sinche.uom.grsinche.uom.gr/sites/default/files/dev5.1tna_report_final.d… · Web viewThe research sample consisted of 200 subjects, all of them employees at University of Montenegro

Support and Inclusion of students with disabilities at higher education institutions in Montenegro

Support and Inclusion of students with

disabilities at Higher Education

Institutions in Montenegro

WP5 Training of university staff for working with students with disabilities

DEV5.1. Analyzing training needs for each partner institution involved

Final Report

Prepared by:Bojana Lakovic, Association of Youth with Disabilities of Montenegro

Email: [email protected]

15th May 2013

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication

reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use

which may be made of the information contained therein.

Tempus Project 516758-TEMPUS-1-2011-1-GR-TEMPUS-JPGR

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5 1 6 7 5 8 – T E M P U S – 1 – 2 0 1 1 – 1 - G R – T E M P U S - J P G R



Content

I. Introduction....................................................................................................................3

1. The Context .............................................................................................................3

1.1. RESULTS OF ANALYSES CONDUCTED UNDER WP 2.1.................................5

2. Students with disabilities in Montenegrin Universities-Bologna system………11

3. Target groups ..………………………………………………………………………………………..11

4. Training modules....................................................................................................12

5. Trainers and topics that will be conducted by them.................................................12

II. Expected results from the training ...............................................................................14

III. The challenges.............................................................................................................16

IV. Indicators of progress..................................................................................................16

Annex I.............................................................................................................................17

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I Introduction

Scope of this Document

This document is intended to provide inputs to SINC@HE Deliverables 5.2 - Basic Training on inclusive practices and support services for students with disabilities and 5.3-Advanced Training on inclusive practices and support services for students with disabilities.

The main aim of this deliverable is to gather realistic training needs and provide high quality training at Partner University and public associations working on education and support of students with disability. As all stakeholders will be acquainted with necessary knowledge for improving the quality of studying with disability in beneficiary institutions, this document will provide detailed description of training that will be provided to academic, administrative and Student Advisory Office staff and peer groups from the Universities which will provide adequate peer support to their colleagues with disability. In order to provide effective and quality training, the consolidated training plan will be agreed at the national level. The extensive high quality training will be provided by experienced EU partner staff for different partner staff category.

General remarksBefore detailed lists of training for University and Student Advisory Office staff it is important to stress some basic information. Taking this into consideration when organizing support for individuals with disabilities can become the crucial point in guaranteeing the equal access for all students despite the fact of their disability. Trained staff should provide assistance to anyone who’s disability or other health-related problems make the following of 'regular' course of studies difficult. The difficulties may be connected with an inability to participate in lectures the availability of reading material, access to university buildings, or attendance due to recurring illness. Services should be offered not only to individuals with legally-confirmed disabilities, but also to those whose inability to participate in classes is a result of sudden health problem or an accident, and hence incapacity of a temporary nature. Respecting the rights autonomy and privacy of students with disabilities, the assistance should be offered only to those who decide to apply for such help and who consequently fill in a registration questionnaire and provide medical documentation.

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1. The ContextThe context under which should be handled training is within the reform of the regulatory environment in Montenegrin HEI’s. The following documents are adopted and Universities should be working in line with them:

The Bologna declaration on the European higher education area (1999) and the Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27th November establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation. In essence, the main impact of the Bologna process should be to support increased standardisa-tion and benchmarking in relation to legislation, policies and practices covering disability.

The UN convention and protocol on rights of persons with Disabilities, which has been ratified by the Montenegrin Government, together with EU legis-lation - the Disability Action Plan and the new ‘Disability Strategy’ – as well as le-gislation and instruments put into place at the national level, like the ‘Strategy of integration of the persons with disabilities’ and the ‘Law of prohibition of dis-crimination of the persons with disabilities’

There is the ‘hidden demand’, for new forms of provision to support students with disability in Montenegrin HEI’s. At present only a very small number of students are either registered as students with disability in Montenegrin HEIs, or are currently receiving support. However, there are probably a much larger number of potential students who are currently not fully provided for. There is also the lack of readiness of key stakeholder groups to collaborate in the development of new support structures and services. At present, the NGO sector is a strong presence in the domain – but other key stakeholders – like Ministries; University management and staff – are less active, although the research carried out by SINC@HE does show a high level of support from these stakeholder groups for reforms.

