Civic engagement of HEI students in the creation of a Pan-European mapping app for socially inclusive higher education institutions and accessible European cities

<< Background >>Civic participation and service-learning engagement with HE can enhance the citizenship competences among HE students including better critical thinking, social skills and appreciation of diversity. EC’s Renewed EU Agenda for Higher Education (2017) outlines community and civic engagement as a mechanism to strengthen and promote their societal purposes. The Map4Accessibility project addresses studies the opportunities to integrate service-learning (SL) in HEI curriculums, involving local community and NGOs, via a comprehensive SL approach.At the tertiary level 36% of persons aged 30-34 have completed tertiary or equivalent education with the rate among people with disabilities being 27%. The Map4Accessibility project gathers 7 partners from 5 EU Member States (Germany, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, and Bulgaria) with complementary profiles to introduce a competence-based mix to address the following 3 needs in EU and HEI: i) low levels of civic engagement among HEI students, ii) low awareness and the need to empowering students to co-create solution for inclusivity and accessibility through SL approaches, iii) the need for socially inclusive and accessible HEIs and EU cities with improved accessibility and inclusivity policies.<< Objectives >>By blending social inclusion, disability accessibility, civic engagement and ICT-enabled solutions the idea for the Map4Accessibility project was born. The main objective of the project is to civically engage HEI students through service-learning (SL), ECTS recognised activities in the co-creation of a pan-European PWA highlighting both digital and physical accessibility at the urban level. The project’s specific objectives are: i) promote and increase SL, community engagement and strengthen civic skills among HEI students by offering ECST credits for students’ involvement in the project SL activities, ii) gather and share best practices and expertise on digital and physical accessibility for HEIs and cities at large; iii) design a Pan-European accessibility mapping tool built based on an existing mobile application which enables people with disabilities to be better informed on the accessibility of public spaces and be able to influence both HEIs and a variety of institutions for an improvement in accessibility levels, iv) promote the inclusive education agenda – including but not limited to HEIs.<< Implementation >>The project is defined in five work packages (WPs) distributed per leadership (WPL) and participation on a competence basis. Each WP has tasks, led by a different task leader (TL). The work plan was distributed as follows:WP1: Multi-stakeholder co-design process, WPL: UNITUS T1.1. Benchmarking: Service-Learning Practices and Accessibility Mapping, TL: UNITUS T1.2. Partners’ internal feedback: Analysis of needs and requirements, TL: UNITUS T1.3. Multi-stakeholder external feedback, TL: ARFIE T1.4. Service-Learning Pedagogical Approach and Community Mapping Methodology, TL: UNITUSWP2: Iterative development phase, WPL:AS T2.1. Technical Specifications and User Interface Design, TL: AS T2.2. Content Development Integration – lead – EP T2.3. Initial testing and first release, TL: AS T2.4. Testing analysis, content integration and final release (PR3), TL: AS T2.5. Guide on Digital Accessibility for HEIs (PR2), TL: EP WP3: Local civic engagement – HEI Case Studies, WPL: UNICTT3.1. Exploratory Walks and Participatory Community HEI Student Training, TL: UNITUS T3.2. Local Case Study in Catania, Italy, TL: UNICT T3.3. Local Case Study in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, TL: SWU T3.4. Local Case Study in Berlin, Germany, TL: ESCP T3.5. Local Case Study in Lisbon, Portugal, TL: AS T3.6. Applications of Service-Learning Handbook: an Innovative Pedagogical Approach to engage students and teachers for accessibility and inclusivity, TL: SWUWP4: Stakeholder engagement, book release and replicability, WPL: ARFIE T4.1. Creation of a sharing and promotion plan and project website, TL: EP T4.2. Map4A11accessibility Local Workshop Sessions, TL: ARFIE T4.3. Local Mapping Projects – Mapping Party, TL: SWU T4.4. Stakeholder engagement, networking, and replicability, TL: ARFIE T4.5. Final “Towards Accessibility4All” conference, TL: UNITUS T4.6. Open Access Map4Accessibility book – Co-design for Accessible Institutions and Cities, TL: UNICTWP5: Project Management, WPL: UNITUS T5.1. Reporting and communication with INDIRA, the Italian National Erasmus+ Agency, TL: UNITUS T5.2. Quality Plan and Monitoring, TL: EP T5.3. Internal Project Management and management tools, TL: UNITUS Refer to Annex I. Work Plan for an in-depth overview of activities.The project partners, educational entities, NGO community organisations and SMEs, co-designed with their versatile expertise SL community tools (PR1, PR4), the Map4accessibility app (PR3), the accessibility-related PRs (PR2, PR5). HEIs brought their student cohorts and expertise to elaborate the pedagogy to be used, NGO community organisations provided the tools and the networks, while the SME will contributed with a practical experience for web design and development and project management.