ATLEC

Thursday, November 22nd, 2012, h. 11.00-12.30 within Handimatica, Istituto Aldini-Valeriani, Bologna

It is argued that people with disabilities can increase their possibilities of finding appropriate employment by developing their ICT AT skills. But is it as easy as that? What are the lessons learned so far and what are critical issues? How should the training look like in order to be really effective both for the person and for his/her employer? And if people want to make the step from “competent ICT AT user” to “ICT AT trainer”, what competences are involved and how should the training look like? What employment opportunities would there be for ICT AT trainers or peer counsellors.
These issues, and others, will be addressed by stakeholders during a Round Table discussion.

Participants:

1. David Stewart, Director Oakfield School – UK
2. Annalisa Ferrari, Human Resource Manager, Unipol Group, Italy
3. Maurizio Cocchi, President Virtual Coop, Bologna
4. Carlo Venturelli, consultant and ICT AT user, Bologna
5. Marina Vriz, peer counsellor in AT, Fondazione ASPHI, Bologna
6. Anna Sculli, social worder e Fabio Brusa, AT consultant, SAIL- AT advice centre for training and employment, Province of Varese
7. Chiara Bonaldi, Vocational training manager, OPIMM, Bologna

Coordination: Claudio Bitelli, Evert-Jan Hoogerwerf (AIAS Bologna onlus)

ATLEC will participate in the Policy Dialogue “Accessibility – From European challenge to global opportunity” on Tuesday 13 November 2012, at the Scotland House, Rond-Point Schuman 6, 1040 Brussels.

The European Policy Centre, in cooperation with Oracle and the European Disability Forum is organising this event. It will consist of two successive discussions. The first part of the Policy Dialogue will consider the differences and similarities between the EU and the US with regard to accessibility, the on-going transatlantic cooperation in this field, the importance of standardisation in providing accessible products and services for people with disabilities and the elderly, as well as the prospects for developing and harmonising standards in the EU, as well as globally.

The second part of the discussion will look at the definition of accessibility, the scope of the upcoming Accessibility Act 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.

We will attend EUCIS-LLL’s Public Hearing on “Basic Skills for Inclusive Growth: A civil society perspective” on Wednesday, November 28, 2012 from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM (PST) in Brussels, Belgium.

ATLEC will attend the European Day of People with Disabilities Conference on 3-4th December 2012 in Brussels. A dedicated booth is planned as well.

ATLEC will participate in HANDImatica 12 (9th National Conference on Disability and information & Communications Technology) with a booth and participation in the afternoon’s seminar.

The event will take place on November 22-24, 2012 with free entrance (9 am to 6 pm).

Place to be: Istituto Aldini Valeriani – Sirani · Via Sario Bassanelli, 9 · Bologna · ITALY.

The ATLEC project was listed among the most significant projects for the advancement of AT in Europe, during the international conference on Proposing Assitive Technologies, held on the 11th of September 2012 in Bologna.

ATLEC will participate with a dedicated booth at the Interactive Technologies and Games Conference (ITAG). This event brings together academics and practitioners who work with interactive technologies to explore and innovate within the areas of Education, Health and Disability.

ITAG 2012 registration available now!

The Conference provides an excellent opportunity to showcase practice and to mainstream research ideas and outcomes. It introduces a wider audience to key findings and products and illustrates how practice feeds back into and informs research. The conference creates a forum for two-way communication between the academic and practitioner communities and particularly welcomes user led presentations and workshops.
For full details of papers, please see the conference schedule.

Date: Tuesday 23 and Wednesday 24 October 2012
Venue: Nottingham Conference Centre, Nottingham
Day 1: 8.30 am – 6.30 pm
Day 2: 9.00 am – 3.30 pm
Conference rate (both days):
Standard – £150.00
Concessions – £75.00
ISVR Members – £125.00
Daily rate:
Standard – £80.00
Concessions – £45.00
ISVR Members – £67.50

Find out how to become an ISVR member.

Book ITAG Conference online.

ATLEC is at WSIS 2012, Geneva, Switzerland, and recorded following videos that give a good impression of the work that is done on understanding and providing accessible education worldwide.

The first video features Jutta Treviranus (IDRC) on FLOE and Open Educational Resources at WSIS 2012.

The second video features Axel Leblois (Executive Director G3ict) on Lifelong Learning with Assistive Technologies at WSIS 2012.

These videos clearly illustrate the importance and relevance of the ATLEC project.

ATLEC will attend the “Interactive Technologies and Games: Education, Health and Disability 2012” conference at Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK on 23rd and 24th October 2012. ATLEC will have a dedicated booth. We hope to welcome you there.