During project ‘’Promotion of inclusive higher education in Southeast Europe’’ research was conducted within teaching and academic staff at Universities in Montenegro.

The research sample consisted of 200 subjects, all of them employees at University of Montenegro and University ''Mediterranean''. The research included 98 male (49%) and 102 female (51%) subjects. It took place in the following cities: Podgorica (74, 5% - 149 subjects), Nikšić (9% - 18 subjects), Cetinje (9, 5% - 19 subjects) and Kotor (7% - 14 subjects). The research included many different faculties. The results have shown that 74% employees at faculties have had an experience in working with students with disabilities. Predominantly they had the experience with students with partial visual impairment, somewhat less with students with speech difficulties, with students using wheelchair and students with difficulties in movement, even less with students with a complete visual impairment and students with audio impairment, and the least with students with learning difficulties (dyslexia, dysgraphia) and students with total audio impairment.1

Analysis of the research results shows that employees at faculties show great understanding of inclusive education concept, and the greatest number of participants 1 This terms will be used by Montenegrin trainers due to language cultural differences

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think that inclusive education means more including of youth with disabilities to University education.

Administrative and teaching staff are still on a level that is not satisfactory notice present situation at faculties in Montenegro concerning the adjustment of physical conditions to students, adjustment of teaching process, textbooks and methods of examination to specific characteristics of students with disabilities. However, necessity of adjustment of studying conditions to students with disabilities is recognized, and there is a great willingness of employees to make position of these students and their chance of obtaining adequate education equal. Professors (assistants) show great willingness to adjust their lectures (84,9%) and examinations (82,4%) by providing electronic forms, more pauses during lectures (76,5%), as well as sign language translators (71,4%) and midterm and final exams in Braille signs (66,5%). As for adjustment of textbooks, 84% Professors (assistants) is willing to offer their textbooks in electronic forms to students with disabilities. They also think that even though examinations have been adjusted to these students to a very small extent, they are willing to adjust their examinations to specific characteristics of certain students.

There is a great readiness of administrative and teaching staff at faculties for additional education in order to improve their own work, thus providing to students with disabilities equal participation in educational process.

It must be said that administrative and teaching staff at faculties, even though they show willingness to include students with disabilities to University education, and in 66, 5% percents say that also their colleagues are ready to consider differences and needs of students with disabilities, they still do not think of inclusive education as of systematic, organizational matter of the faculty. Responses show that there are a very small number of discussions at faculty councils on adjustment of studying conditions to students with disabilities, faculty staff to a very small extent (31, 5%) knows about the clause of prohibiting discrimination of students with disabilities in the faculty Statute. Also is to be mentioned low level of knowledge of employees of Strategy for improving studying conditions of students with disabilities at faculties, 44% participants do not know if there is such a strategy, and 28% think that there is no such strategy.

Research results show that administrative and teaching staff at faculties are not satisfied with conditions provided to students with disabilities, but that they show great willingness for improving conditions and quality of their own work to make possible equal conditions of studying to these students (adjustment of physical conditions to students, adjustment of teaching process, textbooks and methods of examination). They are willing to do some additional education in order to make their lectures more accessible. It is clear that there is a necessity of defining and promoting the norms of adjustment of every single faculty, which would be the first step (accompanied by administrative and teaching staff willingness) to an adequate adjustment of every level and studying conditions for students with disabilities.

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1.1 RESULTS OF ANALYSES CONDUCTED UNDER WP 2.1

Deliverable 2.1 has been coordinated and design by University Macerata and based on their instructions Universities Donja Gorica and Mediterranean conducted research through semi-structured interviews. Participants were administrative and teaching staff from both Universities.

