"Project Title:""Professional support for the teachers of visually impaired pupils in a mainstream schools""""Veljko Ramadanovic"" School of Visually Impaired Students, Belgrade has one hundred years of experience working with blind and visually impaired pupils.We recognized the necessity to provide training to teachers in an inclusive setting for using assistive technology, various tiflodidactic tools and Braille.We are building collaboration with the following partner organizations in order to exchange experiences and strengthen knowledge in this field:1. Center IRIS- Center za izobrazevanje, rehabilitacijo, inkluzijo in svetovanje za slepe in slabovidne, Slovenia;2. ISTITUTO REGIONALE RITTMEYER PER I CIECHI DI TRIESTE, Italy;3. Drzavno uciliste za deca i mladi so osteten vid ,,Dimitar Vlahov“, The Republic of North Macedonia.Goals:Our goals:- To strengthen the professional competencies of teachers in working with blind and visually impaired pupils in inclusive education settings- To encourage social inclusion of pupils with visual impairment in mainstream schools- To improve the teaching quality by using assistive technologies in inclusive education.Activities:1. Provide a professional training course for the subject teachers (two-day training course)2. Design a handbook for teachers in inclusive education as a practical guide for working with blind and partially sighted students;3. Exchange of good practices at the meetings, via Skype, Viber and a Web Site formed during the duration of the Erasmus + project.Results: - A new, published Manual as a practical guide to teachers in inclusive education, which provides information on the use of assistive technologies, and on Braille notation in subjects of natural sciences (math, physics, chemistry); - A training program of teachers in working with blind and visually impaired pupils in inclusive education settings; - Website - created during the duration of the Erasmus + project will serve as a platform for the exchange of good practices between partners and teachers in mainstream schools.The project activities will include about 40 teachers from the mainstream schools (per participating organizations). The project will greatly contribute to increasing the competencies of teachers engaged in the education of pupils with visual impairment."

"The ""Empowering Kids with Interactive Digital Library"" is an innovative project which focuses on integrating literacy, reading, analytical thinking and creative skills at school education level on a multi-lingual digital distance-learning platform using transfer effects between these competencies besides artistic, cultural effects and elements. The project is coordinated by University if Malaga within the partnership of University of Crete, Tashkent State Pedagogical University, I.V. college and D.V. school.The main objectives of the project are:- equipping education and training systems to face the challenges presented by the recent sudden shift to online and distance learning by creating free digital-educational resources with a creative commons license,- strengthening the strategic/structured cooperation across the EU education institutions and digital technology providers and experts in educational technologies to develop high-quality digital resources/tools,- supporting teachers to develop digital competences and safeguarding the inclusive nature of learning opportunities,- enabling students to acquire reading and creative skills through innovative digital content,- taking advantage of the increasing convergence of communications media and institutional roles to create and disseminate digital content,- adapting to digital changes in education at the organizational level,- maintaining effective partnerships for cooperation in developing tailor-made solutions adapted to local challenges and realities.TARGET GROUPThe project targets the involvement of more than 500 teachers, 5000 students at the primary and secondary school level in innovative activities promoting the use of digital resources for increasing young learners' literacy, reading, analytical thinking, and creative skills. In the long term, we target all teachers, parents, students at the primary and secondary school level as well as the Language and Literature Departments of universities, education faculties, researchers and policymakers, and all related stakeholders. ACTIVITIESThere will be three Transnational Project Meetings(TPMs), the Kick-off meeting, an interim meeting for evaluation and corrections, and the final meeting for preparing the report, finalizing the outputs, dissemination and sustainability of the project. Three participants from each partner institution will participate in each TPMs. The project involves one short-term joint-staff training event(LTT) for joint work to set up a tailor-made framework for creating digital stories targeting the students between the age of 10-15.The mobility, “Digital Story Writing Workshop”, will be organized by UOC. The event will take place for 5 days in September 2021 with the involvement of 30 participants. It'll cover training and activities about the fundamental steps of the digital story creation process.OUTPUTSThe project ""Empowering Kids with Interactive Digital Library"" aims to create two intellectual outputs that lead us to achieve project goals. The Digital Storybooks enriched with interactive pre/while/post-reading activities supported by 6 languages and a digital library web platform where approximately 600 digital storybooks in different languages and other tangible materials.It has been planned to reach 260 people from educational environments with two multiplier events, which will be held at an international level in Uzbekistan and Spain.IMPACTThe project will adapt the fundamental changes in the traditional education concepts according to the requirements of this digital era, contribute to solving lots of flows and shortcomings of educational systems during the extraordinary time we are passing through, and make essential transformation at local, national and international level. The target group of students is expected to develop literacy, reading, analytical thinking and creative skills through literature from a lifelong learning perspective. The target group of teachers is expected to use the digital library, rich in high-quality content, accessible from anywhere and anytime for free, and can practically be embedded in educational curriculums at school education level. The participants will develop their skills in digital story writing for the target group of readers, which is a transferable key impact for further projects at the organizational, national or international level. In the long term, we expect more academicians, researchers, curricula developers and policymakers will be interested in the establishment of interactive digital libraries or transform existing libraries into a digital format by adding innovative ideas for the use of society. By the end of the project, 30 participants will have been involved in LTT events, 260 participants in multiplier events. More than 500 teachers and 5000 students will have got the benefit of the project activities. We expect to reach about 10000 beneficiaries from stakeholders."

