting education and students' professional skills,

- To equip academic teachers with the ability to communicate with people with disabilities successfully and efficiently,

- To eliminate routine thinking about disability, stereotypes and withdrawal attitudes, - Building a culture of diversity in educational institutions, and

- To develop skills related to the use of information and communication technologies in the education and training sector.

Methodology

The new training products will include the following methodological/teaching approaches: a) Pedagogical - learning theories: Behaviourism based on training with impact on behaviour, Cognitivism based on analysis and change of processes of thinking and Constructivism oriented to “guiding” participants rather than “teaching”. b) E-learning methodology: blended learning (a combination of e-learning and learning in the classroom). The training course syllabus will also draw on the theory of all-round education developed by W. Okoń and ways of learning: informative, problem-focused, valorising and operative. The product will employ a variety of teaching and learning techniques (mainly activating/interactive); multimedia (e-learning platform, a resource bank of materials and self-help guides in e-format), teaching materials for the trainer and participants (manuals, educational training films, PowerPoint presentations). The methodology also includes the use of the participants’ knowledge and experiences during the course, dividing it into parts limited by breaks; individualisation of the participants’ training needs and course evaluation. Didactically, the training will carry important messages within three thematic strands backed up by the course content and its case studies/evidence of change: disability equality is good for performance (in learning), disability equality does not always cost much, disability equality matters to everyone - disabled or not.

Target

Academic teachers and administrative staff

Good practice innovations

The innovative nature of the project consists of well known and tested (in a number of commercial projects and in academic contexts) mixed form of education known as blended learning (a combination of distance learning and conventional education). Such a way of acquiring knowledge about disability will be appealing to the participants. It will engage them more and exercise further knowledge already acquired in the group training sessions

Good practice achievements

The project outcome will be a syllabus of a disability awareness training course for academic teachers and an e-learning platform, and a thematic portal for teachers focusing on educational support for persons with disabilities. DARe-Learning Project follows the spirit of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ratified by the EU on 23 December 2010.

Furthermore, three reports have been published by the Disability Support Service of the Jagiellonian University which gather additional good practices and experiences worth to be shared.

A bulletin of the Jagiellonian University Disability Support Service Issue 1/2010

Introduction (p. 5)

Chapter 1. Supporting disabled students at the Jagiellonian University (p. 9)

Chapter 2. International and research projects (p. 15)

The DARE project (p. 16)

Adaptation support programme for Jagiellonian University students with mental health difficulties (p. 20)

Chapter 3. Conference Disability Awareness: New Challenges for Education, Main Auditorium of the Jagiellonian University Collegium Novum building, held on 22–23 October 2009 (p. 22)

Chapter 4. Keynote speech by Prof. Willy Aastrup delivered at the conference Disability Awareness:New Challenges for Education (p. 26)

Willy Aastrup (p. 26)

Counselling and Support Centre at the University of Aarhus (p. 28)

Disability awareness and some key issues in the universities widening participation policy and practice (p. 30)

 

Bulletin of the Jagiellonian University Disability Support Service Issue 2/2010

Introduction (p. 5)

Part One Educational Support for Blind and Partially Sighted Students

Assistive Technologies for Educational Purposes: State of Play (p. 9)

Examples of Strategies for Teaching Students with Sight Disabilities (p. 27)

Introducing Tactile Graphics (p. 32)

Fair of Specialist IT Equipment for Blind and Partially Sighted Users (p. 39)

Part Two Educational Support for Hard of Hearing and Deaf Students

Methods of Effective Communication (p. 42)

Educational Cyberspace, or Modern Technologies in Education for Deaf and Hard of

Hearing Persons (p. 49)

Language Courses for Students with Disabilities (p.  55)

Water and Oil, or Reflections on Teaching Foreign Languages to Deaf Students at Charles University in Prague. Interview with Marie Dolezalova (p. 61)