Overview

The University of Donja Gorica and the University Mediterranean are both young private universities in Montenegro. They count 270 and 134 full-time employees respectively (404 in total). Both of these have students with disabilities among their students, and therefore necessity to build capacities in order to enhance their inclusion. There are two of them at the UDG and five at the University of Mediterranean. All of them are with mobility and physical impairment. Neither one of the Universities has any employees with disabilities working at there.

Although the total number of disabled students in the two universities is currently small (N=7), both in absolute terms and as a proportion of the student population, the justification for building capacity to enhance the inclusion of with disabilities in the two universities reflects not just the need to cater for the current student population but also reflects the need to build capacity for future generations.

University of Donja Gorica has seven faculties, and they are all located in one building. As it regards University of Mediterranean, it has 5 faculties, and they are located in two different buildings. However, there is no need for students to go from one building to another for classes.

Neither one of the aforementioned HEIs has any specific policies dedicated to the inclusion of students with disabilities. Also, neither of the universities has any services specially dedicated to students with disabilities in order to facilitate their inclusion nor have they organized any trainings or seminars related to inclusion of students with disabilities.

As it regards the current resources, both Universities possess modest capacities when it comes to inclusion of students. These are mainly infrastructural capacities such as access ramps and elevators dedicated to students with mobility and physical impairments. In addition to that, several good practices could be identified as useful capacities. For example, professors when planning their classes always take into consideration where the class will be held so the students with disabilities could access the classroom easily. For example, if the class is initially scheduled for the room where students with physical impairments are not able to access, the professor will change that and hold the class in the room that is accessible. One of good practices at the University of Mediterranean could be their tuition-free studying for students with disabilities.

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Other than that, there are no other significant capacities which would facilitate the process of inclusion of students with other types of disabilities in a systematic manner.

Further details on the situation, based on the data collected during the interviews, results are presented in following paragraphs.

What is your perception of the terms “inclusion” and “disability”?

When it comes to defining the term “inclusion” the results of the analysis have shown that majority (N=32) of interviewees mentioned the words “Equality”, “Equal rights” and “Equal treatment”. They believe that the process of inclusion means that students with disabilities are getting more and more engaged in University’s academic and social life. Out of 32 staff members that answered like this, 13 of them were professors, 13 teaching assistants and 6 were administrative staff. They comprise 78% of the interviewees. Some of the most common answers were that an accessible physical environment is necessary but not a sufficient condition for inclusion, and that students with disabilities should be treated equally as other students in terms of involvement in student activities- curricular and extracurricular, and standards should be equal when assessing their knowledge.

The rest of interviewees have a different perspective on inclusion. They (N=7) believe inclusion means only improvement of certain technological conditions and built environment which will lead to a better accessibility. So, the 17% of the total answers collected was mainly focused on the term “Access”. The third group are those that were not able to define the term (N=2) or 5%.

When it comes to the term disability, most (N=38) of interviewees, or 92.6%, defined it as a certain kind of “condition of an individual that is significantly impaired”. The rest of them were not able to define the term. Instead they only mentioned types of disabilities they know, and while doing that they mentioned only physical and sensory impairment. These were administrative staff members.

How do you see the current process of inclusion of students with disabilities at this HEI?

When speaking about the current process of inclusion, all participants (n=41) were aware of the number of students with disabilities at their university. Also, all of them were aware of the kind of disability these students have.

A significant number of interviewees (N=35 or 85%) believe that government and HEIs “are not as supportive” when it comes to the inclusion of students with disabilities as they could and should be, and therefore they think that current support in not satisfactory. The main reason for such a situation, all of them agreed, is the lack of awareness of the importance of this issue which has prevailed in past years and was characterized by a lack of initiatives for improvement of conditions for students with disabilities in Montenegro. According to the interviewees support is lacking in policy

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framework, physical environment, finances, human resources and technology, both at national and HEI level.

