ICT to support Lifelong-Learning for Adults with Disabilities

The Enable project set out to examine the ways in which information and communication technology (ICT) is used to support lifelong-learning by disabled adults. The aim was to gather information on the tools available and the best ways to use them, and to make this information generally available in an effort to overcome barriers and increase opportunities.

The project was funded under the EU's Grundtvig/Lifelong Learning Programme and ran for three years from 2011-2014. It had 17 partners representing 13 different countries (three of them outside the EU), giving it a wide perspective.

The Enable project partners were:

• Arhinet d. o. o. (Slovenia)
• The Association for Hard of Hearing People (Germany)
• The Civil Initiatives Development Centre (Poland)
• Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Italy)
• The Estonian Foundation for the Visually Impaired
• FTB Research Institute for Technology and Disability (Germany)
• Hochschule fuer Technik und Wirtschaft, Berlin (Germany)
• Institute for Language and Speech Processing (Greece)
• JISC TechDis (UK)
• Macquarie University (Australia)
• RTVMC (Lithuania)
• Sogang University (Republic Of Korea)
• University College Cork (Ireland)
• University of Belgrade (Serbia)
• University of Glasgow (UK)
• University of Primorska (Slovenia)
• University of Turku (Finland)

The partners used electronic networking tools to review contemporary practice, noting the ICT resources used in each country and the ways in which they were used. From this they produced a comparative evaluation of the current situation in the countries represented, methodologies for evaluation and categorisation of ICT tools, and principles and recommendations for good practice. The outcomes of the project include an accessible website with a range of networking tools, a user-annotated database of ICT solutions with examples of good practice, online training modules for those delivering adult education, and recommendations for future research.

Conferences

The first Enable conference on the theme Using New Technologies for Inclusive Learning was held on 28th September 2013 in Glasgow, Scotland. It was run in conjunction with the network's annual meeting and workshop, but participation was open to representatives of other Grundtvig projects and other projects working in related areas.

The second Enable conference had the same theme and took place on the 18th and 19th June 2014 at the Higher Educational Academy in York, UK. In order to optimise reach and truly embrace the international theme and promote access, the conference was also available to attend online.

The Enable Awards

The Enable awards were set up to celebrate and reward the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to support lifelong learning by disabled adults in order to overcome barriers and increase opportunities.

The call for nominations went out early in 2014, and nominations were received from all thirteen countries involved in the Enable project as well as from a number of other countries. The Honourable Patron of the Enable Award was Professor Jerzy Buzek, former President of the European Parliament.

Three awards were offered, and the winners were:

• Dónal Fitzpatrick of Dublin City University received the award for Disabled person who uses ICT to support disabled adult learners
  • The award was made in recognition of Dónal's research work directed at improving access for blind people to mathematical and scientific material. He has developed tools and techniques to make such material more accessible through improved methods of presentation, tailoring of synthetic-speech content to allow optimal use of short-term memory, and the use of prosody and other cues to convey meta information.
  • The prize was an HP 250 G1 Notebook PC, sponsored by Assistive Solutions. Assistive Solutions said "We were very impressed by the innovative thinking in this application. The application was very thoughtful and we enjoyed the specific maths and science focus of the project."
• Michelle Whooley of Mayfield Arts Centre, Cork, received the award for Teacher who uses ICT in innovative ways to support disabled adult learners
  • The award was made in recognition of Michelle's work supporting artists with intellectual disabilities using iPads, Moleskin journal app, SKYPE, and a NING social media platform for digital communication and documentation.
  • The prize was an iPad Mini with iReadWrite software, sponsored by TextHelp. TextHelp said "The entry showed innovative and collaborative use of technology in a niche area, supporting artists in three partner organisations who had intellectual disabilities. This was a dynamic approach to sharing the work of artists who otherwise could be left behind (through lack of access and knowledge of ICT and ICT applications)".
• Agnieszka Rynkiewicz of Spectrum ASC-Med, Gdansk, Poland, received the award for Developer of new ICT to support disabled adult learners
  • The award was made in recognition of her work on the ASC-Inclusion Project, which is developing software to help people with Autism Spectrum Conditions understand emotions through facial expressions, tone-of-voice and body gestures.
  • The prize was a place at the 2014 ALT-C conference, sponsored by ALT Inclusive Learning SIG. ALT Inclusive Learning SIG said, "The ASC-Inclusion idea could offer a significant training opportunity and provide a new reflective tool. This tool uses multimodal technology in an interesting way. The challenge the developers are trying to overcome is a difficult one both on a technological and human level, and this tool seems to do a good job".

The names of the prize-winners were announced at the the 2nd International Conference on Using New Technologies for Inclusive Learning, held in York, UK, in June 2014.

• Dónal Fitzpatrick was a keynote speaker at the Enable conference and accepted his prize in person.
• Michelle Whooley's award was accepted on her behalf by Ian Pitt, and presented to Michelle in an informal ceremony at Mayfield Arts Centre, Cork, on 3rd July. The picture shows Michelle Whooley receiving her award certificate and prize, accompanied by artists and staff of Mayfield Arts Centre, Cork.
• Agnieszka Rynkiewicz's award was accepted on her behalf by Hanna Pasterny of Centrum Rozwoju Inicjatyw Spolecznych (Civil Initiatives Development Centre), Poland.

Further Information

The Enable website (http://i-enable.eu) is no longer maintained.

Some of the reports, conference programmes and other deliverables from the project can be found here.