<< Background >>The special schools involved in the project are implementing customized education programs for the blind and partially sighted. To ensure the best possible conditions for education, each of them has developed various activities, including the adaptation of didactic materials for blind and partially sighted students. In the past, blind and partially sighted students were only included in specialized institutions. In these institutions, teachers have specific knowledge and experiences for adapting didactic materials and teaching aids for the needs of lessons.With development of inclusive education, blind and partially sighted students in all partner countries have become increasingly involved in inclusive schools. This has increased the need for adaptation of wide variety of teaching materials, as each school selects them autonomously. Because teachers during their studies are not trained to teach blind and partially sighted students, they often find themselves in need of how to adapt teaching materials so that these students can achieve their learning goals and be equally involved in the pedagogical process. For quality teaching and inclusion of the blind and partially sighted, they need various special knowledge in the field of teaching material, adapting materials, using adapted ICT equipment, knowledge of orientation and mobility, and braille. These teachers turn to special institutions for help and support. All partner schools are currently in the process of transforming into professional centers, the main goal of which is to help and support inclusive education. Transition is a process that requires professionals to be prepared for change and to acquire new skills. The design of the project and its main goals are therefore intended to raise the professional competencies of teachers who teach blind and partially sighted students and to raise the competencies of professionals who adapt various didactic materials. Teachers in Slovene and foreign schools use various teaching materials during their teaching process, but they can be useless for teaching blind and partially sighted students if they are not adapted in an appropriate way. When reviewing the materials with which teachers pursue the goals of the curricula, we can see that there is a lot of material. Some of these are essential for the acquisition of learning objectives and the achievement of knowledge standards. In doing so, we face the challenge of how to adapt tactile material that cannot be replaced by a description for the blind so that it does not differ significantly from the original and is accessible to students and teachers. Teachers are not sufficiently equipped with the knowledge and skills for this type of work and do not have the necessary hardware and software.Despite many years of practice, organizations involved in the adaptation of tactile material still adapt their own tactile material for the blind and partially sighted, as there are no unified recommendations. We are aware that unified recommendations could ensure better quality adjustments, as well as the possibility of exchanging adapted image material between partners. On the basis of unified recommendations, a freely accessible collection of adapted tactile material would be created, thus enabling teachers of blind and partially sighted students to access professionally adapted and high-quality teaching material for use in the classroom. By preparing videos and instructions for using a freely accessible collection of adapted tactile didactic material, we will also train teachers for their proper use. It is also important to note that in most countries, except Serbia, there is no higher education institution that would deal with the development of didactics and teaching methods for the blind and partially sighted, so international networking of experts within the project is important from the perspective of professional development.<< Objectives >>The plan of the project, whose main goals are to raise the competencies of professionals who teach blind and partially sighted students and to raise the competencies of professionals who adapt tactile didactic material for the blind, addresses the needs of all participating partners. With this project, we want to establish an international network of professionals who adapt materials for the blind and partially sighted, in order to acquire new skills in adapting tactile didactic materials and use their in-depth knowledge in creating a freely accessible collection. Acquaintance of teachers who teach the blind and partially sighted with the collection and Instructions for the use of these materials will enable the raising of teachers' competencies and the rationalization of their preparation and implementation of the learning process.Also, at the international level we still do not have unified recommendations for adapting visual material for the blind, so each organization adapts in its own way. Unified recommendations mean richer and better adjustments and offer the possibility of exchanging adapted image material between partners. Therefore, our desire is to ensure a high professional level of adaptation in all partner organizations by adopting unified Recommendations for the adaptation of tactile didactic material, which will facilitate the production of tactile materials for teachers of blind and partially sighted students.With a set of tactile material that will support the learning objectives, we will provide teachers with professionally adapted teaching material that they will be able to use during the lesson or will provide it to students for independent work. With this project, we want to give them free access to a collection of adapted tactile materials for the blind and partially sighted and train them how to use them. Instructions for using the collection and a video presentation will be available to them. Teachers are expected to use the materials in their pedagogical process and to enable blind and partially sighted students to be more equally involved in the pedagogical process, to provide a rich and professional quality set of tactile materials and to ensure greater sovereignty in implementing an inclusive educational process.Our wish is that all newly acquired knowledge to be included in professional training programs for teachers, which are organized by partner organizations also after the project. Last but not least, we want to enable the participants in the Erasmus + project to exchange knowledge and experience, both in the field of content, as well as in the field of teamwork, project management and language competences.