<< Results >>In NUMERICAL TERMS via the project the following results have been achieved: o 5 Universities in 4 countries (Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and Portugal) and their student organisations were engaged in at least 20 distinct organised Service-Learning Community Mapping Activities (exploratory walks, urban walks, mapping parties) engaging 250 students or other stakeholders, o 12 Multiplier events were organised engaging more than more than 250 stakeholders, o at least 20 HEI students or stakeholders with disabilities were direct participants in the project activities, o More than 2500 stakeholders made aware of the project and its results. o 5 Project Results were developed in high quality as described below. All of them are open access, available on the project’s website and distributed via own and partners’ networks. PR1 and PR5 are scientific publications and are respectively published in OpenGate and the Franco Angeli journal.PR1: MAP4ACCESSIBILITY SERVICE-LEARNING AND COMMUNITY MAPPINGMETHODOLOGY The methodology outlines the service learning and community mapping methodology to be applied within the project. It includes the service-learning pedagogical approach to be applied within the project, an overview and application of community mapping practices with a specific emphasis on exploratory and urban walks as co-design community mapping methods, identified via a field study (internal and external questionnaires, focus groups) gaps in current accessibility mapping tools, needs and requirements for physical and digital accessibility and provide a facilitation guide on how to apply the methodology. PR2: MAP4ACCESSIBILITY GUIDE ON INCLUSIVE DIGITAL ACCESSIBILITY Based on project experimental activities and partner’s experience in digital, web and app accessibility an open access guide on digital accessibility has been designed. Theoretical knowledge and practical tools were provided to designers and developers both within and outside academic institutions enabling them to create a more accessible digital environment within campuses. A short visually attractive graphical reference guide in the form of one-pager per digital representation form (e.g. e-learning, presentation, etc. has been included as part of the guide and is available as a separate download in all the project languages and in English. See here: https://map4accessibility.eu/resources/ PR3: MAP4ACCESSIBILITY MAPPING WEBSITE AND PROGRESSIVE WEB APP (PWA) Based on the app +Acesso para Todos, an accessibility mapping website and app has been adapted, co-designed and co-developed through service-learning activities with HEI students. The mappingtools, embedding Universal Design Principles, allows for citizen collaboration in rating accessibility of public places and provides routing opportunities to users to inform about accessibility at the city level. PR4: APPLICATIONS OF SERVICE-LEARNING HANDBOOK: AN INNOVATIVE PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH TO ENGAGE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS FOR ACCESSIBILITY AND INCLUSIVITY Within the project a best practice guide on how to implement ECTS recognised service learning as a pedagogical methodology in educational institutions (not limited to HEIs) has been compiled. It focuses on ways to engage students in real-life, community-based and community needs driven projects in addition to theoretical knowledge gained within their academic degrees. The handbook Focuses on disability and inclusivity service-learning experiences for students. PR5: OPEN ACCESS BOOK – MAP4ACCESSIBILITY – CO-DESIGN FOR ACCESSIBLE INSTITUTIONS AND CITIES The final project result is a digital open-access book (adapted to be printed as well) including aspect related to: i) identification of legally binding accessibility standards for buildings and within the city, ii) proposal of accessibility standards in the built environment which go beyond the legal norms, iii) proposal for urban planning on how to make key urban features more accessible, iv) best practices for digital accessibility. Articles from external professionals and project partners representatives were collected and reviewed to result in 10 articles from different authors, combined in three subject topics: 1) Accessibility for all: projects and best practices; 2) Declining accessibility: from the normative dimension to the urban landscape and 3) Accessibility and novel research paths.