The rest of the interviewees (N=6) were not able to characterize the current process of inclusion due to the lack of information and interest on this topic in the past. However, they were able to mention the resources that the HEI they work at possesses, but they couldn’t say if they are more or less convenient for students with disabilities.

What do you see as the key obstacle to inclusion of students with disabilities in this HEI?

There are many obstacles that were identified and they can be grouped in following

categories:

- Mentality

- Finances

- Initiative

- Pedagogy

- Policies

- Infrastructure

- Statistics

The frequency each item was mentioned by the participants indicates the importance of

these categories:

Table 3

Item name N %

Mentality 18 44

Initiative 15 36.5

Infrastructure 14 34.1

Pedagogy 11 26.8

Finances 7 17

Statistics 5 12.2

Policies 4 0.1

Majority of the participants (N=18 or 44%) identified mentality as a key obstacle for inclusion of students with disabilities in HEI. By that they mean the prejudices that exist in their environment such as disabled people “cannot be productive members of society, and therefore they do not need higher education”.

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A number of interviewees (N= 15 or 36.5%), believed that this perception gives rise to another challenge, which is a lack of initiatives to contribute to a better inclusion of students with disabilities in HEI.

Also, infrastructure was identified as a burning issue. A significant number of interviewees (N=14 or 34%) believe that infrastructure is not at a satisfying level. Currently, both of the aforementioned universities satisfy minimum requirements as regards the accessibility of built environment. However, current infrastructure support is mainly provided only for students with mobility and physical impairments, while there still are no infrastructural capacities that would support sensory impairment, such as vision and hearing disability.

In addition to these two key issues, a certain number of interviewees (N=11 or 26.8%) believe that the level of pedagogical education related to working with students with disabilities is not at a high level, which represents a difficulty when it comes to preparing and delivering lectures and materials for them, and therefore limits the level of their inclusion.

The issue of finances is ambivalent. Out of 7 interviewees (17%) that mentioned it, 4 believed that financial issues are an obstacle to inclusion of students with disabilities because they cannot afford to study, while the rest of interviewees believed finances are a problem because implementation of capacities that facilitate the inclusion of students with disabilities in HEI is expensive.

The term statistics refers to the low number of students with disabilities in Montenegro. As can be noted, this issue is mentioned 5 times, or by 5 interviewees (12 %). They believe that the low number of persons with disabilities that graduates from elementary and high-school and decides to enroll in an HEI is too low to incentivize HEI management and government institutions to take a more active role when it comes to the inclusion of students with disabilities in HEI. However, the interviewees regard the low number of current students with disabilities in Montenegrin HEIs as an excuse for government as HEI’s inertia on support provision, and a convenient excuse for not providing the necessary environment to support students with disabilities generally, regardless of the current level of students with disabilities.

When it comes to policies as an obstacle to inclusion, this issue was by only 4 (9.7%) interviewees, but what is interesting is that they characterized it as a burning issue, and one that has to be solved prior to resolving other challenges, for example accessibility and financial challenges. Once the right policies are adopted, it is argued, other issues will be easier to solve. The key characteristic used to describe current policy framework was “inadequate”.

How much experience do you have when it comes to seminars, programs or projects that concern students with disabilities or persons with disabilities in general?

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As it is noted at the beginning of this report, neither one of the universities currently provides its employees with the opportunity to attend seminars, conferences or trainings regarding working with students with disabilities and their inclusion at HEI (not including this project, of course). Out of 41 interviewed academic and administrative staff, 36 of them (88%) said that they never had the chance to attend any training or seminar disability issues. Only 4 (9.7%) of respondents said that they had chance during their engagement within various youth NGOs during their high-school (those are mainly younger teaching assistants from both universities), and only 1 of total number (2.4%) had the chance to participate in a project regarding these issues.

The bright side of this part of the interview was that each of the 41 respondents recognized this as their weakness and suggested that training should be organized and that all employees should attend in order to support the process of inclusion of students with disabilities at HEI in the most effective manner.