<< Implementation >>Several different activities will be carried out during the project. Five international project meetings will be held, the purpose of which is to connect with partners, review current work, plan goals and future activities. International project meetings strengthen the connection between the partners and enable the exchange of ideas and good practices between all participants in the project. During the project, they are scheduled in such way that they enable the conditions for good cooperation and continuity of work on the set goals as much as possible. All but one meeting will be conducted live, which strengthens the working etiquette of all participants and facilitates collaboration. The first international meeting is more of an organizational nature, so it will take place virtually, and all the others are set up for live work, which enables higher quality in working progress. In addition to international project meetings, there will be continuous meetings of leaders of every partner organisation and the project coordinator, which allows for constant review of planned activities, monitoring of progress, resolving potential issues, conflicts or problems. There will also be two learning / teaching / training activities aimed at deepening existing knowledge and acquiring new knowledge. The first training Adaptation of textbooks and other teaching materials for the blind and partially sighted is intended to deepen knowledge about the adaptation of teaching materials and the acquisition of new knowledge in this field. The emphasis will be on adapting teaching materials and adapting didactic tactile material. The training will take place with the active participation of all project members in order to gain as much experience and practice in the field of adaptation. The second training on audio description of tactile material is another possible form of adaptation, which enables further development of the field of adaptation of didactic tactile material. At the end of the project, Multiplicative events will be held in every country of each partner and coordinator on the project. They will be intended for the presentation of project activities and results, to all those who are directly or indirectly involved in working with adapted materials. The event will be aimed at teachers of blind and partially sighted students, IRIS Centre professionals, parents of blind and partially sighted children, representatives of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, covering the field of education of children with special needs and the field of the development and quality of education and also other interested public e.g. publishers. Project partners who will join us via a virtual connection will also be invited to the event. Multiplicative events will be organized in each country separately, in order to reach as many users as possible. These events will be organized in the final phase of the project so that the concrete results of successful international project cooperation can be presented.<< Results >>The expected products of the project are the manual Unified Recommendations for Adapting Visual Didactic Material for the Blind, which is intended for all professionals of special schools involved in adapting tactile didactic material, as well as teachers to help identify appropriately adapted materials and options for adapting selected material. The product of the project is also the Collection of adapted tactile didactic material for the blind and partially sighted. The collection will be freely accessible and extensive. It will collect all appropriately adapted tactile didactic materials of the participating organizations, which will be made during the project. The collection will remain freely accessible even after the end of the project and will be constantly updated with new. appropriately adapted tactile didactic materials. Thus, teachers of the blind and partially sighted will have a larger set of professionally adapted tactile material. The product of the project will also be the published Instructions for the use of adapted tactile didactic material for the blind and partially sighted, which will be supported by video demonstrations for teachers of blind and partially sighted students. The use of adapted tactile material requires certain knowledge and approaches, for a comprehensive understanding, so such instructions are necessary, as they allow their proper use. The expected results of the project are that teachers of blind and partially sighted students will use adapted tactile didactic material in the pedagogical process, freely access the collection of adapted tactile materials and be more efficent and autonomus in the implementation of the educational process. The expected results of the project will also be reflected in the adopted unified recommendations for adapting tactile didactic material for the blind and the established international network of professionals adapting materials for the blind and partially sighted and knowledge of various education systems for children with special needs in partner countries. The newly acquired knowledge will be included in professional training programs for teachers organized by partner organizations, professionals in partner organizations will acquire new competencies in adapting teaching materials and video presentations for teachers of blind and partially sighted students. Project work enables the acquisition of new knowledge and experience in the field of teamwork and project management, as well as the development of language competencies using the English language. The results of the project will affect the quality of education of blind and partially sighted students, who will have adapted learning materials that are currently inaccessible to them in order to achieve the learning objectives from the curricula.

