MOOC Accessibility Partnership Erasmus Project

Project Title

MOOC Accessibility Partnership

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Open and distance learning; Inclusion – equity

Project Summary

Driven by the ratification of the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities (UNCRPD) in 2008, the European Commission and national governments are planning for guidance and legislative actions to follow up. The goal of the UNCRPD is an inclusive society in which persons with disabilities have equal rights and equal access to education, built environment and information and communication technology (ICT). However, there is a great lack of knowledge and expertise on accessible design of professionals in the ICT domain across Europe. Therefore, one of the recommendations of G3ict’s CRPD 2013 ICT Accessibility Progress Report is to build capacity, e.g. through training programs for future professionals about digital access for Persons with disabilities.

The purpose of the MOOC Accessibility Partnership (MOOCAP) was to implement a sustainable strategic partnership between European universities that excel in both teaching accessible design in ICT and providing an inclusive learning environment to students with disabilities. From Sep 2014 until Aug 2017, the following 9 European universities worked as partners in MOOCAP:
– Stuttgart Media University (HDM)
– Johannes Kepler University Linz (JKU)
– Université Paris 8 Vincennes Saint-Denis (UP8)
– Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT)
– University of Southampton (UoS)
– University of the Aegean (UAEGEAN)
– University of York (UoY) – only until May 2015
– Technische Universität Dresden (TUD)
– Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences (HiOA)

MOOCAP has designed and implemented a “joint curriculum framework on accessible design in ICT”, by means of open online courses (including MOOCs) directed to the registered students of the partnering universities, as well as to professionals in the field in the form of vocational and educational training. The project has caused a new accessibility capacity to be built in Europe as a joint effort of European universities. By the end of MOOCAP, this capacity building is still going on as a sustainable effort by means of a diverse set of publicly available online courses on digital accessibility, maintained by the project partners.

As a result, the following public online courses are now publicly available (see also appendix C):
– Digital Accessibility: Enabling Participation in the Information Society (joint MOOC on FutureLearn)
– Inclusive Learning and Teaching Environments (MOOC on FutureLearn by UoS)
– Design Innovation – Inclusive Approaches (MOOC on Open eClass by the UAEGEAN)
– Accessible Mobile Apps (public online course on Moodle by JKU & UP8)
– Accessible Web (public online course on Moodle by TUD & JKU)
– User-Centered Design for Accessibility (MOOC on Canvas by HiOA)
– User Interface Personalisation (MOOC on edX by HDM)
– Assistive Technologies (public online course on Moodle by UP8 & JKU)
– Intellectual Disability and Inclusion (MOOC by CourseSites/BlackBoard by DIT)
– Accessible Documents (public online course on Moodle by TUD)
– Accessible Gamification (MOOC on edX by HDM)

In addition to these courses, MOOCAP has brought about the following results:
– The contents of all courses (texts, images, videos, quizzes) are available publicly as Open Educational Resources under the CC-BY 4.0 license through the MOOCAP website (see http://gpii.eu/moocap/?page_id=839). Some OERs have already been picked up by the project partners in the pursue of other projects and initiatives.
– A sustainable and ongoing network of European higher education institutions devoted to accessible online teaching on a broad range of topics on digital accessibility (see appendix A).
– Insights into the actual educational needs of professionals in the field, with regard to accessible design in ICT (see public deliverables O5+O10).
– Experience and knowledge on new online teaching methods for internal teaching and vocational training (see public deliverables O5+O10).
– A roadmap for a common certification scheme for the MOOCAP courses and other courses on digital accessibility (see public deliverable O11).
– 9 Multiplier Events, and numerous other dissemination events (see appendices A+B)
– 6 publications in journals and on conferences, and over 20 presentations at various events (see appendix A)

During its 3-year lifetime, the MOOCA partnership has been recognized widely as the first MOOC network on digital accessibility in Europe. Dissemination activities have taken place at national and international levels, even beyond Europe. Many informal dissemination networking activities are still ongoing, even beyond the project’s lifetime. Among them, the inventory of OERs will be available to the public for years to come through the MOOCAP website. We will only see the project’s real impact some years from now.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 441583 Eur

Project Coordinator

HOCHSCHULE DER MEDIEN & Country: DE

Project Partners

• OSLOMET – STORBYUNIVERSITETET
• UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON
• INSTITIUID TEICNEOLAIOCHTA BHAILE ATHA CLIATH
• UNIVERSITY OF YORK
• PANEPISTIMIO AIGAIOU
• TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET DRESDEN
• UNIVERSITE PARIS 8 VINCENNES SAINT-DENIS