Programs in
Assistive Technology Education
for End-Users in Europe

Name of the organisation
    CREEDAT - CENTRE REGIONAL D'EXPOSITION, D'ESSAI ET
    DE DOCUMENTATION SUR LES AIDES TECHNIQUES
Address
    CRF de Valmante
    Traverse de la Gouffonne
    13009 MARSEILLE
    FRANCE
    Telephone: +33 4 91416970
    Fax: +33 4 91410464
Key Person of the organisation
    Odile Marconnet, occupational therapist

This is a provider of health and/or social services solely involved in information/advice activities, but with a certain involvement in training for professionals; this last area also embraces independent living and the role of AT.

Their educational activities begun less than 5 years ago and the work done so far can be classified as follows:

  • 3 non-residential training courses, addressed to a target of rehabilitation professionals, trained nurses and architects;
  • 3 seminars, in the form of topical workshops, without any additional information;
  • 20 information activities, comprising all the options represented (conferences, round tables, mass media coverage, periodicals, exhibitions, exchange of experiences); these are addressed to a target of elderly and adult rehabilitation professionals, nurses and architects;
  • activities addressed to the individual total 1000, a number that probably reflects single acts of providing advice and information services, the two options represented. No additional details are available.

The role played by AT within the training courses is considered important while for the information activities it is seen as relevant. A lot of areas related to AT are considered in these initiatives , such as communication, mobility, general accessibility issues, hearing, vision, reading/writing, cognition, but also household activities, health maintenance, self-care, etc.

TRAINING COURSES AND SEMINARS

No titles or details are available for the seminars and training courses mentioned, so it is impossible to provide a clear idea of objectives, content and target.

Selection

The initiatives were mainly publicised by means of leaflets and all the kinds of advertisements, all of which proved to be effective. Leaflets were distributed to a special address database, but also to family associations, other organisations in the field, rehabilitation centres, by word of mouth and handed out at congresses or exhibitions. The public was very wide, since no criteria were adopted to select it, while teachers and tutors came from the organisation itself as they are also experts in the field. No special preference was given to teachers and tutors with disabilities.

Organisation

Educational activities, for which participants paid only a token fee, took place in different places, which were defined and located as need arose, without special attention to environmental aspects. Only one teacher was involved.

Implementation

From a methodological point of view, the activities were based on brainstorming and group work, although educational tools such as slides, video and documentation on AT were also considered. Products were presented and demonstrated during hands-on sessions, but there was also the opportunity for individual use of them. Consequently, questioning and learning by doing are the key-words for defining the preferred learning style. A special method was chosen for collecting information on the participants: they were requested to fill in a final questionnaire, and this was then used to readjust the contents and methods of the organisationÕs educational activity. Finally, interviews were carried out during the follow-up phase.