|
Delegates
explored how to bridge the knowledge gap between the
student and successful Design for All practitioners.
The presentations and the discussion sessions addressed
issues such as the need to equip students with both
theoretical and practical skills, the development of
inter-personal skills to enable students to work with
older and disabled people, the use of personas as a
training tool and the use of learning outcomes to define
how Design for All can be incorporated into ICT courses.
The workshop was organised by Gill Whitney and Suzette
Keith with the assistance of Irena Kolar and Judy Wilson
in her role as teaching and learning co-ordinator. The
event was arranged as a part of the activities of the
Design for All@eInclusion project, the European Design
for All eAccessibility Network (EDeAN) and supported
by funding from the Teaching and Learning project, Middlesex
University. It was attended by nearly 50 delegates including
members of the DfA@eInclusion and EDeAN project, members
of other European projects: Accessible e-Learning Platform
for Europe eTen (ALPE), NETIS and ICT Training for trainers
(ICT4T), other UK teachers, trainers and researchers
working on eInclusion as well as an interdisciplinary
mix of staff and students from Middlesex University.
Two group discussion sessions ensured that everyone
had a chance to share and learn from the experiences
of others.
Discussion
Sessions Summary
There were two group discussion sessions lead by Judy
Wilson, School of Computing Science, Teaching and Learning
Co-ordinator, Middlesex University
Discussion
1: Student needs analysis: who and how?
The discussion session involved all the workshop attendees
working in small groups to use the technique of persona
development to identify and create a suitable persona
for a prospective ICT student. This was used to help
envisage their personal learning needs to enable them
to progress their career and to utilise Design for All
ideas and methodology. This session went well and enabled
the participants to consider the learning gaps with
respect to Design for All for students on a range of
different ICT courses at different levels across the
EU. The personas created in this session included a
mature student who was undertaking a full MBA in Design
for All (who needed information on the technical aspects
as well as the business case), an International PhD
student focusing on accessible tourism (who is motivated
towards Design for All but has little previous experience)
and a First year undergraduate programming student (who
is very keen on technology and initially has little
idea why he needs to know about older and disabled people).
Pictures: Delegates describe their student persona
Discussion
2: Developing knowledge and skills - what should the
student know about design for all in ICT?
The groups from the morning session re-formed and discussed
the requirements for Design for All knowledge and skills
that `their’ student had. Each group identified
four learning outcomes which could then be developed
into real teaching material.
For
example, one group proposed a module title: Opportunity
from Diversity, and the learning outcomes:
At
the end of this course you will be able to:
• Understand the breadth of human diversity.
• Articulate and promote the business, ethical
and legal cases for inclusivity.
• Critically evaluate the impact of diversity
on managing business activity.
|
