EU4ALL - European Unified Approach for Assisted Lifelong

The Lifelong Learning paradigm recognises that, in a knowledge based economy, education and work are integrated throughout people’s lives. All citizens need ongoing access to learning to enable them to work. Technology is playing an increasing role in mediating this learning. However, if this technology is inappropriate and introduced with insufficient support, disabled people will face even further exclusion from the interlinked worlds of education and work.

To address this, the EU4ALL project http://www.eu4all-project.eu sets forward the concept of Accessible Lifelong Learning (ALL) uniting key strategies:

1. That the technology that mediates lifelong learning does so accommodating the diversity of ways people interact with technology and the content and services it delivers

2. That this technology is used to bring specialist support services to disabled learners

3. Providing support services and technical infrastructure that enables teaching, technical and administrative staff of educational institutions to offer their teaching and services in a way that is accessible to disabled learners

The aim of EU4ALL is to improve the efficiency and efficacy of implementing these strategies by developing an open service architecture for ALL. To achieve a wide impact the approach taken is not to develop a single EU4ALL system but a standards based framework that facilitates the integration of the approach with a wide range of eLearning systems.

More specifically the goals of EU4ALL are to:
· Design an open service-oriented architecture for ALL
· Develop the software infrastructure for ALL services (including content, support and access services)
· Provide technical standards/specifications for ALL applications integrated with current and emerging eLearning standards
· Validate the results in large-scale settings

Two broad groups of users benefited from the EU4ALL project:
1. End-users: Adult learners with disabilities, teachers, and tutors
2. System-users: Providers of eLearning systems, content and services

Team:

• Magª. Cäcilia Weiermair-Märki, MAS (project leader)
• Bakk. Mariya Dzhengozova
• Mag. Alexander Kesselring
• Magª. Maria Schwarz-Woelzl
• Magª. Dr. Elisabeth Unterfrauner

Section: Technology and Knowledge

Partners:

• Atos Origin (Coordinator)
• Cambridge Training and Development
• Centro Interuniversitario di Ricerca per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile
• Disabled Peoples’ International Italy
• European Association for Distance Teaching Universities
• Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
• Giunti Interactive Labs S.r.l.
• INDRA
• Information Society Open to ImpairmentS
• Open University UK
• Soluziona SA
• TRIBAL
• Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
• University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna
• University of York
• Atos Origin, UNED, OUUK, University of York, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, Soluziona SA, Tribal CTAD, Giunti Interactive Labs, E-Isotis, EADTU, CIRPS, DPIITALIA

Image Gallery