Enabling Access to Education through ICT

The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Bangalore in cooperation with the Global Initiative for Inclusive ICT (G3ICT), a flagship advocacy organization of the UN Global Alliance on ICT and Development (UN-GAID), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), UNESCO, Digital Empowerment Foundation, Society for Promotion of Alternative Computing and Employment and the Deafway Foundation is organizing an international conference, Enabling Access to Education through ICT in New Delhi from 27 to 29 October 2010. The event is sponsored by Hans Foundation.

Agenda

EDICT2010: Enabling Access to Education through ICT

How can accessible information and communication and assistive technologies for persons with disabilities be best deployed in schools and universities?

October 27-29, 2010

India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India

Co-organized by:

Event Sponsor:

Media Partners

Enabling Access to Education through ICTs: How Can Accessible Information and Communication and Assistive Technologies for Persons with Disabilities be Best Deployed in Schools and Universities?

An international inquiry organized by the Centre for Internet and Society in cooperation with G3ict, an advocacy initiative of the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development with the support of UNESCO, the International Telecommunication Union, the DAISY Consortium and the World Intellectual Property Organization

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

08.30 – 09.30 Registration opens

09.30 – 11.00 Opening session

• Welcome note from the organizers, CIS, G3ict, UNESCO, ITU and WIPO

Key note address by Smt Vibha Puri Das, Secretary, Higher Education, Ministry for Human Resource and Development

Introductory remarks by Dr.Indrajit Banerjee, Director, UNESCO

1. – 11.15 Tea break

 11.15 – 13.00 Axel Leblois, Executive Director, G3ict: ICT Accessibility and Reasonable Accommodation in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Implications of Article 9 and 24 for State Parties and Education Ministries

Why Accessible and Assistive Technologies Matter? – An Overview of ICT Barriers to Access and Solutions

• Live examples and case studies of ICT accessibility issues and solutions in education. The topics – (access to websites), (published works and libraries),(classroom materials and tests), (hardware and software) and (K to 12 and university perspectives)

Speakers

• Cyndi Rowland, Associate Director, Center for Persons with Disabilities:   Visible and Hidden Barriers for Students and Faculty

• Dr. Sushmita Mitra, Director, Student Support Services, National Institute of Open Schooling: School Textbooks and Educational Resources – Making Distance Education Work

• Dr.Hemalata, Deputy Director, NCDS, IGNOU:    Information Communication Technology (ICT) for Inclusion

• Mr.S.C.Kunthiya, Joint Secretary Elementary Education, Ministry of HRD:   Barriers and Initiatives of the HRD Ministry

• James Thurston, Senior Strategist for Global Policy and Standards, Microsoft:   Accessibility Guide for Educators

Q & A discussion
Moderator- Ambassador Swashpawan Singh

13.00 – 14.00 Lunch break

14.00 – 15.30 Beyond Accessibility: Implementing Assistive Technologies for Students with Disabilities

• Live examples and demos. Topics - (input / output devices), (screen readers), (text to speech and voice recognition), (language support) and)

• The need for individual solutions and

• Training and support essentials

Speakers

• Srinivasu Chakravartula, Accessibility Manager, Yahoo India:     World of Assistive Technologies

• Prof S R Mittal, Professor in Education, Department of Education, University of Delhi:    Challenges faced by Students with Disabilities in Higher Education

• Sunil Abraham, Executive Director, Centre for Internet and Society:    Open Educational Resources

• Arun Rao, CEO, The Deaf Way Foundation:   ICT Applications in Deaf Education

• Prof Tanmoy Bhattacharya, Coordinator, Equal Opportunities Cell, Delhi University:   Education of Students with Disabilities: An Evaluation of the Indian Educational Policies

Moderator: Mrs. Mala Ramadurai

 15.30 – 16.00 Tea break

16.00 – 17.30 Shifting Paradigms for Accessible and Assistive Solutions: Can India Schools Leapfrog Current Solutions?

Speakers

• Prabir Purkayastha, President, Centre for Technology and Development, Chairperson of Knowledge Commons, Vice President, Delhi Science Forum and Chairperson of Program Review Committee on Perception and Control, ASTeC Programme, Ministry of Information Technology

• Mandar Naik, Director - Platform Strategy with Microsoft India:     Open Source Software and Proprietary Software, The Need for Interoperability

• Susan Schorr, Regulatory Officer of the Regulatory and Market Environment Division of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU: Connecting Schools: Global Challenges and Solutions

• Claudio Giugliemma, President, Dominic Foundation (Switzerland):    Accessible e-learning

• Professor Kenryu Nakamura, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology
  University of Tokyo:   99 Tips in My Pocket In-Class Use of Mobile Phones for Students with Disabilities

Moderator: Noopur Jhunjhunwala

• 17.30 Adjournment, Announcements for Next Day Program

  
  