What is your opinion regarding good practices in work with students with dis-abilities in your working environment?

As it is already noted, neither one of the aforementioned universities have legal frameworks dedicated to the inclusion of students with disabilities. All respondents agreed that this situation needs to change. In the meantime, they have invested effort to develop certain good practices that can facilitate the process of inclusion of students with disabilities in HEIs.

Since students with disabilities enrolled at both universities have physical impairments, all academic staff (N= 26) said that they, whenever the situation requires, “facilitate the mobility” of those students carefully choosing the room for lectures so these students can access them easily. Also, all of them said that they are supportive when it comes to “facilitating the lectures”. For example, sometimes academic staff help disabled students by allowing them to record lectures or making an appointment for private individual consultations.

In addition, the University of Mediterranean has developed a “Distance Learning” platform, which allows students to attend classes from their home. Most of the course literature is in electronic form, therefore they do not have to come to the University very often. Also, based on the recommendation of Youth With Disabilities of Montenegro, they provide students with disabilities the opportunity to study on a tuition-free basis.

As noted above, however, these practices are mainly dedicated to students with physical impairments.

How can you describe the current legal framework- policies and strategies- that concern persons with disabilities on a national level?

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As it regards national policies, the majority of respondents (N=37 or 90%) said that they are not aware of any policy regarding this matter, and that they are not competent to talk about that.

Only 4 respondents (10%) were able to discuss the current legal framework that regards students with disabilities in Montenegro. According to them, the current legal system that covers people with disabilities in Montenegro is “inadequate”, “not harmonized with international standards and criteria”, and “lacks implementation”. All four respondents referred to articles 6 and 7 from the Higher Education Law- the section on Availability of Higher Education as the only legal framework with regard to the inclusion of students with disabilities at HEI:

Article 6

Higher education is available to everyone, in accordance with this law and statute of the institution.

Article 7

In exercising the right to higher education, it is not allowed to discriminate on the following basis: gender, race, marital status, color, language, religion, political or other beliefs, national, ethnical or other origin, association with national community, property ownership, disability or other similar grounds, position or circumstances.

An important thing to point out is that a significant number of respondents (N=34 or 83%) identified the Montenegrin accession process to the European Union as a crucial “opportunity” for improvement of Montenegrin legal system. During that process, they hope, the inclusion of students with disabilities will have its own place in Montenegrin regulatory framework and will be “in accordance with international standards and criteria”.

What are the current capacities at this HEI dedicated to inclusion of students at this HEI?

As regards the current capacities, as already noted, most of them are dedicated to students with some kind of physical disability.

At the University of Donja Gorica, besides the built environment that facilitates the accessibility, such as access ramps and elevators, as well as specially designed toilets for students with disabilities, respondents interviewed at that institution (N=25) did not identify any other capacities especially dedicated to facilitate the process of inclusion of students with disabilities at that HEI.

At the University Mediterranean, 16 respondents that were interviewed there also identified capacities dedicated to accessibility, such as access ramps and elevators. In addition to these they also highlighted the specially designed web-site of the University

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of Mediterranean, which is adjusted for student with partial visual disparity, as well as tuition-free based education for students with disabilities.

What additional capacities do you think this HEI needs in order to enhance the inclusion?

There are three types of capacities that are recognized as crucial by both groups of interviewees. The first is “technological capacities”, mentioned 25 times. These include equipment necessary for the inclusion of students with hearing and visual impairment. The second is “HR capacities” which include trainings for staff, and which was mentioned by 10 interviewees. Finally a certain number of interviewees (N=6) identified adoption of “standards and policies” on a university level as a key need.

As can be noted, there are no major differences in opinion between the two groups of employees. This could be explained by a fact that both universities are located in the same municipality- Podgorica, at a distance of 6-8 kilometers from each other. They employ people from a same geographical area- Montenegro, with similar educational and professional backgrounds, therefore the chances for some drastic differences in opinion on questions asked are small.

