The current project 3D4VIP is a logical follow up on an earlier collaborative KA219 project called UBIS (01-10-2017 and 30-09-2019). Within this project an accessible online database was created which offers models for education for low vision and blind students (short VI Students) free to download. With each model, didactic information is provided, regarding the use of the teaching material. In UBIS a document was created with a decision tree on when to use which type of teaching material (text, model, actual product), explanation of what is 3D printing (incl. FAQ), including video and guidelines concerning the creation of models for VI students, with specific conditions, such as texture, dimensions and scale, contrast and text and braille.3D4VIP wants to take UBIS and the impact of the database and the guidelines that were developed to a next level. It will consist of several phases to achieve an even higher level of the use of 3D printing and the production of models for the purpose of improving the education for VI students. 1.Realisation of a 3D model database. We will test and evaluate current existing databases. There are two types of users of the database; 1) teachers who need a model can download it and 2) experts who can make models can upload them and share them with the teachers. The evaluation will focus on both. From this evaluation a decision will be made on the best solution (joining an existing database or optimise the current database). In any case, the result is planned to be a universal, intuitive tool and online database, where teachers and experts can find models and all the information concerning 3D printing for VI education i.e., the guidelines and a platform where experts can share formative contents. It will be open source and under a creative commons license so everything can be used for free.2.Develop Guidelines. We will develop guidelines for 3D models. How do you print Braille or arrows? What do you have to think about when making a model for visually impaired students? 3.Raise awareness. All through the project we focus on the familiarity and deployment of 3D printing amongst the educators and experts. We will develop information videos for schools to use 3D printing. Experts can use the database to find each other and consult the guidelines. Teachers will be informed on how to easily produce tangible materials to be used in class.4.Produce tangible educational materials. We will develop models to be used in curricula for VI students. E.g. in STEM (science, technology, engineering mathematics) courses or new subjects, such as computational thinking or referrers (objects of reference; tangible communication materials) for students with Multiple Disabilities and Visual Impairment (MDVI). Also the art and languages subjects can benefit. In addition we will look for a combination of techniques in the models. Is it possible to add audio, or moving elements? Some products will be further elaborated to analyse all possibilities.5.Recommendations on using 3D printing with VI students. Intuitively, human sight is essential for computer graphics and modelling. Thus, at first glance, it might seem logical that there are few applications for blind 3D modellers. However, there are many use cases and reasons for enabling blind people to perform 3D modelling. Conventional 3D modelling applications are typically not easily accessible for blind users. We will assess the software and create hardware optimisations where possible, providing recommendations and an offline package with good practices.This project contributes to a society where VI students have a better position on the labour market after school, VI students are more included, MDVI students’ wellbeing (and outside the classroom) is improved due to the increase of communication means and have better and therefore more equal learning opportunities than their sighted peers. Educators of VI and MDVI students are better equipped to teach their students, experts are more capable in modelling and printing high quality 3D models that are accessible and suitable for MDVI and VI students in their education. VI students have more equal learning opportunities to their peers as they will be able to learn in a more independent manner. VI students (secondary school, no cognitive problems) gain more insight in 2D/3D by learning more about 3D printing themselves and MDVI students are able to communicate better due to the availability of (improved) referrers. Educators are more aware of the opportunities and advantages of 3D printing and 3D printed materials for VI students in class. They also have easy access to a multitude of approved and high quality tangible, tactile educational materials for MDVI and VI students. Experts are supported by having guidelines for modelling and printing of high quality educational materials for MDVI and VI students. 3D printing experts are able to connect and share experiences with peers easily.

