Since March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted education worldwide, bringing new perspectives as well as many challenges in daily and professional practices. The education system as well as the students, with and without disabilities, were and are still affected by the "new normal" of the pandemic era. Schools and teachers had to change their strategies in order to adapt their curriculum and approaches to the need for remote education. Remote courses, online practices, and virtual classes brought new opportunities but equally challenges for inclusive education. For students with disabilities and special learning needs, moving to distance learning has posed opportunities, especially for those that benefitted from remote teaching. However, additional obstacles emerged for others, including barriers to technology engagement, limited access to instructional resources and individualized learning interventions, and the lack of social interactions. In reaction to these challenges, many teachers have quickly adapted their practice and developed creative approaches to delivering comprehensive education to all students. However, gaps exist, resulting in obstacles for students with disabilities, while equally offering opportunities for further training and empowerment of inclusive educational practices. In this chapter, a clear overview of the impact of the pandemic on inclusive education is raised, how the online teaching practice offers solutions but equally faces challenges, while this research also looks at recommendations to enrich the teacher's competencies on how to address these challenges.

This study was conducted as part of the DIVERSASIA project “Embracing Diversity in ASIA Through the Adoption of Inclusive Open Practices”, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Program of the European Union. DIVERSASIA’s overall aim is to ensure that students with disabilities (sensorial and cognitive) can enjoy the same access to higher education (HE) as their peers without disabilities and enjoy access to digital training materials, open education resources (OERs) and massive open online courses (MOOCs). These are especially relevant to students who cannot currently physically access HE (and instead are part of distance learning schemes and courses) due to existing architectural barriers. The project partners developed questionnaires to be filled in by HE staff and students in order to identify the current situation of inclusive education provision in India and Bangladesh and to understand what focused activities are needed. This article summarizes the results of the staff surveys.

National reports indicate access to HE for students with disabilities is limited in India and Bangladesh. These reports highlight the issue of exclusion of people with disabilities, women and economically disadvantaged students. The Supreme Court of India directed all higher education institutions to reserve 5% of places for people with disabilities and make the institutions accessible, as mandated by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act, 2016. It was observed that even premier educational institutions have failed so far to implement the provisions of the RPWD Act. Surveys have been conducted to assess the provision available, the knowledge of and opinions about this provision amongst staff and students at Indian and Bangladeshi Universities. This paper examines the initial findings of these surveys and reviews the state of the art for technical ameliorations which might be implemented, in the context of DiversAsia, a three-year capacity building project. Specifically, the aim is to develop accessible HE OERs and MOOCs, and personalisation using AI, that will enable better provision of open distance learning for those that experience architectural barriers. These accessibility solutions are a clear response to the challenges and barriers identified in the staff and student surveys. The accessibility approaches to be adopted will address the challenges faced by students with disabilities (including socio-economic and gender issues) entering higher education in Asia and will focus upon: a handbook suggesting strategies to overcome the issues of inclusion, diversity and cultural differences; a toolkit with guidelines, checklists, good/best practices to implement universal design of learning; and an assessment and validation strategy for OERs and MOOCs to review and assess their level of accessibility. Here we discuss the survey findings and review the state of the art, to describe what specific and concrete actions can be considered within the context of the project.

Digitalization has transformed all aspects of life, from social interactions to the working environment and education, something that accelerated with the emergence of COVID-19. The same stands for education and training activities, where the use of digital tools has been gradually advancing and become merely online because of the virus. This brought forth the need to discuss further the applications, benefits, and challenges of digital tools within the framework of the education and training process, and the need to study examples of successful applications. This study aims to support both these requirements by presenting the case study of REFUGEEClassAssistance4Teachers project and its outcomes.

The presented research focused on developing and testing an innovative interdisciplinary STEM didactic model. The developed didactic model was introduced in the field of eco-farming. To the participants, it offers the possibility for non-formal training, which can take place anywhere and anytime. Participants require some knowledge of STEM subjects (especially chemistry and biology) as well as knowledge of ecology, technology, and engineering, in order to provide answers and solutions to environmental challenges while using knowledge of mathematics (especially combinatorics and statistics) to search for optimal solutions (in our case, a lean business plan). The model was tested in non-formal education settings, based on an interdisciplinary approach and modern technologies, such as monitoring the effectiveness of training using electroencephalography (EEG) and mobile applications. In the presented didactic model, special emphasis was placed on an interdisciplinary STEM approach to environmental protection, ecology, connatural forms of production and sustainable development. The presented research confirms the hypotheses that non-formal education is becoming an increasingly important form of education and training, and that the use of the interdisciplinary didactic model, contemporary technologies, and mobile applications, increases the time and intensity of concentration in learning and thus improves learning effectiveness. Keywords: eco-farming, electroencephalography, environment protection, mobile learning, non-formal education, sustainable development