The American Perspective: Students’ Linguistic and Cultural Diversity at Gallaudet University in Washington (p. 69)

 

Bulletin of the Jagiellonian University Disability Support Service Issue 3/2011

Courage Has Been of Assistance. An introduction (p. 7)

Towards Effective Support for Students with Mental Health Difficulties: Unexpected Results of The Constellation Leo Project (p.  11)

‘1981. Year of Disabled Persons’. On Inclusion according to Jan Koteja (p. 20)

Mental Health Disability Stigma and the American College Experience (p. 32)

ImperialCollege London: Supporting Students with Mental Health Difficulties – An Integrated Approach (p. 39)

Practical Support for Students with Mental Health Difficulties at University College London (UCL) (p. 55)

Mental Disability, Its Impact on the Process of Studying and Possible Adaptation Support: Practical Remarks (p. 63)

Educational Support for Students with Mental Disabilities (p. 73)

Mental Health Difficulties in the Virtual World (p. 76)

 

Biuletyn Biurads. Osób Niepełnosprawnych Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego Nr 4/2011 Kraków

Wprowadzenie (p. 5)
Model społeczny – nowoczesne podejście do niepełnosprawności (p. 8)
Macie prawo być pełnoprawnymi obywatelami naszego kraju. Rozmowa z prof. Ireną Lipowicz, Rzecznikiem Praw Obywatelskich RP (p. 11)
Edukacja włączająca jako wyzwanie dla modelu społecznego. Rozmowa z Simoni Symeonidou z Uniwersytetu Cypryjskiego w Nikozji (p. 22)
Liczy się decyzja studenta. Rozmowa z Fabienne Corre-Menguy, kierownikiem Biura ds. Osób Niepełnosprawnych na Uniwersytecie Piotra i Marii Curie w Paryżu (p. 27)
Menedżerowie jutra. Wywiad z Gerardem Lefrancem, dyrektorem Mission Insertion, działu zajmującego się problematyką niepełnosprawności w firmie Thales (p. 37)
Im dalej w las, tym więcej drzew. Rozmowa z Anną Wandzel, dyrektorem oddziału PFRON w Katowicach (p.45)
Wystarczy nie wykluczać. Wywiad z Wojciechem Majem, właścicielem firmy Medison (p. 58)
Wejdźcie w nasze buty. Rozmowa z prof. Stanisławem Krompcem, dyrektorem Instytutu Chemii ds. Nauki na Uniwersytecie Śląskim (p. 67)
Od filantropii do inwestycji (p.78)

Project partners and other stakeholders

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Pierre and Marie Curie University, Univerzita Karlova in Prague,

Good practice testimonial

Having made several study visits to some European universities we noticed that in the countries we visited there was no division between disabled persons and the rest of society and, in the university context, between disabled students and those without disabilities and academic teachers. There are entire communities of persons having some specific needs there. The awareness of the existence of such needs amongst disabled persons and ways in which they can be satisfied was key in the process of finding reasonable adjustments and adaptations. This awareness was being built in two ways – through co-existence and shared university experience as well as training courses. And so back in Krakow we began to think how to convince academic teachers at the Jagiellonian University to take part in such courses. Someone floated a spontaneous idea: let us show them that such training courses are available and effective at universities even older than the JU. And so we soon found ourselves at the University of Cambridge (founded in 1209) and the University of Padua (1222); in the third edition, one of our partners is Charles University of Prague (1348). The anecdotal evidence mentioned above could illustrate our inspirations. We are glad that the disability awareness courses have caught on at the Jagiellonian University, which must be also due to the fact that they bring benefits to all the teachers who in their daily work want to build a common educational space for non- and disabled persons. This can be achieved indeed and the results of your educational endeavours will give you lots of professional satisfaction. Try to feel it yourselves and begin by taking a DARe-Learning training course.

Author of the testimonial and the relationship with the good practice

Ireneusz Białek, Project Coordinator