A smile is a positive piece of information we receive through nonverbal communication, but for a person with visual impairment it represents a lost piece of information in human interactions. »SMILE too« is an Erasmus+ project within Strategic Partnership for School Education and a follow up of the SMILE! School education Staff mobility programme meaning Social Skills Make Inclusive Life Easier. Professionals in six partner organisations from different parts of Europe, namely Royal Dutch Visio – The Netherlands, GOA – The Czech Republic, Jordanstown School - Northern Ireland, Royal Blind School – Scotland, Lega del Filo d'Oro Onlus – Italy and The Centre IRIS – Slovenia, all working in the field of education for children and young people with visual impairment, believe that social skills represent the key competences having an important impact on the behaviour, self-esteem and acceptance in society of the ultimate target group, being children and young people with visual impairment. Education in inclusive settings or mainstream schools is becoming the prevalent form of education for this group of special needs in most of the countries in the partnership. The main purpose of inclusive forms of education is supposed to be social integration but some results show that expectations do not meet the reality. Moreover, in spite of the effort professionals put into this area of work we cannot be satisfied with the results. The process of developing social competences for children and young people with visual impairment deserves a special attention. Due to loss of sight it differs considerably from the one their sighted peers undergo. The most important feature is that they cannot learn through imitation and a constant support is needed. The focus of the project is on empowering the whole system with and around the child. We, professionals, need strong partners and allies and we have found them in parents/guardians of children and young people with visual impairment and in teachers and other professionals in mainstream schools/inclusive education settings. In the project the two groups represent two direct target groups, the stakeholders, where we follow two goals. Firstly, the awareness about the importance of developing social competences should be raised and secondly, the stakeholders should be empowered to be able to contribute to the process with effective methods of solution-oriented approaches.The main outputs of the project are two training programmes specifically designed, one for the parents/guardians and the other for teachers and other professionals in inclusive education settings with modules appropriate to the age and other circumstances, e.g. teachers in boarding schools. Materials with guidelines and videos with practical advice to support our presentations will be produced. In the future these two training programmes will become part of the improved service partner organisations offer to support inclusive forms of education. However, to be able to produce effective training programmes, professionals involved in the project must acquire new knowledge especially in growth mind-set theory and solution oriented approaches to design good training programmes and new skills how to produce qualitative videos, which are often more illustrative than thousands of words. They need to find answers for some professional dilemmas they face in their daily practice. New observation tools – an interview form and a questionnaire, started in SMILE! and finalised in SMILE too will be used to obtain relevant information about the state of social skills of children and young people with visual impairment and thus provide information to set goals for our work in the future.The ultimate target group, being children and young people with visual impairment, will benefit the changes in long term. Social competences is not something that can be changed very quickly, but if the state of social competences is assessed (the tools of observation), individual plans are tailored on the base of this assessment and the environment is aware of the needs and stakeholders are conscious of their role in the process and have the knowledge to assist it, little by little all activities might result in better social inclusion. For the ultimate target group this means that they become active participants in society, enter the labour market on equal terms with their sighted peers, and have a better quality of life in general.

The background of this project is that several professionals were working together on an EU project and identified the need for development of training and materials of educators of children with cerebral visual impairment. Since then the project idea has developed and the group became bigger because it's necessary to connect health care and education professionals together to address this area of need. Therefore the group behind this project comes from a cross sector of professionals that are all connected to the vision field in some way. The objectives of this project are to produce training and teaching materials for teachers, a scanning tool and guidelines for health care and educational professionals. The project group has seen that this kind of training, tools and guidelines are lacking in the European environment of vision. The number of project partners are seven and the profile of them are various. The National Institute for the Blind is experienced in participating in projects nationally and internationally and will be responsible for leading the project. Positive Eye is a training company that will be responsible for developing the seminars (where we train the teacher advisor) it is to be held for professionals across Europe and the partnership organizations. The Royal Blind School - Edinburgh . will be used as a pilot school to try out the resources. This allows the products developed by the partnership to be tried and tested with the teachers and the students with cerebral visual impairment. SPSM - the National Agency for Special Needs Education and Schools is a Research Centre for children with vision loss due to brain damage. SPSM conducts special needs vision assessments and educational advice. They will be responsible for gathering information for the project and pilot the screening and guidelines and other resources that will be put forward. The University of LEUVEN is to be involved in the project and will be represented by Prof Dr Els Ortibus. Dr. Els Ortibus who is a leading specialist in CVI within Europe and will be responsible for creating a screening tool for cerebral visual impairment. ChildVision, Dublin, is Ireland’s National Education Centre for Blind and Visually Impaired children and young people. ChildVision will fulfil the internal moderation function, ensuring through specific methodological means that the ongoing evaluation ensures the project remains on target, in terms of generating an end result with the potential to improve teaching strategies and benefit learners. The Icelandic Diagnostic Center is known for their extensive knowledge of children with disabilities. A paediatrician from the centre who is one of the most experienced doctors in the field in Iceland at working with children with visual impairment will have on their responsible for developing guidelines for health and educational professionals in partnership with University of Leuven. The activities that are going to be supported by this project is intellectual output of knowledge of cerebral vision impairment. This is done by making a educational resources, training materials and seminar for teachers. The methodology used in carrying out the project will be a typical project management methodology. 1. Initiation, 2. planning and design, 3. execution, 4. monitoring and control and 5. closing. We have already begun in the first steps of the project where we have already initiated the idea and started to plan it with budget control, scope and responsibilities. It's not until we have our first meeting where the execution of the project begins where we will over a three year period work on the resource material, web site, develop the screening and the guidelines, host a multiplier event and workshops in our own countries. We envisage that through our project there will be awareness raising in Europe that we can help to fulfill a need for special training for teachers working with students with cerebral visual impairment and that we can help to fulfill that need with our training material, screening and guidelines. Through our work we hope health care and educational professionals will be more interested and have increased knowledge in cerebral visual impairment and more children will be identified and receive the help they need for their disability. It is well known that children that don't recognize their fellow students because of things like face blindness experience barriers.The potential longer term benefits of the project is that the knowledge of CVI will be included in the training of teachers that work with students with CVI and they will no longer be thought to not have the ability to read or write, their right for literacy will be the same as fellow students in the school system.

