EduTech

Technological assistance to accessibility in Virtual Higher Education

The project "Technological assistance to accessibility in Virtual Higher Education (EduTech)" is part of the Erasmus+ programme in its Key Action 2: cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices. The action is intended to support the modernisation, accessibility and internationalisation of higher education in the partner countries by contributing to their sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development and growth.

The project arises to alleviate the problem of the application of technological accessibility in Higher Education Institutions. These institutions in Latin America have limitations in both governance and resources for the implementation of institutional strategies for attention to disability. One of the actions to be highlighted in the project is that aimed at the training of students from their entry to their labor insertion and the training of teachers in the field of accessibility in education.

In general EduTech seeks to improve Virtual Higher Education Accessible through the establishment of a Technological Accessibility Unit in IES, which are advisory units on accessibility in higher education. The purpose of these units is the application of good practices in terms of accessibility applied to both students and teachers.

As the most important results of the project we will have a compendium of guides on accessibility, the development of accessible open learning resources, accessibility support tools for teachers and students, accessible open courses contemplating universal design for learning, etc. As a boost to research, a cooperation network will be created that will allow the exchange of good practices and success stories. The results of the project will be available through a series of publications in high-impact conferences and journals.

In the long term, the results of the project could favor the educational and labor insertion of students with disabilities by providing them with adequate training, promoting knowledge and social coexistence.
EduTech seeks to improve Accessible Virtual Higher Education through the construction of management capacities through the establishment of a technological accessibility unit in heIs that favors the training of those involved in the teaching-learning process and promotes the improvement of inclusion of students with disabilities.

Objectives

(O1) To assist the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) of Latin America (LA) and Europe in the establishment of technological care units of accessibility, replicable and adaptable according to the characteristics of the institutions, and to train the personnel involved in these care units.

(O2) Create an Accessibility Volume, made up of six guides on the main accessibility topics:

  • (G1) Guide for the implementation of technological accessibility management units in HEIs;
  • (G2) Technical guide for accessible and adaptive virtual campuses for the implementation of e-learning;
  • (G3) Technical guide for the creation and management of learning resources, open learning resources (OERs) and accessible MOOCs;
  • (G4) Guide to self-assessment of accessible virtual quality;
  • (G5) Accessibility training guide for staff involved in the teaching-learning process.
  • (G6) Practical guide for the development of virtual courses in the development of skills for people with disabilities: approach from labor inclusion.

(O3) Based on the guides prepared in objective 2, a series of accessibility support tools for teachers and students will be developed, such as accessibility plugins for Moodle, repositories of learning resources and accessible OERs, tools to facilitate the creation of accessible learning resources by inserting accessibility metadata, etc.

(O4) Improvement of the technological infrastructure and management capabilities of the partner HEIs for an Accessible Virtual Higher Education.

(O5) Improvement of the labor and educational insertion of students with disabilities through the development of work skills through the use of simulators.

(O6) Ensure the sustainability of the EduTech project after its completion, through the development of skills and a set of tools. In addition, cooperation networks will be created to create and/or strengthen existing research groups in this area of research.

Organizations participating in the project:

  • Universities of program countries:
    • University of Alcalá (UAH) (Spain), Salvador Otón Tortosa coordinator
    • Stfold University College (HioF) (Norway)
    • University of Alicante (UA) (Spain)
    • Universidade Aberta (UAb) (Portugal)
  • Universities of associated countries:
    • Salesian Polytechnic University (UPS) (Ecuador)
    • Azuay University (UDA) (Ecuador)
    • Universidad Veracruzana (UV) (Mexico)
    • Technological Institute of Aguascalientes (ITA) (Mexico