Bu araştırma, Avrupa Komisyonu tarafından desteklenen bir projenin ortakları olan Belçika, Bulgaristan, Portekiz, Slovenya ve Türkiye’de termal spa terapi uzmanının sahip olması gereken bilgi, beceri ve yetkinlik alanlarını ve bu alanlardaki eğitim öğretim ihtiyacını ortaya çıkarmak amacıyla yapılmıştır. Bu amaçlar doğrultusunda veri toplamak için termal spa terapistlerinin temel yeterlilik alanlarını ve eğitim ihtiyaçlarını ortaya çıkarmak üzere yapılandırılmış görüşme sorularından ve termal spa terapi uzmanı yeterlilik ölçeğinden oluşan bir anket hazırlanmıştır. Örnekleme yöntemi olarak tesadüfi olmayan örnekleme yöntemlerinden amaca uygun (amaçlı) örnekleme yöntemi benimsenmiştir ve anket her bir proje ortağı ülkede termal tesis çeşitliliğini yansıtacak şekilde on tesiste uygulanmıştır. Veriler, termal spa tesisindeki bölüm şeflerinden, çalışan uzman kişilerden ve termal tesisin veya spa merkezinin yöneticilerinden yüz yüze toplanmıştır. Verilerin analizi sonucunda termal spa terapistleri için 9 temel yeterlilik (bilgi, beceri ve yetkinlik) alanı ortaya çıkarılmıştır. Türkiye’de termal spa çalışanlarının eğitimlerinin bu alanları kapsayacak şekilde genişletilmesi önerilmektedir.

This paper presents findings from the first phase of an Erasmus+ funded European project, Mobile Pedagogical Assistant to develop meaningful pathways to personalised learning. The project addresses inclusive education, thus affecting and supporting every teacher in the European countries that ratified the UNCRPD, 2008, as well as beyond Europe. Inclusive education is a major concern globally: this project substantially contributes to the uptake and implementation of inclusive education by providing teachers and teacher educators with a toolset to support the assessment of each child as part of a holistic approach towards inclusive education. The countries involved in the project are Belgium, Bulgaria, Serbia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. The overall aim of project is to provide teachers and teaching assistants with a mobile technology that will measure the engagement and attention of learners and provide information to the teacher on appropriate pedagogical adaptations to planned learning content. Thus, promoting differentiation, reducing teacher time in planning and preparation, improving both teacher and learner experience and supporting the learner in improved attention and engagement, leading to enhanced progression and a change in school's practice. This paper presents findings from data collected from 74 Case Studies and 90 interviews with teachers from the countries involved. This data has informed a pedagogical framework which will be presented at the conference and will form a significant part of the mobile technology.

This paper will present findings from the second phase of an Erasmus+ funded project which addresses at its very core inclusive education, thus affecting and supporting every teacher in the European countries that ratified the UNCRPD, 2008, as well as beyond Europe. Inclusive education is a major concern globally. The project supports teachers and teacher educators who have learners with mainstream or special educational needs in mainstream classrooms, facilitating inclusive education. The countries involved in the project are Belgium, Bulgaria, Serbia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. To date the project has analyzed 74 case studies and 90 interviews with teacher educators across the countries involved to develop a pedagogical framework. This has informed the development of a mobile technology that will measure the engagement levels of learners and provide useful information to the teachers for appropriate pedagogical adaptations to planned learning content. This will promote differentiation, improve teacher understanding of different learning material impact and improve teacher and learner experience, thus leading to enhanced progression and a change in school's practice. The mobile technology, now in beta testing stage, collects and analyses the multimodal data of engagement via five specially developed computer games to test a learner's engagement level inside their comfort zone. The project draws on Swanson's standardization of signal detection theory in a continuous performance test [1][2]. The learner's performance in the game (errors and reaction time) provides objective criteria for labelling multimodal sensory data (body posture, eye gaze, facial expressions, head posture and EEG data). Machine learning methods are utilized to create a model of attention from the fused multimodal sensory data features. The learner's attention and performance levels are presented to the teacher as a method to choose best practices and teaching methods that sustain learner engagement - which encourages deep learning [3] and meaningful outcomes [4]. This paper will present findings from data collected from the beta testing phase, explain the process that has been developed, share the mobile games and associated application, and provide examples of use in schools across the partner countries. There will be opportunity for delegates to use the toolkit.

