Requirements, Barriers and Tools for Participation in an Inclusive Educational Digital Environment.

Abstract

An inclusive digital environment in education is considered a cornerstone for a modern society and particularly important for learners with disabilities. This paper delves into this topic and presents the findings from a one-week "Learning, Teaching and Training Activity" (LTTA) conducted as part of the Erasmus+ project on the "Digital Readiness of Vocational Educational Institutions in an Inclusive Environment." The LTTA involved discussions on the requirements, barriers, and applicable tools for digitalization in Vocational Educational Institutions (VET) with educators and self-representatives (learners with disabilities). The feedback from participants was analyzed and included evaluations of various tools in terms of their effectiveness and usefulness. These tools encompassed document accessibility, onboard Windows accessibility features, AI in the form of large language models (LLM) as assistive technology, and image recognition-based assistive technologies. Results, presented in this paper, indicate that especially learners with disabilities can benefit from participation in an inclusive digital environment.