FRAME:In today's world without using digital tools, in teaching subject specific field is impossible since our students use digital tools more and more at all. Regarding this, integrating digital devices, school administration software, and applications into the classroom serve to improve learning and boost good study habits. Bearing this in mind, innovating the teaching is become imperative due to emerging corona outbreak, schools across the EU turned into online teaching to ensure safety of the kids. During the rise of online classes, teachers have tried to explore new ways of encouraging students to self-direct their learning. In this regard, academic lessons, such as Science, Maths, Language, History, etc are relatively taught through the use of digital tools. However, the social interaction required lessons, such as PE have not been taught effectively since lack of adequate, appropriate, effective and inclusive digital tools to teach PE online. Bearing this in mind, according to our desk research, conducted on 300 PE teachers, 5.000 students and 98 schools (across the partner countries) showed that during the covid outbreak the PE did not go well because:- The current PE curriculum was designed in person and/or face to face education, which does not address the needs,- The inadequacy of physical education teachers who are not familiar with teaching PE online,- Lack of digital tools for physical education designed for online PE,- Lack of motivation kids taking part in PE lessons online,Thus, the covid outbreak showed us to rethink, reshape and redesign the current PE education, find new methods, adjust our teaching methods and/or techniques to address the needs of the teachers and students. In line with these, the following objectives are identified:OBJECTIVES:- To design a need based online PE education curriculum, which addresses the current situation and future of PE, - To strengthen PE teachers' profiles and ease how to teach PE online through the use of digital tools,- To produce a digital education package, which addressees the needs of PE teachers, schools and kids. - To increase the motivation of the kids participating the PE online.- To cooperate and network with associations representing schools, NFE centres and NGOs to create a more modern, dynamic, commitment and technology based PE education. - To promote virtual training virtual trainings for PE teachers. - To incorporate digital online technology into PE-specific teaching, training and learning,- To pilot PE digital educational resources with non-formal methodological approach The project aims to address the challenges identified above by providing PE teachers skills and competencies and young kids motivation the attitudes and skills needed to participating PE lessons through online. STOP+ will achieve these goals through:OI: Curriculum on teaching PE online.O2: Web-platform, eLearning modules and tutorial videosO3 Tooll-kit for PE teachersO4: Webinars and seminars promoting how to teach PE online. BENEFICIARIES:- PE teachers.- ICT teachers.- Students aged 10-17. - Schools at primary and/or secondary level in VET and general level.- Sport staffs/NGOs.METHODOLOGY:The project foresees to implement blended learning approach with blended/hybrid materials.Regarding this, we first of all develop the current PE curriculum, namely we blend the PE to online tools.Then, we develop a web-platform, comprising eLearning modules and tutorial videos to ensure distance learning and self-learning. Then, we produce a tool-kit as a pondered and improved collection of the educational tools employed in the local and international phase of Piloting.This toolkit is a guideline and comprise a series of lesson plans, tools, tips to teach PE in the new normal and online. We arrange virtual trainings for PE teachers, students, educators, educators and parents of the students. To educate the PE teachers and test the effectiveness of the education package, we organize staff training. To arrange milestones of the proejct, we organize 4 face to face transnational meetings. To reach out wider teachers, students and education communities, we use eTwinning and SEG, namely our cooperation mainly keeps up virtually. DEVELOPMENT(s):As outcomes from the implementation of this project the PE teachers, students and participated organizations will be able to:From PE teacher perspective, they will straighten their profiles and will learn how to use digital tools teaching PE online. From students perspective, they will be motivated taking part in PE online From schools' perspective, they will have a more, modern, dynamic, inclusive, need-based, digital and commitment PE resources.This transnational cooperation will contribute to the solution of problems we face and create a more long lasting impact in the areas we want to record improvement by sharing ideas and methods while operating and networking at transnational level.

<< Objectives >>Its specific objectives include: – Development of gamification software and tools for English lessons;– The creation of a gamification platform and a mobile application to digitalize the gamification tools;-For students with disabilities (visual impairments, hearing impairments, intellectual disabilities, and dyslexia), teachers are encouraged to use and share effective methods for teaching English to those with fewer opportunities.<< Implementation >>3 face to face meetingdigital tools and new technologies. 1 Ltta3 virtual activities to produce the results of the project<< Results >>Implementation of gamification in English classroom (R1)Defining Learning Objectives (Kick off)Implementation - production, and testing of R2Creation of a user-friendly gamification platform for open educational resources (OER). (R2)exchanging and analyzing information among partners on the current progress of the project and its performance. (2.TPM)- Increased the level of competencies of staff in using gamification tools in school. (1.LTTA)Creation of a mobile app (R3)