ValorVIP
Valorisation of project results for blind and Visually Impaired People

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FAQ - frequently asked questions

On any question concerning project results which reduce the barriers in vocational education and training, primarily in the fields of ITand mobility, you can either contact Bláithίn Gallagher (NCBI, Ireland) or Jürgen Müllen (BFW Düren).

Bláithίn Gallagher
National Council for the Blind of Ireland
Head of EU Projects & Research
NCBI - Working for People with Sight Loss
Whitworth Road
Drumcondra
Dublin 9
Ireland
e-mail: blaithin.gallagher@ncbi.ie

Jürgen Hüllen
Berufsförderungswerk Düren
Karl-Arnold-Straße 132-134
52349
Germany

e-mail: huellen@bfw-dueren.de

If you are interested in supporting blind and visually impaired people by naming yourself as an expert on this website and answering questions on the fields of IT, language, and mobility, please contact kathrin.kraemer@bfi-stmk.at

1. Where do I get relevant information on EU-projects referring to the target group of blind and visionally impaired people?

2. Which are good practice-experiences in the area of ‘accessibility and IT’?

3. Which European projects are aimed at making mobility training available and so secure people’s autonomy?

4. Which are good practice experiences which address the needs of blind and visionally impaired people and try to increase the employability by language training?

5. Which are the success factors for language projects to be sustainable?

6. Which are success factors for IT-projects to be sustainable?

7. Where do I get relevant information on E-learning programmes which are designed by blind and visionally impaired people themselves?

8. Which e-mail-based transcription system enables users to turn textual information into either MP3 speech and/or electronic Braille formats?

9. Where do I get relevant information on individual aptitude diagnosis and education counselling for blind and visually impaired people?

10. Where can I find innovative methods of delivering visual graphics to blind and visionally impaired people?

11. Which project develops specific training courses for e-learning coaches and ICT-trainers?

1. Where do I get relevant information on EU-projects referring to the target group of blind and visionally impaired people?

→ http://www.leonardodavinci-projekte.org/index_en.htm

The LEONARDO DA VINCI Project Database has been developed in order to give you the opportunity to gain an overview of the great variety of projects which have been carried out within the framework of the LEONARDO DA VINCI programme. LEONARDO DA VINCI is an EU-funded vocational training programme which fosters mobility across borders and innovation in the field of vocational training.

At the moment, information about LEONARDO DA VINCI projects that have been coordinated by German and Austrian institutions is available in the database. The inclusion of further countries participating in the programme in the database is in process.

The database offers you a comprehensive search function which you can limit according to differnet criteria such as title, project type, type of institution, project themes, products and results. You can choose any of the criteria given as you like. A full-text search is also available in order to find the desired projects more quickly.

After starting the search you will receive information about project themes, partner institutions at home and abroad, products and results, dissemination campaigns and events held within the framework of the desired project.

The database is designed in such a way that project coordinators themselves directly enter the project data. Thus it is guaranteed that you obtain all the details and information that is up-to-date.

2. Which are good practice-experiences in the area of ‘accessibility and IT’?

The European project EATT (Equal Access to Technology training) is aimed at improving the computer literacy of people with vision impairments aged over 35 and at improving access to training and employment. It contains a ‘trainer&trainee’-package in six languages with an introductory training course on the everyday use of a screenreader and a course on the use of a screen magnifier. A ‘good practice guide’ is also developed which is aimed at comprehending basic IT-skills in easily understandable terms and which also contains relevant information for the participants’ families and friends.
More information: www.eatt.org

3. Which European projects are aimed at making mobility training available and so secure people’s autonomy?

The ISIS project coordinated by bfi Steiermark offers detailed information and counselling and provides the opportunity of a dual training system, part-time and individual, for people with disabilities in promising professions. At the same time, new working possibilities are opened up for the target group.

TeleTrading House
The TeleTrading House is a call centre integrated in the ISIS project. Partially sighted and blind employees are prepared for integration into the first labour market in a dual training system. This pilot institution runs all 'classical' business operations of a call centre, such as inbound and outbound calls, telemarketing and telesales and mailing services.
Based on well-maintained customer data, telephone and online marketing that specifically meets the customers' needs supports both the acquisition of new customers as well as the strengthening of customer loyalty. Therefore, the broad range of services (such as marketing, market research surveys, database services, back office services) particularly aims at those two areas and can be seen as a basis for individual service agreements.

Technical assistance and barrier-free web design
In Styria, the technical assistance for partially sighted and blind people has proved its worth. It provides free advice and support for employers, sponsors, public institutions, and private people with regard to equipping the target group's work places, choice of assistive technology, claiming of funds, and technical support regarding assistive technology for blind and partially sighted people. Moreover, technical assistance also offers support regarding barrier-free Internet and maintains an information platform on www.blind.isis.at.
At bfi Steiermark, ISIS offers a wide range of free services for blind and partially sighted people; it is a valuable enrichment in terms of integration in the Province of Styria.

Ongoing project focuses:

• New job opportunities for disabled people with pilot training measures in cooperation with employment agents and enterprises.

• Making accessible all vocational training measures in adult education for the target group in the Province of Styria.

• Increased networking and service cooperation among the Styrian target group representations.

• With specific tools, such as technical assistance, individual coaching and enterprise-related working experience in our TeleTrading House, the special project know-how is intensively bundled for the inclusion of transit employees on the free labour market.

Contact
Tel.: +43(316) 7270 2900
E-mail: isis@bfi-steiermark.at

4. Which are good practice experiences which address the needs of blind and visionally impaired people and try to increase the employability by language training?

