The Covid-19 pandemic has greatly impacted the education sector. The School Education Gateway “Survey on online and distance learning – Results” with 4859 respondents, provides extensive information on the schools’ experience with online learning during the pandemic. More than 60% of the respondents believe that the sector has not only been impacted for a few months, but that this situation will trigger some level of change in tomorrow’s education. Online teaching was a first for over 66% of the teachers in the survey. Several positive points were shared by the respondents such as flexibility, wide range of tools, and innovation. However, challenges were also encountered, such as access to technology (for both pupils and teachers), involvement of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and with specific needs, student’s motivation and engagement, and an increased workload and stress. Teachers also highlighted solutions that would help them overcome these challenges, such as quick courses on online learning, contact with experts, clear guidance from the Ministry of Education, websites with lists of resources, good practice lesson plans or videos, and many of them asked for more free resources and tools. Logopsycom also carried out a preliminary survey among teachers, parents, and speech therapists in Belgium. The results were similar to the School Education Gateway survey as 71% of teachers had no previous experience with online learning. The survey focused on inclusion during distance learning, which showed to be a challenge for 57% of teachers and resulted in around 68% of parents having to provide a much higher level of support to their children. The majority of parents attributed this need for additional support to a lack of clear instructions, low digital skills and need for social contacts. However, many of them emphasized the autonomy fostered by online learning. The UNESDOC’s “Global education monitoring report, 2020: Inclusion and education: all means all” is in line with the results of the surveys as it states that the situation caused a major challenge for learners with specific needs, such as hearing or visual impairment, learning disorders or ADHD. It also highlights that the pandemic affected 91% of the global student population in April 2020. The goal of this project is to provide guidance and training for teachers of primary to secondary schools in adapting digital content for their students with specific needs. Many teachers and schools try to offer inclusive solutions to their students, but digital content and distance learning require new adaptations and skills. Teachers will therefore need support both in acquiring the digital skills necessary to implement quality distance learning and in creating and organizing these digital lessons and content in the most inclusive way possible. The project resources will focus on inclusive pedagogy and content adaptation of the online educational material. Several projects offer some valuable lists of tools, or foster networking opportunities for people in the education sector willing to share their resources and good practices for online education. Other projects offer solutions for content adaptation and inclusion in the classroom. This project will combine both approaches in one by providing: l A Guide on digital adaptation needs l Practical adaptation sheets l A toolbox l Video Tutorials l Adaptation Checklists l Worksheets By providing such resources, the project will be in line with the priorities of the European Commission Digital Education Action Plan, whose aim is a “high quality, inclusive and accessible digital education in Europe”. It will also follow the guidelines and objectives of the European Frameworks on Digital Competences of Educators in equipping teachers with both digital skills and guidelines for inclusion.
DigitALL project principal objectives were to: - provide teachers in primary and secondary school with innovative and inclusive pedagogy - create resources that promote inclusive education and use of digital tools - enhance teachers digital skills - increase access to online Open Educational Resources for teachers. - improve the online education accessibility for students with specific learning needs. - promote inclusive practices for online education among educators. By providing inclusive online resources, the project is line with the priorities of the European Commission Digital Education Action Plan, whose aim is a “high quality, inclusive and accessible digital education in Europe”. It also follows the guidelines and objectives of the European Frameworks on Digital Competences of Educators in equipping teachers with both digital skills and guidelines for inclusion.
In the spring of 2020, the Covid-19 epidemic forced school systems to shut down without warning, preparation or plans. As of mid-April 2020, the UNESCO estimated that 1.6 billion children worldwide were no longer taught in a physical classroom (UNESCO, 2020). As imagined, not all schools were able to face the switch with ease; while some teachers were able to adapt to distance learning easily, others, due to a lack of training and resources, struggled to adapt their lessons to the needs of their students. However, distance learning showed promise. New technologies, resources and methods were quite valuable. The question was how we can develop teachers' digital skills to ensure that all have a skill set usable both online and in classroom settings. With this in mind, many of us involved in increasing accessibility raised the question; what about students with special needs? Students who need accommodations? How has the transition process been for them? As a result of intensive research consortium designed DigitALL project to improve inclusion for online/digital learning, and to provide teachers with all the tools and resources to improve digital teaching methods and make them inclusive of all students and their specific needs.