Thursday, October 28, 2010

09.30 – 11.00 Morning Session – UNESCO-CIS Case Studies Overview Education in ICTs Initiatives in the Asia Pacific Region: Success Stories

Speakers

• Nirmita Narasimhan, Programme Manager, Centre for Internet and Society: Presentation on UNESCO case study

• James Mathew- Insite, Project Coordinator of Insight: Insight ICT for the Differently abled

• Professor Mamoru Iwabuchi, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology University of Tokyo:   Development of ICT based Assistive Technology for Minority Languages

Sachin Malhan, CEO and Co-founder, Inclusive Planet:   The Global Social Library for the Visually Impaired

Moderator: Dr.Indrajit Banerjee

11.00 – 11.20 Tea break

11.20 – 13.00 Plenary Session with DAISY Speakers - The New Frontier for Access to Published Works: Success Stories and Roadblocks

Speakers

• Hiroshi Kawamura, President, DAISY Consortium:   Daisy Consortium Presentation

• Viji Dilip, International Program Manager, Bookshare:    The Bookshare Success Story

• Mr.Andrew Tu, Senior Advisor to Assistant Director General of WIPO:    Facilitating Access to Copyright Works for Visually Impaired Persons – The WPO VIP Initiative

• Mr. Vivek, Mehra, MD and CEO Sage publications

• Dr. Sam Taraporevala, Associate Professor and Head of Department of Sociology, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai:    India’s situation

• Discussion and Q & As

Moderator: TBC

13.00 – 14.00 Lunch break

14.00 – 15.30 DAISY Best Practices for Educators

Speakers

• George Kerscher, Secretary General of the DAISY Consortium and President of the International Digital Publishing Forum:    Latest Technical Developments and Sample Implementations such as in DAISY Mathematics

• Prashant Ranjan Verma, Consultant, DAISY Consortium: Over view of Hardware and Software Tools for Authoring and Playback of DAISY Books

• Birendra Raj Pokharel, President, National Federation of the Disabled-Nepal, Convener, DAISY Nepal Foundation, Vice Chair, DPI Asia Pacific and Chair, DPI South Asia:    Sharing of Experiences on Implementation of DAISY Book Production and Distribution in Developing Countries

• Michael Katzmann, Chief of the Materials Development Division, National Library Services for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, USA:    Best Practices in Providing Accessible Materials to Persons with Disabilities 

Moderator: George Abraham, CEO, Score Foundation

15.30 – 16.00 Tea break

•  16.00 – 17.30 Break-out Sessions: 

• Group 1: Primary education

• Group 2: Secondary education

• Group 3: Tertiary education

• Group 4: Vocational and lifelong learning

Each group covers

• Covers 2 to 3 case studies presented by field practitioners with Q&As

• Discuss key challenges and success factors as described by field practitioners

Agreed on key policy recommendations to be presented in plenary session

Facilitator: Sunil Abraham

Moderators and rapporteurs to be identified for each group

17.30 Adjournment

 19.30 Conference Dinne at Gymkhana Club being coorganised by Daisy Forum of India, Bookshare and CIS

 Friday, October 29, 2010

 09.30 – 11.00 Developing an ICT Accessibility and Assistive Technology Support Eco-system for Educators

The topics – (centers of excellence and peer support), (training the trainers), (employing disabled persons as trainers), (resources for field practitioners), (role of universities), (standards), (public procurement), (international examples), (discussion with selected case studies leaders and participants and India’s Ministry of Education officials)

 Speakers

• Cyndi Rowland, Associate Director, Center for Persons with Disabilities:    Impact of Lack of Accessible ICTs for Students with Disabilities – An International Perspective

• Arun Mehta, President, Bidirectional Access Promotion Society:   Opportunities and Challenges for Education in a Neuro-Diverse World

• Joyojeet Pal, Visiting Assistant Professor, Polytechnic Institute of New York University and a Computing Innovation fellow at University of Colorado Boulder:   Developing a curriculum in Disability Studies and Assistive Technology for higher education

• Shanti Raghavan, Founder and Managing Trustee, Enable India:   Centres of Excellence, Train the Trainers, Employing Disabled Persons as Trainers

Moderator: Geet Oberoy

• 11.00 - 11.20 Tea break
• 11.20 – 13.00 Wrap-up session presentation of group work, feedback and action points. On site web based survey of participants on policy priorities. Will be used to edit white paper.

Facilitator: Axel Leblois

13.00 – 14.00 Closing lunch

 14.00 – 15.30 Afternoon Organizer’s Private Session

• Summarizing key findings

• Looking at on-line survey results

• Drafting key points of white paper

• Drafting table of contents

Next steps

• 15.30 – 16.00 Tea break
• 16.00 Adjournment

 Download the agenda

For details on the event in the digital LEARNING newsletter