E-COVIP E-learning for All

An EC funded project E-Learning-Coach for visually impaired Persons (E-COVIP) started. The aim of this project is to improve the access of visually impaired people to e-learning services. This goal should be achieved by empowering e-learning coaches with the necessary knowledge and establishing a network, which is required to educate students with visual handicaps.

The project involves the collaboration of six partner organisations from Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Poland, all of which are institutions specialising in the needs of visually impaired and blind people. The partners will cooperate to develop a blended learning training course for e-learning coaches and ICT trainers. Many e-coaches and e-tutors have made the experience that the adequate utilization of learning platforms, CBT, WBT and conference systems requires special knowledge, which is usually not disseminated during ordinary training courses for e-learning coaches. Furthermore, there are currently no specialist qualifications at a European level and consequently, e-tutors and e-coaches who teach visually impaired learners often struggle with the methodological, administrative and technical difficulties faced by this target group. Another negative consequence of this status quo is, that specialized e-learning coaches don’t find any forum to exchange experiences and knowledge considering those special requirements.

The project partners are also interested in expanding their research into ways of making e-learning more accessible to people with disabilities other than just visual impairment. It is for this reason that the French National Association for the Integration of People with Visual and Aural Impairments (”Fédération pour l‘insertion des personnes Sourdes et Aveugles en France) has become one of the project partners.

The project will involve the production of a blended-learning course with tutorial materials, explanatory texts and WBT or CBT, in which important aspects such as assistive devices for visually impaired people and methodological implications of courses and classes for visually impaired people will be dealt with. At the end of the course participants are given the option to do a final examination and acquire certification as a Master Coach. As additional support a virtual network via discussion board and file exchange server to share accessible contents will be established.