Visit the conference social media:

http://itag.gamecity.org/
http://www.facebook.com/iTAG.conf
http://twitter.com/#!/ITAG12

Call for papers:

The aim of the conference is to bring together academics and practitioners working with interactive technologies to explore and innovate within the areas of Education, Health and Disability. We have a particular focus on the use of gaming hardware and software to implement accessible solutions, interaction design using new input/output devices and the increasing impact of ubiquitous computing on our everyday well being.
The conference provides an excellent opportunity to showcase practice and to mainstream research ideas and outcomes. It introduces a wider audience to key findings and products from research and illustrates how practice feeds back into and informs research. The conference creates a forum for two-way communication between the academic and practitioner communities and particularly welcomes user led presentations and workshops.
The programme includes presentations of papers, workshops, and an exhibition space for demonstrations and posters. This event is held in partnership with GameCity – the World’s best-loved videogame festival (http://gamecity.org/) and delegates are welcome to attend all GameCity events including the opening drinks reception.

Scope:

As guidance to participants on scope of papers and activities we state that: ‘Education’ includes both compulsory and post-compulsory education; ‘Disability’ includes physical, sensory and cognitive impairment; and the impact of interactive technologies and games on health and well-being is also a focus of this conference. An emphasis is placed on practical applications and guides to where currently available training resources and tools can be found and used. A selection of papers will be published electronically in full, so presentations will be limited to 20 minutes for the key findings, including time for questions from the floor. It is hoped (as in previous years) that the best papers will be published in a special issue of a relevant academic journal.

Previous special issues have included:

• Journal of Assistive Technologies – Volume 3 issue 2 June 2009 (ITAG 2008 selected papers)
• Computers and Education – Volume 56, issue 1 (ITAG 2009 selected papers)
• International Journal of Games Based Learning – in press (ITAG 2010 selected papers)
• Journal of Assistive Technologies – Volume 6 issue 3 in development (ITAG 2011 selected papers)

Themes and topics:

The conference encourages multidisciplinary papers and examples of themes and topics include (but don’t let this restrict you):
Games Based Learning:

• Social and collaborative aspects of games (e.g., educational aspects of Massively Multiplayer Online Games)
• The efficacy of games based learning
• Self authored content and personalisation in games
• Learning theory, pedagogy and instructional design in games
• Motivational aspects of games
• Collaboration between Science and Art for more effective learning
• Games to promote the inclusion (e.g., for offenders and people with disabilities, motivation of female gamers)

Game related Technologies:

• Using contemporary games controllers to create new opportunities in health and rehabilitation applications (e.g., applications for Wii Fit, Kinect. Move).
• Brain control interfaces to games
• Pervasiveness and mobility of games
• Location based services
• Handheld learning in the classroom

Games for Health:

• Serious games for clinical assessment (e.g. after stroke)
• Serious games for rehabilitation and treatment (e.g. of phobias, ADHA, post-traumatic stress disorders, stroke)
• ‘Modding’ for health
• Art and music rehabilitation in 3D multisensory environments
• Games for children in hospital
• Games to increase physical activity in children

Accessibility and Design:

• Open source accessibility
• Participatory design
• Design for all
• Natural user interfaces
• The representation and promotion of gender equality in games
• Alternative input modalities to games for people with disabilities (e.g., brain, haptic and audio interfaces)
• Access to interactive technologies for elderly people

Web based technologies:

• Resources for interactive learning tools and environments, e.g. Flash, podcasts, simulations, mobile games, Web 2.0 tool etc.
• The Internet as a communication medium ( e.g. for people with Asperger Syndrome).
• Browser based games and linking into social media channels Submissions

Those wishing to present papers or hold a workshop should send abstracts, to a maximum of 500 words. For those hoping to exhibit or produce a poster, a 300-word abstract is required. The deadline for submissions is Friday1st June 2012 to be sent to: karen.krelle@ntu.ac.uk

Final copies of accepted papers are required by Friday 14th September 2012.
There is a conference fee of £150 for 2 days, and £80 for 1 day registration. This price includes your invitation to the Game City opening event, lunch, and morning and afternoon refreshments.

Accommodation and Travel Links: https://www.conferencebookings.co.uk/delegate/NCBITAGEHD2010
NottinghamCityTravel Link: http://www.nctx.co.uk/

Prizes Offered:

As in previous years prizes will be awarded!

• Best Paper Award: £250
• Best Student Paper award: £250
• Best Student Poster: £150.

ATLEC will attend EUCIS-LLL’s Public Hearing on “Social Innovation in Education and Training” on 6 March 2012 from 9:30 to 12:30 in the EESC Building – Bâtiment Van Maerlant – Room VM 3 (2nd floor), 2 rue Van Maerlant, 1040 Brussels.