2. Students with disabilities in Montenegrin Universities- Bologna system

In scope of the project ‘’Advancing social dimension of Higher education in Southeast Europe’ research was conducted within students with disabilities and students without disabilities. Key findings:

According to students, the biggest problem is stiffness of the Bologna process and that students simply do not have enough time to prepare exams. When students with disabilities are concerned, worrying is the fact that, compared to their counterparts, without disabilities, 11% percent less of this population thinking to continue their education and about personal development. Also, 20% less of them thinking about the possibility for employment. 90% of students with disabilities and 80% of students without disabilities believe that exchange programs are not accessible for the students without disabilities. In focus groups, participants were mainly complained on barriers, architectural inaccessibility and lack of access to information. The big problem is the lack of adequate literature and insensitiveness of the teaching staff at some universities. 62.5% of respondents with a disability living in the dorms. An interesting fact is that only 4% of people with disabilities live independently comparing to 20% of their counterparts without disabilities who lives independently. The students also complained about the lack of support services and that they satisfied their needs by themselves or by Association of youth with disabilities and partially through the University.

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3. The Target Groups2

The main target groups for the for human resources development of University staff, identified by the SINC@HE research are as follows:

Competent teaching academic and administrative university staff

Student advisory offices university staff

Voluntary peer support students

Staff from partner public associations for supporting and education of youth

with disability

Participants are from 2 partners Universities- University of Mediterranean and

University Donja Gorica. During 1st project Conference representatives of University of

Montenegro showed interest to participate in the advanced and basic training and

teaching and academic staff from University of Montenegro will be involved in trainings.

4. Training Modules3

4.1 Basic Training on inclusive practices and support services for students with disabilities- Training

Basic training aims to provide to participants basic concepts of disability, approach towards different kind of disabilities, basic support services as well as basic concepts of sign language and Braille. Very important part of the basic training will be inclusive education, where will be covered roles of all different stakeholders in the inclusive system of education, as well as the importance of inclusive education for students with disabilities and their families but also its value for all others involved in it.

Basic training will be a base line for the further development of all teaching and administrative staff from the Universities, and peer support students groups for better support of students with disabilities in HE Institutions.

4.2 Advanced Training on inclusive practices and support services for students with disabilities- Training

Aim of this training is to provide participants who will be actively involved in providing different kind of services and support to persons with disabilities with necessary tools and knowledge. Beside general themes regarding disability, they will be trained on Assistive technologies for work with students with disabilities- using different types and kind of teaching materials and on everyday work with students with disabilities (counseling, technical and psychological support).

2 For detailed list of participants see Appendix 13 For final training plan see Appendix 2

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5. Trainers and topics that will be conducted by them

Following partner institutions are involved in conducting training for University and Student Advisory Office staff:

AYDM as a leading partner in the basic training 3 trainers from AYDM will be involved in preparation and implementation of training. All three are experienced and certified trainers by Bureau for Educational Services of Montenegro for the area of Inclusive Education. The topics what will be covered by AYDM trainers are:

• Basic concepts of disability

• Inclusive education – theory and practice

• Support services for students with disabilities in HEIs

• Braille I and II

RC Kotor trainers (4 trainers) will cover topics related to the hearing impairments. The following topics will be covered in the basic training: Process of listening, development of the speech, time and cause of hearing impairment, verbal and nonverbal communication, bases of the communication with hearing impaired people. In the part related to direct psychological support to students with hearing impairment will be conducted training on topic related to Hearing impairment and cognitive functioning, Impact of hearing impairment on social and emotional development and adjustment of learning contents to students with hearing impairments. On the advanced training, will be conducted Basic sign language course.

