Programs
in
Assistive Technology Education
for End-Users in Europe
This is the Central Administration Service of the Defence Ministry, State Secretariat for Elderly Veterans; its main functions concern information/advice and research, and it also runs a testing laboratory. Educational activities began more than 10 years ago and are addressed to a target of professionals and personal assistants; independent living and coping better with disability are issued considered, as well as AT.
The educational activities carried out over the past 5 years can be classified as follows:
The role played by AT in these initiatives is almost always very important; whereas the training courses deal exclusively with mobility, the other activities embrace a wide range of areas related to AT, namely communication, mobility, household activities, health maintenance, self-care and general accessibility issues.
Two special training courses have been described by this organisation,
which, due to its special role, occupies a special position within
our sample.
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| Stage en vue de l'agrément
(Social security accreditation course for wheelchair retailers) | n/r train. c. | rehab. prof., technol., admin. off., other | ||||
| Sécurité sociale des revendeurs de fauteuils roulants (Specialisation course for wheelchair retailers) | n/r train. c. | rehab. prof., technol., admin. off., other |
Selection
The course was publicised by means of leaflets and mailing to the organisation's address database, and participants were selected on the basis of their age (adults) and a special validation technique concerning technical approval. Teachers and tutors belonged to the organisation itself, but were also selected on the basis of their expertise, while no teacher with disability was involved.
Organisation
The course took place on the organisation's premises both in a space set up especially for that purpose and in a space already fitted out with the necessary facilities. Comfort, overall accessibility and accessibility of bathroom facilities were considered among the environmental factors, and some socialisation aspects were taken into account, since coffee and lunch breaks were organised. There was no co-ordination between teachers, and each teacher planned his/her lesson individually, while a teachers' secretariat was set up. Participants paid a fee of FF 1.795 to enrol in the course.
Implementation
The lessons were a mixture of theoretical lectures (developed with the aid of overhead projection, slides and handouts for the participants) and a hands-on session, mainly in the form of presentation/demonstration and individual use of products. Learning by doing would be the best key-word to describe the chosen learning style, together with stress on good presentation of the theoretical aspects for the hands-on sessions. Progress meetings were held for the teachers during course development. Participants had to fill in a presentation form with the enrolment form, and the data have been used to update the organisation's statistics; as regards feedback collection, an evaluation form was distributed to the participants and the collected data have been used to readjust contents and methods for the next edition of the same course. No follow-up has been carried out.
Further remarks
Reviewing its educational activity over the year, the organisation considered the greatest changes to have been made within the organisational phase, after discussion with other social partners in the field, in the sense that training had to be precisely calibrated to the needs of users and professionals. These discussions led to the organisation of another training course, named optional specialisation course, described hereafter. In the future, an increase in the duration of training courses is foreseen.
Selection
Like the first course, this one was also publicised by means of leaflets and mailing to the organisation's address database. It involved participants selected on the basis of their age (adults) and a special validation technique concerning technical approval. Teachers and tutors belonged to the organisation itself, but were also selected on the basis of their expertise, while no teacher with disability was involved.
Organisation
The course took place on the organisation's premises; comfort, overall accessibility and bathroom accessibility were considered and coffee and lunch breaks organised. There was no co-ordination between teachers, and each one planned his/her lesson individually. Participants paid a fee of FF 1.795 to enrol in the course.
Implementation
The lessons were a mixture of lectures, developed with the aid of overhead projection and slides, and hands-on session, mainly in the form of presentation/demonstration and individual use of products. They were also characterised by a more dialogue-based learning style compared with the previous training course, as questioning and discussion are the key-words chosen to describe it; learning by doing was also stressed within the hands-on sessions. Participants had to fill in a presentation form with the enrolment form, and the data have been used to update the organisation's statistics. No feedback and no follow-up have been carried out.