d502.4 training activities report - prosperity4all · 2 . abstract . this document sets out the...

Ecosystem infrastructure for smart and personalised inclusion and PROSPERITY for ALL stakeholders www.prosperity4all.eu

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Ecosystem infrastructure for smart and personalised inclusion and PROSPERITY for ALL stakeholders

D502.4 Training Activities Report

Project Acronym Prosperity4All Grant Agreement number FP7-610510

Deliverable number D502.4

Work package number WP502 Work package title Dissemination and Training

Authors Olga Gaitatzi, Stella Nikolaou, Pavlos Spanidis, Katerina Touliou, Evangelos Bekiaris (CERTH)

Status Final Dissemination Level Public

Delivery Date 08/10/2015 Number of Pages 55

http://www.prosperity4all.eu/


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Abstract

This document sets out the strategy and options for training different user groups within the

P4A project, specifically for the following users: developers/implementers, people with accessibility needs, stakeholders (e.g. researchers, experts, user organizations, public bodies, companies, etc.), whilst creating the P4A infrastructure and its different parts.

Training activities range from remote to face-to-face meetings, workshops, webinars, and e-learning courses through the P4A online training platform.

Detailed descriptions of the courses for each major user group, including the evaluations of the training materials, will be reported in two updates of this deliverable; D502.4-1 (M30) for implementers and D502.4-2 for end-users (M40), with complete sets of information to be used by the people who will populate the P4A ecosystem after the end of the project, not limited to the SP4 evaluation activities.

Keyword List

Training, developers, implementers, e-learning, online platform, remote training.

Version History

Revision Date Author Organisation Description

1 21/09/2015 Olga Gaitatzi, Stella Nikolaou, Evangelos Bekiaris, Pavlos Spanidis, Katerina Touliou

CERTH Draft submitted for internal review

2 22/09/2015 Eva de Lera RTF-I Received comments and suggestions (internal review)

3 23/09/2015 Stefan Parker KI-I Received comments and suggestions (internal review)

4 29/09/2015 Katerina Touliou CERTH Submission of final version to the whole consortium



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Revision Date Author Organisation Description

5 08/10/15 Doris Janssen FhG Receved comments and suggestions

6 08/10/15 Olga Gaitatzi CERTH Comments and suggestions incorporated



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Table of Contents

Executive Summary .......................................................................................................... 8

1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 9

1.1 Objectives .................................................................................................................... 9

1.2 Contribution to the overall architecture ................................................................... 11

2 Methodology .........................................................................................................13

3 Overall approach ...................................................................................................14

3.1 Types of training activities ......................................................................................... 14

3.2 Online training platform ............................................................................................ 15

3.3 Face-to-face and remote training activities .............................................................. 17

4 Challenges in training activities ..............................................................................11

5 Learning model and techniques .............................................................................11

5.1 Structure of courses .................................................................................................. 13

5.1.1 Guidelines for designing the courses ................................................................. 13

6 Audiences, thematic areas and materials ...............................................................16

6.1 Audiences .................................................................................................................. 16

6.2 Thematic areas .......................................................................................................... 17

6.3 Training material........................................................................................................ 17

6.3.1 Courses for developers/implementers .............................................................. 18

6.3.2 End-users’ and stakeholders’ courses ................................................................ 20

6.3.3 Training the moderators .................................................................................... 21

6.4 The P4A online training platform .............................................................................. 21

6.5 Developer Space: training by expert ......................................................................... 22

7 Activities timeplan and opportunities ....................................................................23

7.1 Timeplan for joint dissemination, demonstration and training activities ................. 25



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7.2 Workshops for pilots ................................................................................................. 26

8 Evaluation of training activities ..............................................................................27

9 Conclusion .............................................................................................................29

References .......................................................................................................................30

Annex A. Training activity and platform evaluation form ..................................................31

Annex B. On-Line Training platform: technical specifications and standards .....................33

Annex C. On-Line Documentation & materials ..................................................................34

Annex D. Online course creation template .......................................................................37

Annex E: User manual (P4A online training platform) .......................................................41

Annex F: Secondary functionalities of the P4A online training platform ............................49

List of Tables

Table 1: Benchmarking assessment ......................................................................................... 16

Table 2: Organized webinars so far by P4A .............................................................................. 18

Table 3: Organized Workshops so far P4A ............................................................................... 18

Table 4: Overview of face-to-face and remote training activities performed so far within P4A ...................................................................................................................................... 1

Table 5: Overview of P4A training activities’ plans per user group ......................................... 16

Table 6: Overview of future training activities within P4A ...................................................... 23

Table 7: Overview of prospective joint training and dissemination activities within P4A ...... 26

List of Figures

Figure 1: Prosperity4All workflow diagram .............................................................................. 12

Figure 2: Training overall approach for structuring the courses ............................................. 15