University Macedonia will realize training under advanced training for the university teaching staff with the next framework/structure:1. Types of disabilities (simptomatology and phenomenology of disabilities), their psychological properties and recognition in the university teaching2. Specificities of learning of SwD in different domains of learning (cognitive, behavioral, social, emotional …)3.Individual differencies in the psychological functioning and communication of SwD4. Integration of methods of learning and teaching of SwD in university context (characteristics of HEIs’ instructional process, specificity of methodology of learning and teaching of SwD,….)5. Current trends in teaching of SwD (peer tutoring, e-learning etc.)6. Teachers’ roles in inclusive university education / education of SwD

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7. Specificities of the communication with SwD in the HE instruction, examples from Greece Counselling and support for SwD, examples from Greece

2 UOM trainers have started to develop e-course for teaching staff about University instruction for Students with Disabilities. The e-course will be similar, but it will not be the same as training. The aim of this e-course is to be usefull for the Montenegrin teaching staff after completion of SINC@HE project. Then, would be involved relevant and useful materials (text, examples, instruments, videos, movies, …) from the other partners and trainers in the both level of training – basic and advanced.

Two trainers from DSIS will cover under advanced training the access to higher education for students with disabilities and how to overcome physical barriers, attitudes towards students with disabilities, access to information and access to support. They will also present ways to make accessible lectures to students with disabilities.

Three trainers from University Warsaw will cover under advanced training assistive technologies for work with students with disabilities- using different types and kind of teaching materials and inclusive education practices in HE

II. Expected results from the training

In order to provide better support to students with disabilities trained University staff should be responsible for selecting adequate service, respecting students’ needs and possibilities.

Accommodations during lectures and workshops:

assistance in note-taking and/or completing manual tasks – including laboratory as-sistants,

providing materials in electronic format – for those who are not able to read inde-pendently because of hands disability,

assistance to overcome architectural barriers on campus, permission to make recordings during classes, Opportunity for a short break during the classes. provide a trained team responsible for preparation of instructional materials, books

and tests in accessible formats; providing opportunity for borrowing portable assistive technologies such as laptops,

scanners, Braille note-takes, screen-reader software, magnifying software and book-readers with a built-in text to speech engine that enable reading books uploaded in multiple formats,

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permission to use personal computer or Braille note-taker during classes; necessity to provide devices free from the files that the student is not allowed to use during an assessment (the type of devices should be based on consultation with a student about his or her preferences as a user),

permission to record after a declaration of acknowledgement the copyright require-ments (only personal use of recorded materials),

instruction for academic teachers on how to give a lecture and not to put additional obstacles for a student with visual disability – eg. give precise information on the content delivered visually, esp. via overhead ppt presentation [reading aloud a text written, substitute some common expression (“as you can see here…”) with more precise visual and spatial descriptions], prepare handouts and presentations in an accessible form with a clear structure, in a sans-serif font and with no distractive ele-ments whose only role is to make the presentation more attractive visually, encour-age speakers during the discussion to introduce oneself, provide tactile experiences of what is discussed during classes as often as it is possible,

instructions and trainings for tutors on how to share materials on-line and use web-based tools and emphasize the role of providing materials in multiple versions of the files to ensure the highest level of accessibility, since various programs used to access the text content and website might not be able to read the material sent or up-loaded depending on the file type,

introducing a custom of sending notifications via e-mail about the need to change the date or the place of classes, exclude commonly used printed notifications fixed to the doors,

courses that are extremely visual by nature can sometimes be adapted in a way that gives a student with visual disability a chance to develop new skills and strategies based on his or her abilities; sometimes the reasonable adjustment is not possible to make if the core element of the studies program should be modified to make it (equal academic requirements standard).

providing services of sign-language interpreters during classesnote-taker services, opportunity to get a full transcription of especially complex lectures, prepared by an

assistant or a volunteer, providing outlines, ppt presentations, syllabi in advance to give an opportunity

to familiarize with the structure of the lecture (it makes lip reading much easier), to look up new words and to concentrate on the content without the attempts to take notes during a lecture,

opportunity to borrow portable FM systems that reinforce sounds, built-in reinforce-ment FM-systems provided in lecture halls,

free-of-charge copying of notes, e-mail or written notifications about any important changes in classes time/place,

syllabi, exam requirements, training for academic teachers about the strategies of cooperation with a deaf or

hard-of-hearing student

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Library

Permission to use a library of books in electronic format in case of severe manual

difficulties that put an obstacle to free access to printed books without an assistance;

possibility of on-line reservation of the library materials.

