Designing a University Environment for Inclusive Digital Education – Methods and Approaches

The rapid development and implementation of digital technologies in education and the forced shift to fully distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has exacerbated the existing problems and challenges of access to higher education for disadvantaged students, have brought to the fore the need for systemic change, aimed at building crisis-resilient university ecosystems where inclusive education and digital transformation are considered in their interconnectedness to provide appropriate infrastructures and technologies for inclusive digital learning. Designing such systems requires applying an interdisciplinary design approach with careful consideration of the needs and wants of all user groups and especially those vulnerable to exclusion. The article presents the methodology and results of a study aimed at identifying the needs, barriers and issues faced by students of low socio-economic status, which is part of a wider international initiative to develop university ecosystems for inclusive digital learning, in in which universities from six countries of the European Union participate.