IECUVADVLA a SOCRATES - GRUNDTVIG 2 Project Herbert ten Thij International Excellence Reserve I.E.R. The Netherlands

Improvement of Employment Chances of the Unemployed and the Visual and Auditive Disabled By Using Virtual Learning Applications - IECUVADVLA -

“Octav Onicescu” High School (Bucharest, Romania) partnerspartners The Romanian Foundation for Quality Promotion (RFQP, Bucharest, Romania) Institut Arbeit und Technik (Gelsenkirchen, Germany) Széchenyi István University (Gyor, Hungary) Fry-Samuels & Associates Company (Lymington, U.K) I.E.R.- Stichting International Excellence Reserve (Eindhoven, the Netherlands)

partnerspartners Some institutions were already involved in the Leonardo da Vinci project “EURO-H 2000”; Genesis of the partnership by: Some institutions were recommended by the institutions involved in “EURO-H 2000”, to participate to the project IECUVADVLA.

The Target Group the Senior Unemployed the (Senior) Unemployed with Visual and Hearing Impairments

objectivesobjectives Improvement of the employment chances of the target group; National studies on unemployment situation and of the visual and auditive disabled; Comparative analysis on the base of the national studies; Short national studies about the specific needs of the target group and the educational assistance by electronic means Questionnaires to identify the level of knowledge of the target group and their possibilities of employment; Training courses on basic computer skills, assertiveness and employment techniques;

objectivesobjectives Design and development of the training modules in different forms accessible for the target group (available on the Internet, on CD-Roms, in print form, in text to speech conversion, in Braille); Creation and maintenance of the project’s web sites; Full practical testing of the training modules on learners; Dissemination of the project results; Evaluation of the project results.

T h e P r o j e c t’ s a c t i v i t i e s 1.Activities of the project’s organisation:  Launch of the project;  Determining project tasks and responsibilities in more detail;  Agreements on the elaborated time table;  Agreed Project Methodology and Action Plan;  the Activity and Outcome Matrix for years 2 and 3 of the project. 2. Linguistic preparation.

T h e P r o j e c t’ s a c t i v i t i e s 3. Project activities according to the Activity Planning Table:  Collecting data and information and developing national studies by all partners on the situation of the unemployed and people with visual/auditive impairments;  Collecting data and information and developing short national studies by all partners about the quantitative and qualitative situation of the target groups and their specific needs and of the (possibilities of) educational assistance by electronic means;

T h e P r o j e c t’ s a c t i v i t i e s  Discussions and contacts established with the Romanian National Agency for Work Force Occupation, with the local Agency for Work Force Occupation, with the Town Hall, with potential employers and with representatives of the target group;  Writing jointly a matrix comparative report on the base of the national studies;  Elaboration of the questionnaires for evaluation of the target group needs, their level of knowledge and employment opportunities;  Design & elaboration of the project’s quality charter;

T h e P r o j e c t’ s a c t i v i t i e s  Design, development and realisation of the project’s web sites. Updating information about the project’s progress and results;  Design and development of the training modules in different forms accessible for the target group;  Internal evaluation of the project’s results (internal evaluation also based on the feedback from the adult learners);

T h e P r o j e c t’ s a c t i v i t i e s  Dissemination activities :  On the project’s web sites;  Within the training workshops;  By posters, folders and panels;  During the meetings with representatives of the National Agency for Work Force Occupation and local Agencies for Work Force Occupation;  By publication of a paper and presenting it in an international conference.

5. Administrative activities. 4. Execution of the organisational activities of the project:  Planning of the project meeting activities in accordance with the Activity Planning Table;  (Evaluation &) Reporting. T h e P r o j e c t’ s a c t i v i t i e s

T h e e n d p r o d u c t s after the 1-st year  National studies on unemployment situation and of the visual and auditive (unemployed) disabled, which identified and disseminated:  The current unemployment rates with specific reference to the target groups;  The national strategies to learning and employment opportunities afforded to the target group;  The national legislations in places protecting the rights and interests of the target group;  The governmental benefits, support and inclusive policies promoting equal opportunity.

T h e e n d p r o d u c t s after the 1-st year  Short national studies about the specific needs of the target group and the educational assistance by electronic means;  Comparative report on the base of the short national studies;  Web site and national mirror sites of the project;  Questionnaires to identify the level of knowledge of the target group and their possibilities of employment;  Quality charter;

T h e e n d p r o d u c t s after the 1-st year  The paper “Improving the quality of life and work of elderly and disabled people by using distance learning and virtual applications”, authors: Ileana Hamburg, Herbert ten Thij & Adina Ionescu presented to the 11- th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (July, 2005, Las Vegas, U.S.A).  Panels, posters and folders;  Training modules using virtual Application Models on basic computer skills and employment techniques (available on web, CD-s, in print forms);  CD-ROMs with project’s activities and project’s results.

T he e x p er i e n c e gained after the 1 st year of the project  Staff exchange has improved intercultural and teaching abilities;  The feedback that has been obtained from learners was very efficient in the evaluation of the project’s progress and results;  The project has brought a new intercultural dimension in teaching to the unemployed and/or impaired persons by using Virtual Application Models and also the project contributed to the improvement of the teaching methods in the countries where the use of IT in teaching and learning with respect to this target group is already applied.

T he e x p er i e n c e gained after the 1 st year of the project  The staff directly participating in the project has become enriched with new intercultural experiences in the use of IT in the teaching and learning process, and especially also with impaired users;  The communication between the project’s partners has been pleasant and very effective, each partner bringing his own contribution to the project, fulfilling his project tasks and responsibilities.

C o n c l u s i on s The project has drawn attention to the issue of the senior unemployed and impaired persons; The project has stimulated the change of employers’ attitude towards the value of employing (senior) unemployed and disabled persons; The adult learners have actively participated to the project meetings and workshops; The institutions participating in the Learning Partnership, as a whole, have found new possibilities and experiences in cooperation on European scale;

C o n c l u s i on s The project IECUVADVLA has introduced in several countries of the partnership the use of Information Technology in the process of teaching and learning to (senior) unemployed and (unemployed) persons with hearing and visual impairments.

Romania ÷ Romanian Foundation for Quality Promotion Romania ÷ Octav Onicescu High School Germany ÷ Institut Arbeit und Technik Hungary ÷ Széchenyi István University M i r r o r s i t e s a dd r e ss e s

The Netherlands ÷ Stichting International Excellence Reserve - I.E.R. United Kingdom ÷ Fry-Samuels & Associates (Lymington) Limited) M i r r o r s i t e s a dd r e ss e s

Thank you for your attention !

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