PILOT TRAINING OF STUDENTS WITH MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS 562113-EPP-1-2015-1-BG-EPPKA3-PI-FORWARD PILOT TRAINING OF STUDENTS WITH MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS Scenario 3

Profiles of the people with musculoskeletal disorders Approximately 10% of the population has a physical condition resulting in motor impairment. Musculoskeletal disorder is associated with some behavioural characteristics: limited social skills, attentional deficits and depression. Disabled students have long been subject to inadequate and unequal educational opportunities as schools and educational institutions have accessibility or instructional problems. Nowadays accessibility solutions allow disabled students to access materials, communicate their ideas and work, and take active part in educational activities.

Pilot training of students with musculoskeletal disorders using the DIPSEIL e-learning platform According to the needs and capabilities of the students with musculoskeletal disorders, educational courses are developed and adapted on the platform for electronic learning DIPSEIL. The pilot training is implemented in University of Plovdiv within the courses in two masters programs: “Investment Management in Telecommunications” and “Telecommunication and information systems” in two semesters.

Pilot training of students with musculoskeletal disorders using the DIPSEIL e-learning platform The master programs started on October, 2016 and finished on July, 2017. The students did not attend the classes and used only the DIPSEIL system for making the tasks. They received help and assistance when needed by the teachers responsible for the courses in the laboratories of the University.

Trainees group characterists The number of students with musculoskeletal disorders is 4. The group’s age shows a mean of 25 years, where the youngest student is 23 years old, and the oldest, is 29. Two of the students are women and 2 are men. Three of the students are in the “Investment Management in Telecommunications” master program. One student is in “Telecommunication and information systems” master program.

The list of the subjects includes: Results in achievement in “Telecommunication and Information Systems” master program Number of enrolled students -seven. One of them is with musculoskeletal disorders. The list of the subjects includes: Information Systems Industrial and Real Time Communications Electronics for Information and Communication Technology Satellite and Mobile Communications Telecommunication Networks of Next Generation Web Programming and Design Microcontrollers Programming in Arduino environment Global Information Systems Each subject consists of eight tasks, scored by the teacher on a scale from 1 to10. The needed lowest score to pass the exam is 6,5.

Results in achievement in “Telecommunication and Information Systems” master program Results of the student with musculoskeletal disorders (1 students) Results of students without musculoskeletal disorders (6 students)

Results The student with musculoskeletal disorders has obtained results from the tasks similar to the results of the rest of the students who made their tasks in class at Plovdiv University. This student has very good achievements in all master subjects. All the means of the scores obtained by this student in the 8 courses are over 8,25, on a scale from 1 to 10. All the students from the “Telecommunication and Information Systems” master program graduated in July, 2017.

Subjects are taught in two semesters.The list includes: Results in achievement in “Investment Management in Telecommunications” master program Number of enrolled students -eight. Three of them are with musculoskeletal disorders. Subjects are taught in two semesters.The list includes: Introduction to Telecommunication Systems Mediums, Components and Devices for Telecommunications Innovation and Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurial Financing and Risk Capital Innovative Marketing Mobile Information Systems Fibre Optic Communication Systems Economy of Technical Change Each subject consists of eight tasks, scored by the teacher on a scale from 1 to10. The needed lowest score to pass the exam is 6,5.

Results in achievement in “Investment Management in Telecommunications” master program Results of students with musculoskeletal disorders (3 students) Results of students without musculoskeletal disorders (5 students)

Results The students with musculoskeletal disorders obtained results from the tasks similar to the results of the rest of the students who made their tasks in class at Plovdiv University. All the means of the scores obtained by these students in the courses are over 8,on the scale from 1 to 10. All the students with musculoskeletal disorders from the “Investment Management in Telecommunications” master program graduated in July, 2017.

Conclusions According the third scenario “Use of mobile technology to expand training opportunities of people with musculoskeletal disorders”, educational courses were developed and adapted on the platform for electronic learning DIPSEIL. For the students with musculoskeletal disorders educational courses from two Master’s programes were adapted. The students with musculoskeletal disorders have obtained results from the tasks similar to the results of the rest of the students who made their tasks in class at Plovdiv University. These students have high achievements in all masters’ subjects.