Presentation of the Project by Daniel Filipas, Esperando Association, Romania (project coordinator) Joost Thissen, Atrium Research & Innovation, The Netherlands October 2006 – Grundtvig 2 Conference, Finland ICT: A Gateway to the Future for Disabled People

ICT-Gateway Project; Grundtvig 2 Conference, Finland 2 05/ Aims of the project General aims: 1.Survey of support tools for disabled people 2.Survey of available educational approaches 3.Analysis of development needs, starting from an overview of obstacles to reintegration 4.Direct involvement of disabled people in the project

ICT-Gateway Project; Grundtvig 2 Conference, Finland 3 05/ Specification of aims Survey of support tools :  Focusing on environments and settings for learning, not general support tools for daily life  ICT related: ranging from mouse adapters and special screens to highly advanced accessible (open learning) software  Overview to be assembled in a compendium

ICT-Gateway Project; Grundtvig 2 Conference, Finland 4 05/ Specification of aims Survey of educational approaches :  Individualised training methods  ICT based learning open learning environments groupware digital portfolio Web based courses with downloadable materials (not interactive)  Business simulation and mini-company for practice learning

ICT-Gateway Project; Grundtvig 2 Conference, Finland 5 05/ Specification of aims Analysis of development needs:  Overview of obstacles to reintegration in training and work of people with disabilities: unavailability of adapted equipment and environments adequate educational approaches  Creating cooperative settings combining expertise from various sources. © Jose Ibarrola

ICT-Gateway Project; Grundtvig 2 Conference, Finland 6 05/ Specification of aims Direct involvement of people with disabilities in the project :  Active participation of disabled people in the project Presentations of their work during meetings Explanation of their needs and demands when visiting their centres Meeting fellow stakeholders from other countries  Commitment of partner organisations (Working with disabled people is part of daily work)

ICT-Gateway Project; Grundtvig 2 Conference, Finland 7 05/ Project activities Past, present & future: year 1 and 2  Field and desk research  Reports on state of affairs  Information exchange rather obvious but most important in this project, because of the knowledge gap between countries  combining the expertise from various sources  Concept development

ICT-Gateway Project; Grundtvig 2 Conference, Finland 8 05/ Results What we achieved so far:  Second year approved and started  Review of demand and potential for new projects (including the activity framework and funding opportunities offered by other programmes like Matra)  Various reports on state of the art concerning ICT applications in education for people with disabilities  Transfer of ICT applications to new environments, (like the digital portfolio from NL to John Atanasov Ass. in Bulgaria)

ICT-Gateway Project; Grundtvig 2 Conference, Finland 9 05/ Results (continued) Cooperation with other projects and networks, dissemination  Pellea-project (Socrates G1, 2003/05) Source of the digital portfolio method as introduced and applied here  EdYcate (Leonardo da Vinci pilot, 2003/06) Source of the mini-company method as introduced and to be applied  Social Return (Leonardo da Vinci pilot, 2004/07) Development of a multi-disciplinary “holistic” approach for the reintegration of people with severe and complex disablities

ICT-Gateway Project; Grundtvig 2 Conference, Finland 10 05/ Results (continued) Dissemination (specific)  Conferences, meetings and markets: G2 Conference, 05/06 October, Finland; Istanbul Conference on Disability Issues, May 2006; Conference on Worker’s Mobility, Baia Nare, June 2006  Media exposure Regional and local TV (Baia Mare, 1 st project meeting) Various press releases and announcements in participating countries during the project

ICT-Gateway Project; Grundtvig 2 Conference, Finland 11 05/ The partnership EsperandoEuronet (IT) Assocation (RO) Atrium Research & Innovation (NL) (UK) Dost Education (TU) NGO John Atanasov (BU)

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