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Educational activities

SIVA offers a number of educational opportunities for those who wish to become specialists in Assistive Technologies or simply keep themselves abreast of developments in this area. Today such opportunities include a 200-hours Postgraduate Course (awarding an Assistive Technology Applications Certificate), and a Continuous Education Programme composed of Monthly Seminars. The latter can be attended also at a distance through audioconference & webcam link, thus offering a useful Online Education opportunity to those who would find it difficult to travel to Milan.

The Postgraduate Assistive Technology Course

The Course Technologies for autonomy and social integration of persons with disabilities (Tecnologie per l’Autonomia e l’Integrazione Sociale delle persone disabili) is a 200-hours Course including 160 hours devoted to lessons and laboratory sessions, plus 40 hours for the preparation of an individual thesis to be discussed at the end of the course.

It is run in conjunction with the Catholic University of Milan – Faculty of Educational Sciences – that awards the Certification. The Course main target are rehabilitation professionals and any other people who are involved in disability issues (educators, technologists etc..), although no restriction is established for any other persons willing to participate, provided they have a previous valid University diploma or degree. The maximum number of students is 40, with some flexibility to increase or restrict the number depending on the characteristics of the applicants.

The programme of the course aims at providing a wide-spectrum knowledge on the available technologies for rehabilitation, autonomy, independent living, school integration and work for persons with any disability and age. Technological aspects, although representing the core of the educational curriculum, are looked at along with all related human and socio-economic implications; special emphasis is placed in the methodology of AT counselling, advice, choice and personalisation within an empowerment perspective, where the client is considered the main protagonist of his/her choice and as such should be helped to be an informed, demanding and responsible consumer of assistive technologies.

The Monthly Seminars

The Continuous Education Programme can be attended free-of-charge by anybody interested in Assistive Technologies, including health professionals, technicians, persons with disabilities and their families etc. Each Seminar is monographic, i.e. is focused on a specific issue related to Assistive Technologies including both scientific presentations delivered by prominent clinicians or researchers, and live demonstrations of new assistive devices carried out by manufacturers.

Detailed information (calendar, programmes, practicalities) on each Course or Seminar is available – for the time being only in Italian language – by clicking on the buttons below.

[ Postgraduate Course 2006 ] [ Previus Seminars ] [ Seminars ]