What initiatives will be taken to improve staff competences and support students, including those with disabilities?
A Centre of Excellence for Universal Design at the TUL will be established, which will include laboratories for mechanical, electronic, ergonomic analysis and simulation and VR virtual reality.
As the Rector explains
- We will create pilot virtual laboratories (VIRLAB) at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Laboratory workstations will be virtualised, reproducing real conditions as closely as possible, which will make it possible to carry out laboratory exercises from any place, including remotely from home. The laboratories will provide equal opportunities in access to quality teaching for people with disabilities. Thanks to the developed tool called VIRTOOL it will be possible to transfer existing physical laboratories to virtual reality, as well as create new laboratories only in VR technology.
The project also envisages training for the staff of the Disabled Persons Office at TUL, e.g. in digital accessibility and the principles of creating and presenting content for students with disabilities.
The project also envisages training for the staff of the Disabled Persons Office at TUL, e.g. in digital accessibility and the principles of creating and presenting content for students with disabilities.
- The so-called Access Officers, i.e. coordinators for accessibility, will be responsible, among other things, for auditing, monitoring and reporting on the state of accessibility of a given unit in all areas listed in the so-called Accessibility Act, notes Rector Jóźwik. – There will be also procedures developed to ensure equal opportunities for students and doctoral students with disabilities in terms of access to education and scientific research.
The architecture of the campus will be changed. In order to make it even more friendly, inconveniences restricting the freedom of movement of persons with disabilities will be eliminated.
- We want to increase the safety of our students and employees, which is why the funds obtained under the project will be used to purchase specialised equipment, including, for instance, sound amplification devices for the blind, visual alarms for the hearing impaired and evacuation chairs for people with impaired mobility,'- the rector mentions. - Getting around the TUL campus will be made easier by a digitalised map. The system will search for objects and help in reaching a particular destination depending on the level and type of disability. It will obviously be an application available for mobile devices.
In addition to the above-mentioned activities, the project will include training courses, study visits and e-learning courses for employees and students, as well as participation in fairs and conferences. In order to ensure digital accessibility of educational services, a team of specialists will be appointed at the E-Learning Centre, responsible for designing the use of computer techniques to overcome disability barriers, with particular attention to all IT systems built and used at the university.
The introduced facilities, by supporting education, developing innovative educational tools and improving the management system, will help not only disabled persons but all students and employees of Lodz University of Technology. The team of all activities related to the problem of accessibility of the university, including the activities in the project, will be coordinated by dr. Dariusz Koperczak.