Fieldwork

Help to make the fieldwork as accessible as it is possible. In case of inaccessible

fieldwork to help to obtain materials from such fieldwork, to be examined later by a

student who didn’t have a chance to attend.

Exams:

divide longer exams into parts to allow for the need of taking breaks , use computer and software to reasonably substitute methods of assessment that re-

quire handwriting and/or drawing , give opportunity to borrow peripheral devices that enable computer use e.g. devices

used for control the actions via eye-movements, mouse of a bigger size, personally defined keyboard, adapted clickers, switches and joysticks based on individual spec-trum of best controlled groups of muscles ,

provide the tests in a format with a bigger gaps to fill in case of less-precise hand-writing,

support poor speech and motor skills with speech-synthesis and word-prediction software (support students with motor disability to determine the software they may benefit from and teach how to use it).

sign language interpreters during oral exams, longer time to complete tasks and to plan the answers during any oral exams, bimodal (oral and written) questions provision during oral exams, prolong the deadline for passing the exam if it requires the knowledge based on

great amount of complex written materials to be processed.

It is very important to create training opportunities for the staff, faculty and students on

how to support and react to students with psychological and psychiatric disorders.

Encourage partnerships with other universities or non-profit institutions that provide

support for students with psychiatric problems.

III The Challenges

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The main challenges that may be faced during the training process are as following:

• Availability of competent teaching academic and administrative university staff

• Availability of voluntary peer support students to work with colleagues with

disabilities

• Not adequate academic support from the University authorities

• Low interest by internal human resources to be enrolled in training activities

IV Indicators of progress

Number of teaching staff on trainings

Number of administrative staff on trainings

Number of students on trainings

Activity and interaction of participants in training

Number of participants who completed training program

Level of satisfaction of the participants

Number of enrolled students for next school year with direct support of trained

staff

Level of student satisfaction with the provided services from trained staff

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Annex I

Partner institution

Name Basic Training

Advanced Training

TIME PERIOD

MODULEPLACE

AYDMMiroslava

Mima Ivanovic MARCH

Basic concepts of dis-ability

Inclusive education – theory and practice

UNIM & UDG

AYDMMilan

Saranovic MARCH

Support services for students with disabili-ties in HEIs

UNIM

AYDMGoran

Macanovic ARPIL

Braille IUDG

IERKViktorija Mihovic

ARPIL Sign language I UNIM

IERKJelena

Avramovic APRIL

DSIS Miha Kosi

7th-9th

MAY

Work with students with disabilities (coun-selling, technical and psychological sup-port)

Assistive technologies for work with students with disabilities- using different types and kind of teaching mater-ials

Student Advisory

office

DSIS Natasa Mauko

IERKJelena

Avramovic MAY

Work with students with disabilities (coun-seling, technical and psychological support)

IERK Vidna Matovic MAY

(2 modules)

Sign language IIIERK

Olivera Gluscevic

UOM Ceca Obradovic JUNE


UNIM Dragana Bjekic JUNE Inclusive education

practices in HE

UW Donata Kończyk

JUNE Assistive technologies for work with students with disabilities- using different types and kind of teaching mate-rials

19



UW Pawel Wdowik JUNE Inclusive education

practices in HE

UWSławomir Barabasz

JUNE

UNIMC Catia Giaconi

First week of

SEPTEMBER

Inclusive education practices in HE


AYDMGoran

Macanovic SEPTEMB

ER Braille II

IERK Vidna Matovic SEPTEMBER (2

modules)

Sign language III

IERKOlivera

Gluscevic

20


Documents

sinche.uom.grsinche.uom.gr/sites/default/files/dev5.1tna_report_final.d… · Web viewThe research sample consisted of 200 subjects, all of them employees at University of Montenegro