The 3-year project “Intelligent Serious Games for Social and Cognitive Competence” targets children and youth with disabilities, teaching them on creativity and social competencies, using serious desktop and mobile games. The intellectual output (IO) 4 “Trainers manual” is based on the results and conclusions from desktop and survey findings from IO1 Scoping Report, the curriculum and learning scenarios of IO2 Suite of serious game on accessible learning objects (learning content creation) and IO3 Interactive games for mobile learning which can be reviewed/downloaded from the official project website www.isg4competence.com .

In this paper some experiences are described, from requirements gathering to design and implementation, in the European project “Intelligent Serious Games for Social and Cognitive Competence”. The main goal of the project is to develop serious games for social and cognitive competence of children with learning difficulties. The aim of these games is to teach youth with mild disabilities about social skills, basic skills, key cognitive competence skills and work skills. Using these interactive mobile games and 3D simulations helps the social integration and personal development of these children and youth. The project uses serious games and 3D simulations so that teaching and learning becomes interesting, playful, attractive and efficient.

This paper introduces the "Intelligent Serious Games for Social and Cognitive Competence" project. The aim of these games are to teach youth with disabilities on creativity. The development of interactive mobile games and 3D simulations helps the social integration and personal development of children and youth with disabilities. The project targets to improve the quality of education and trainings to gain more efficiency. To enhance creativity and innovation the project uses serious games and 3D simulations this way teaching and learning becomes interesting, playful, attractive and efficient.

The paper examines how a gamification approach can enhance and enrich the learning experience of personal care givers (PCGs) for people with disabilities and older people (potential or in active employment). Using game elements that pervade the M-Care mobile PCG training application, users are given the opportunity to self-assess their newly acquired knowledge and through a rewards system they are motivated to follow further training courses. The gamified experience is embedded in a broader educational logic including an extensive training curriculum and innovative online and mobile training platforms.

The DigiPlace4all online peer support community supports people with disabilities in developing digital literacy skills needed to transition from Vocational and Educational Training (VET) to mainstream education & employment. It facilitates the development of informal one-to-one peer support relationships between members who can post and respond to requests and offers of peer support and share information on a range of associated topics. It is active in Ireland, Belgium, Poland and Bulgaria and is being spread internationally.

Peer support is an important factor in helping people with disabilities develop digital skills. These skills are essential in helping them transition from Voluntary Education and Training courses to mainstream education and employment. This paper presents the results of a study capturing the user requirements for an online peer support community, DigiPlace4All, which will enable people with disabilities, educators and employers, to develop one-to-one peer support relationships and to share information about digital technologies and inclusion. The results validate the decision to provide an online space to facilitate peer support and sharing, prompt a shift of focus from assistive technology to digital technology in general and suggests a range of relevant content and functionality for the community website.

ATLEC mobile application is a training and educational software targeted to people of all ages, including those with special needs and disadvantaged groups, regardless of their socio-economic background. ATLEC offers four different ways of accessing learning material about Assistive Technology products based on Information and Communications Technologies (ICT-AT): context based search (wizard based on situational parameters), free search, personalised search, list of favorites. Users are also able to upload their own content and demonstrate/teach others the use of ICT-AT.

The Web is rapidly evolving and converging with other media and technologies. Today the Web is on mobile devices, televisions, self-service terminals, and computer desktops. It is continuing to be increasingly ubiquitous and indistinguishable from other interfaces and became an ambient part of our daily lives, particularly with the advancement of "the cloud". Thus, there is a need for developers and designers to better understand the relationship and overlap of the existing accessibility methodologies, and introduce Web accessibility in advanced and mainstream technologies for providing accessible products that work better for people who experience difficulties and changes in their abilities due to aging.

The Web is rapidly evolving and converging with other media and technologies. Today the Web is on mobile devices, televisions, self-service ter-minals, and computer desktops. It is continuing to be increasingly ubiquitous and indistinguishable from other interfaces and became an ambient part of our daily lives, particularly with the advancement of "the cloud". Thus, there is a need for developers and designers to better understand the relationship and overlap of the existing accessibility methodologies, and introduce Web accessibility in advanced and mainstream technologies for providing accessible products that work better for people who experience difficulties and changes in their abilities due to aging.

This paper describes the evaluation framework developed in the ÆGIS IP project (Open Accessibility Everywhere: Groundwork, Infrastructure, Standards; http://www.aegis-project.eu) of the 7th European Framework Programme, in the context of its overall User Centered Design plan, focusing on the experimental planning of its first out of the three scheduled evaluation rounds. The ÆGIS evaluation framework may serve as a valuable manual for testing in the overall eInclusion area, beyond the narrow context of the project.