Education for children, adolescents and young adults with (JNCL)The project aim and the main target group:To improve educational opportunities and non-medical interventions for a disadvantaged and very low frequency group in Europe – children and young people with Juvenil Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis (JNCL), also called Spielmeyer-Vogt disease or Batten disease. The disease is characterized by a developmental course including blindness, epilepsy, speech problems, cognitive regression/dementia, motor coordination problems and emotional reactions including anxiety and depression. There are 33 individuals with JNCL in Norway , the incidence level in other European countries is approximately at the same level.Background:A comprehensive medical and biological research has been going on for the last decades in order to understand the nature of the disease. There is no medical cure yet and the disease leads to premature death, often 20 – 30 years of age. There is a substantial need for alternative initiatives and actions within education and other non-medical services to meet the challenges of the disease in best possible way.There are very few organisations in Europe responsible for non-medical service provision for individuals with JNCL diagnosis because of the low incidence. Non-medical knowledge of the target group’s needs and best practice is scattered and hidden for others, and written documentation hardly exists.Target groups:1. Children and young people with JNCL diagnosis and their families2. Children and young people with other dementia diseases and their families (parts of the project may be relevant for these groups)3. Professionals within non-medical service provision4. Relevant higher education institutions Objectives:1. Compose a non-medical textbook of JNCL that focuses on the possibilities and importance of formal, non-formal and informal learning in a lifelong perspective and quality of life issues. To be used as a basic foundation of knowledge and improved evidence-based non-medical services for the target groups2. Develop educational tools based on the textbook to optimise learning conditions and make educational planning/implementation more effective and targeted.3. Disseminate the project results to relevant stakeholders and through presentations in conferences, seminars and meetings4. Make plans of actions to ensure future sustainability in close cooperation with key organisations such as higher education, relevant service organisations, peer organisations etc.5. Make plans of actions to sustain networking and cooperation between relevant professionals and organisationsProject period and organisation modelProject period: 1. December 2014 to 31. November 2017. Project participating organisations: Statped Heimdal and Norsk Spielmeyer-Vogt Forening (Norway), WESC Foundation and the Batten Disease Family Association (England/UK), Bildungszentrum für Blinde und Sehbehinderte and NCL-Gruppe Deutschland (Germany), Onerva Mäki School and Suomen JNCL-perheiden tukiyhdistys ry (Finland) and Royal Blind School (Scotland). A Working/Steering committee has been appointed and there are resource groups available for the project composed by researchers on JNCL from various disciplines. Activities and methodologyThe project has 3 main phases: (1) Fact finding and developing new knowledge (2) Documentation/textbook and development of educational tools (3) DisseminationThe project will be organised in periods of 6 months in accordance with different working activities. The Working/Steering committee plan to have 2-days transnational meetings per year attached to these periods with the following agenda: • Evaluate the last implemented period• Compose a detailed plan of action including mid-term goals for the next periodThe textbook and the educational tools will be translated to Finnish, German and Norwegian and will be available as PDF files. The textbook will be submitted to relevant institutions of higher education, relevant service providers and peer organisations in all participating countries at no cost. Longer term benefitsThe Working/Steering committee will assist higher education and relevant service providers in preparing curriculums and service portfolios based on the textbook.Training of professionals in using the educational tools will be organised in all participating countries.The Working/Steering committee will organise meetings/seminars in each participating country in order to promote project results. Each participating country will make plans of actions in how to ensure the sustainability and further development of knowledge and service provision, and to ensure further collaboration between project participating organisations. The project results will be presented in different international/national conferences after 2017.