→ ‘Listen and Touch’: coordinated by EUROFORM: target group: young adults;

• it offers learning material on challenging teaching methods in four languages and in Braille format as well as practical information on how to improve one’s reading, speaking, and writing skills

• development of a ‘trainer&trainee’-package: teacher’s and student’s versions of learning and teaching materials, both in Braille format

• development of a ‘talking dictionary’: containing the pronunciation and the spelling of words and phrases in Greek, German, and Bulgarian

• realization of a pilot course to test the sustainability of all developed learning methods, e.g., their usability in everyday classroom situations

• teacher training: in seminars and workshops, the teachers were invited to expand their knowledge on respective methodology for active use in the classroom

• More information: www.listenandtouchproject.org

→ ‘Eurochance’: The general objective of this project is to reduce the unemployment rate among blind and visually impaired people. The steps to this aim include the improvement of foreign language skills in English and German. The project seeks to increase the language and cultural skills of blind employees, whilst raising their awareness of employment possibilities and aiding further personal development. Its results are used as a platform for further dissemination of the language modules and for the development of other language modules.
More information: eurochance.brailcom.org

→ ALLVIP (Accessible language learning for visually Impaired People): The project wants to pursue new ways of language learning for blind or visually impaired people. It tries to employ a combination of force-feedback devices and 3D-sound navigation to develop an alternative user interface for language learning software that works without a screen reader and is truly interactive. This technology is then used for an English course for German-speaking learners, and a German course for English-speaking learners, both leavel A1-A2. The focus of the courses is on communicative speaking and listening skills. The courses will be tested and evaluated by five training institutions for blind and visually impaired people, are supported by a personal tutor and a language tandem partner.
More information: www.allvip.org

5. Which are the success factors for language projects to be sustainable?

• identification of needs and dissemination campaign of project results to relevant bodies

• Students taking over the role of teachers

• methods are transferable to any language

• Inclusion of Braille printing of learning materials

• Courses can be extended to inclusive settings if the teaching methods are based on the exchange of various sense impressions, e.g., by making language clear through taste

6. Which are success factors for IT-projects to be sustainable?

• projects need to be commercial; usability of the project aims and course contents for everyday purposes shall be published after a project is finished

• funding should be made available through partnerships of the government, the private and public sector; especially, computer companies should provide assistive parts of hard- and software or project funding

• development of a research data base, a central forum through which the results of all funded projects should be available; with such a data base, social enterprises would get the chance to step in various social projects much easier by expanding their knowledge on already developed projects and their results at the same time

7. Where do I get relevant information on E-learning programmes which are designed by blind and visionally impaired people themselves?

→ The ACE (Accessible Communities for E-Business) project is aimed at building a workforce of ready-trained vision-impaired people in Ireland. It has been unique in providing online and face-to-face training for visionally impaired people who have realised the potential of ICT in the workplace. In particular, it has been created for people who haven’t had the chance to take part in any IT- training programme yet. The project provides an interactive website (E-community) which facilitates the running of a number of e-learning programmes. Besides, the use of audio and radio-style programming has also been implemented on the website.
More information: http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/PublicWebsite/public_tslawler.hcsp

8. Which e-mail-based transcription system enables users to turn textual information into either MP3 speech and/or electronic Braille formats?

→ RoboBraille is an e-mail based transcription system which enables users to turn textual information into either MP3 speech and/or electronic Braille formats by sending documents as attachments to designated e-mail addresses. This innovative system opens up the means to information transcription by taking out the need for computer-based transcription software.

More information: http://www1.robobraille.org/websites/acj/robobraille.nsf/

9. Where do I get relevant information on individual aptitude diagnosis and education counselling for blind and visually impaired people?

→ LILEBP (Lifelong Learning for Blind People): The starting point for this project is the present situation in Europe, where adequate education counselling models for blind and visually impaired people are still lacking. This is one of the main reasons for the fact that blind and visually impaired people are excluded from numerous education programmes. Within the framework of LILEBP and education counselling model is developed especially for blind and visually impaired people, which consists of two parts: individual aptitude diagnosis and education counselling for blind and visually impaired people

More information: www2.gribus.at/lilebp/index.html

10. Where can I find innovative methods of delivering visual graphics to blind and visionally impaired people?

→ AHVITED (Audio Haptics for Blind and Visionally impaired Training and Education at a Distance):
Blind people have no access to visual graphic images and are at a substantial disadvantage in the learning process, particularly when studying in a distance learning situation with no specialist support. This problem directly conflicts with the Lisbon Agenda requiring equality of access and inclusion for all in the learning process.
This project provides an innovative method of delivering visual graphics to people who are visionally impaired by the way of touch and sound using tactile diagrams with integrated sound files.
More information: www.ahvited.org

11. Which project develops specific training courses for e-learning coaches and ICT-trainers?

E-COVIP (E-learning Coach for visually Impaired people): The project involves the collaboration of seven leading educational institutions from around Europe who specialise in the education of people with visual impairments. They will cooperate to create an online training course and an accredited qualification for e-teaching visually impaired learners and support the implementation of a European E-COVIP network.
More information: www.e-covip.eu

If you do have any question on other EU projects which reduce barriers for disadvantaged people, primarily in the fields of IT, language, and mobility, as well as on key factors determining education and training in intergenerational, intercultural, and ICT-based settings please do not hesitate to contact bfi Steiermark: michaela.meier@bfi-stmk.at