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the Disabled Enhance their Skills Through On-line Platforms
Start date: Sep 1, 2015, End date: Aug 31, 2017 PROJECT  FINISHED 

According to European Commission’s statistics, for people with disabilities the rate of poverty is 70% higher than the average. An effective intervention to reduce this gap in Europe cannot consider moving from traditional teaching methods to innovative digital learning possibilities for adults with disabilities, allowing them to access education and gain employable skills making use of mobile ICT tools and programmes. Effectively, the global revolution of internet and the unstoppable development of Information and Communication Technologies in education systems and job market open up an outstanding chance for adults with disabilities to regain skills and access today job opportunities in a quick and effective way. DESkTOP project is designed to take on this challenge through the development of a digital educational pathway that involves adult teachers, social carers and adult learners with disabilities. A pathway that focuses on the creation, test and exploitation of a special Mobile Application aimed at facilitating and speed up the learning process of adult persons with disabilities. DESkTOP consortium is made up of 9 organizations from 8 different EU Member States and is coordinated by Juan Ciudad Foundation (Spain). Educational and social care organizations collaborate together with Vodafone Spain Foundation and Hospitality Europe, liaising with the EU Institutions. More than 42 adult educators, 105 adult learners with disability, plus 15 persons (administrators, staff, etc.) at consortium level are involved in the strategic partnership. A set of 8 occupational activities will be primarily identified by the partners: such activities will be the object of an innovative digital educational pathway engaging both teachers and adult learners with disabilities. A new educational Mobile Application will be developed by the DESkTOP partners as the main didactical tool to implement the educational pathway and capacitation process of adult persons with disabilities. The Mobile Application will be easy accessible by adult learners and will include 8 e-programmes specifically adapted to facilitate the learning process of each one of the 8 selected occupational activities. Partners will split in groups to carry out two pilot sessions for testing and improving the initial versions of the learning programmes. At the end of the two sessions, the ultimate version of the Mobile Application will be defined together with a Manual for a digital educational pathway, containing all the guidelines and practical advices for an effective teaching to adult persons with disabilities making use of modern ICT devices, adapted Mobile Applications and interactive software. Besides the learning activities conducted at local level and four steering committee’s meetings, a blended mobility of adult learners will be organized, giving the opportunity to persons with disabilities and educational staff to meet, exchange their experience and knowledge gained at local level and establish continuative connections to be maintained through an interactive platform accessible in the Mobile Application. A final conference in Madrid (Spain) will conclude the activities of DESkTOP project and at the same time open up the outputs and benefits at European level. The Mobile Application and the Manual for the digital educational pathway developed during the project implementation will bring benefits to a wide range of stakeholders in the adult education filed, in addition to the direct impact on the target groups and participants. The educational pathway and outputs will contribute directly and indirectly to modernization of learning opportunities for adult person with disabilities, fostering also their social inclusion and accessibility to job market. Adult educators and teaching staff will acquire new competencies and skills that will make them able of teaching the persons with disabilities through modern ICT devices (smartphones, tablets) and making use of an adapted Mobile Application. Operating in a virtual learning environment will facilitate their tasks and at the same time speed up the teaching process. The acquisition of ICT skills will also contribute to opening up new career opportunities for the educators, as they will upgrade their profiles with the current requests of the labour market. The new Mobile Application together with other educational materials will be freely available and downloadable from digital distribution platforms: in this way, a multiplication of users and spread of the project’s benefits and outcomes at global level will provide DESkTOP with a unique long term effectiveness.
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