ATLEC (Assistive Technology Learning Through A Unified Curriculum), a 2 year project partially funded by the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning program, is steadily progressing in its work, trying to fill the current gap concerning the ICT AT training of European citizens with disabilities.

The innovation of the ATLEC project lies in the support of end-users’ learning in the effective usage of ICT-based AT, and this through individualised training materials according to the learners’ needs, combined with mobile learning applications. ATLEC consortium ensures free access to all its outcomes.

During the last few months, ATLEC has been participating at various accessibility related events all over Europe to spread the word.

• Interactive Technologies and Games Conference (ITAG) 2012
  Four of the consortium’s members (Oak Field School and Sports College, PhoenixKM, Greenhat Interactive and University of Athens) participated with a dedicated booth during the Interactive Technologies and Games Conference (ITAG), on October 23-24 2012 at the Nottingham Conference Centre. The event brought together academics and practitioners who work with interactive technologies to explore and innovate within the areas of Education, Health and Disability.
  
• Policy Dialogue “Accessibility – From European challenge to global opportunity”

  ATLEC coordinator PhoenixKM attended the Policy Dialogue “Accessibility – From European challenge to global opportunity” event on Tuesday 13 November 2012 at the Scotland House (Brussels), jointly organised by EPC (European Policy centre), Oracle and the EDF (European Disability Forum). Among other issues, the discussion looked at the definition of accessibility, the scope of the upcoming Accessibility Act (most likely due for mid 2013) and how it could help to meet the needs of people with disabilities and older people, as well as the technical, financial and legal instruments needed to promote greater accessibility in society.
  PhoenixKM contributed actively to the discussion, pointing out the need for closer cooperation between mainstream developers of Assistive Technologies, instead of creating a vast array of different standards.
  Additionally, ATLEC was presented to participants with disabilities.
  

  
• Media & Learning Conference 2012

  PhoenixKM participated with a booth featuring ATLEC’s dissemination material in the Media & Learning Conference 2012 at the Flemish Ministry of Education Headquarters in Brussels, on November 14-15, 2012. In addition, also a presentation was made on “(Accessible) Social Media in Learning and Education”, pointing out that inclusive education using social media tools is perfectly possible. The presentation can be found at http://www.slideshare.net/phoenixkm/medialearning-2012-ph-km.
  

  
  
• HANDImatica 2012

  ATLEC was also present at HANDImatica 2012 (9th National Conference on Disability and information & Communications Technology), on November 22-24, 2012 in Bologna, Italy, with a booth and presentation and participation in the afternoon’s seminar.
  

  

• 3rd project meeting in Bologna, Italy

  The 3rd ATLEC meeting took place on 20-21/11/2012 in Bologna, Italy. All of the partners participated to collaborate and discuss the next steps of the project.

Follow ATLEC project via Twitter: twitter.com/ATLEC_project
or find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ATLECproject
or through our website: www.atlec-project.eu

–> You can find this press release HERE (in pdf format).