Data at the institutional level as well as regional and European research provide hard evidence that inequality of opportunities persists all throughout higher education (HE). Characteristics such as among others, sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity, skin colour, religion, able-bodiedness, or socioeconomic class often influence access to and success, and belonging in HE. The experiences of COVID lockdown education show that students in vulnerable situations have been affected disproportionately by the measures taken, putting precisely those groups that were already struggling at an increased risk of exclusion. When students in more vulnerable situations fall victim to a renewed HE in the 21st century, this imposes an unacceptable mortgage on human and social welfare. At the same time, online education has a strong potential to enhance inclusive excellence, because of flexibility, access, diversification, and participation. This has not yet been systematically inventoried, implemented nor validated. In most cases, the transition to online education has primarily consisted of a mere shifting of existing educational concepts, working methods, and assessments of analog education to the digital context. The question of what inclusion means in the context of online education, and how to best establish this in online or hybrid, is yet unclear. And since inclusion often is not even a primary focus of analog education, it is consequently also not written into the core of digitized education. The educational changes necessitated by the COVID pandemic create a window of opportunity in which we should seize the moment to rethink education and to evolve towards an excellent education that is at its core inclusive. The e-Inclusion brings together a consortium of four universities and two policy-focused organisations with leading expertise in both inclusion policy and digital learning to: - support educators in implementing inclusive models of digital education in blended and hybrid environments - assure that the accelerated transition to digital education prompted by the COVID-19 crisis does not exclude vulnerable groups from participation in HE or exacerbate existing inequalities - take advantage of the opportunities of digitization to reduce structural barriers for exclusion In this project, we develop a research-based inclusive excellence toolkit, consisting of separate building blocks for teachers to develop inclusive online education that is tailored to specific phases, aspects, and contexts of inclusion. Handbook for Inclusive Digital Education This will propose a vision for inclusive education that covers contexts of hybrid and blended learning. It will identify drivers of exclusion, which will cover 'traditional' exclusion drivers, but also identify new elements of exclusion which may be new to or exacerbated by the response to COVID-19. We will use desk research and expert-consultation to then isolate a set of success factors for digital inclusion, backed up by examples of good practice. Micro-Learning Modules on Inclusion in Digital Education Contexts This will be designed around a set of 15-20 skills for digital inclusion, with a micro-module being designed to acquire each skill by following a challenge-based approach that will instruct leaders by giving the opportunity to practice and develop the required skill. The course will take a self-directed free-flowing approach, to allow participants to personalize their own learning pathways based on their specific needs. Digital Inclusion Course For those who prefer to (a) experience a course designed with inclusion in mind via a learning management system, and (b) gain all the skills outlined above via a linear pathway, we will also create, moderate, and assess a course based on the modules. Awareness Raising Tool The foundation of all the above-mentioned tools is an awareness module, which helps teachers explore their own identity and positionality, based on the premise that teachers are not neutral outsiders to the students’ learning process, but are part of the classroom dynamics. The project will offer around 150 educators the ability to further develop strategies that work against the social reproduction of in digital settings. It will enhance universities’ expertise in promoting an inclusive digitally-mediated personalized learning environment for every student, by working towards opportunities for a diversity of students to construct a strong sense of belonging. In the long term, the project will impact a change in organizational culture to create and sustain a more inclusive university by developing a systemic approach that integrates a vision of high-quality digital education and also a vision on supporting diverse students' engagement in meaningful learning experiences.
The project's aim was to strengthen inclusive digital education by supporting educators in implementing inclusive models of education in online, blended or hybrid learning environments, assuring that the accelerated transition to digital education prompted by the COVID-19 crisis does not exclude vulnerable groups from participation in HE or exacerbate existing inequalities, taking advantage of the opportunities of digitization to reduce structural barriers for exclusion. We aimed to multiply opportunities for technology to decouple social and economic status to help boost the attainment and educational success of groups placed at a structural disadvantage by our current systems.
Inequality of opportunities persists all throughout higher education, and the COVID-19 lockdown education has exacerbated these inequalities. At the same time, digital education has a strong potential to enhance inclusive education because it creates opportunities for flexibility, accessibility, diversification, and participation. Since inclusion (or equity) often is not even a primary focus of analogue education, it is also often not written into the core of digitized education. With this project, we answered to this need for purposeful educational designs that deliberately strengthen inclusive digital education (which refers to high quality education that makes use of digital tools, which is accessible and engaging for every student, regardless of their background, identity and physical ability).