Figure 3: The clusters of actors (from D401.1) ........................................................................ 16



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Figure 4: The main page of the P4A Atutor platform (left) and list of courses (Browse Courses tab) (right) .................................................................................................................. 22

Figure 5: Training evaluation form page .................................................................................. 27

Figure 6: Sign/Register user page ............................................................................................. 41

Figure 7: Course menu page .................................................................................................... 42

Figure 8: Course navigation and jump start (up) ..................................................................... 44

Figure 9: Preference settings window ...................................................................................... 45

Figure 10: Inbox area of the e-learning platform ..................................................................... 49

Figure 11: The forum functionality of a specific course ........................................................... 50

Figure 12: The Networking functionality of the P4A e-learning platform ............................... 51

Figure 13: The Tests & Surveys functionality of the P4A e-learning platform ......................... 52

Figure 14: The supported translation languages of Prosperity 4All e-learning platform ........ 53

Figure 15: The Preferences page of the P4A platform ............................................................. 54

Figure 16: UI Contrasts (Black on White theme, Black on Yellow, White on black, Yellow on Black) .......................................................................................................................... 55



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List of abbreviations

Abbreviation Full form

AoD Assistance on Demand

API Application Progamming Interface

AT Assistive Technology

C4A Cloud4All

D Deliverable

DoW Description of Work

DSpace DeveloperSpace

FAQ Frequently Asked Question

GPL General Public License

GPII Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure

HTML HyperText Markup Language

IO Input Output

LMS Learning Management System

LRN Learning Research Network

OS Operating System

P4A Prosperity4all

SCORM Sharable Content Object Reference Model

SP Sub-Project

UI User Interface

WCAG2.0 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

WYSIWYG What You See Is What You Get

WP Work Package

W3C World Wide Web Consortium



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Executive Summary

This document sets out the strategy and options for training the user groups within the P4A project which is aiming to create training for the following users: developers/implementers, people with accessibility needs, stakeholders (e.g. researchers, experts, user organizations, public bodies, companies, etc.) whilst creating the P4A infrastructure and its different parts.

Training activities range from remote to face-to-face meetings, workshops, webinars, and e-learning courses through the P4A online training platform.

The main objectives of the training schemes for different user groups are set in the introductory Chapter 1. The appropriate blended training methods and techniques are discussed in Chapter 2. The different types of training activities are presented in Chapter 3.

The complexity of the project and the diversity of involved actors are taken up in Chapter 4.

The training thematic areas for the courses to be developed, the actual training materials, and a high level structure of each targeted audience’s curriculum (including the training of the evaluation moderators) are included in Chapter 6.

The timelines for the future training activities are presented in Chapter 7 and, finally, the self-assessment mechanisms developed, is described in Chapter 8 of this document.

Supporting information is annexed, like the online training evaluation questionnaire (Annex A), the specifications of the P4A training platform (Annex B), examples of existing documentation to support the implementation process (Annex C). The online courses will be completed by SP2 developers and will be used by implementers and by SP3 implementers for training users and people with accessibility needs (Annex D) and as user guidance for accessing the P4A online training platform (Annexes E and F).

The deliverable concludes (Chapter 9) by specifying when and where the next steps will be reported. Detailed descriptions of the courses for each major user group, including the evaluation of the training materials, will be reported in two separate updates of the deliverable; D502.4-1 (M30) for implementers and D502.4-2 for end-users (M40) with complete sets of information to be used with the people who will populate the P4A ecosystem after the end of the project and not just the training materials for the SP4 evaluation activities.

The P4A traning platform can be accessed via the following link: http://www.hit-projects.gr/prosperity4all/login.php.


http://www.hit-projects.gr/prosperity4all/login.php



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1 Introduction

Training within the P4A project aims to provide adequate and necessary information, materials and support to involved actors (largely grouped in implementers, users with accessibility needs, and stakeholders) about the core architectural elements, components, improved SP3 implementations (for end-users) and, generally, the interaction with various parts of the infrastructure. Training within P4A does not simply offer training of end-users and stakeholders to participate in evaluation activities, but also offers skill-based training to developers and implementers for integrating components to existing applications and services, aiming to offer customised/customisable solutions. Training is not only important for the conduction of evaluations but also for rendering implementers able to carry out their development work and looping feedback back to the creators of the training materials and the respective developments.

It is necessary to define the appropriate learning approaches and the structure of the training schemes. An important aspect of the P4A training activities, at least for the first two years of the project, is the remote training and communication between the SP2 and SP3 teams.

Firstly, it is important to define the objectives of the training activities within the project. Secondly, it is necessary to identify the user groups and the clusters of actors who will require training or will use the training resources. Thirdly, to describe the learning approaches adopted and applied for preparing and presenting training material and, finally, define the structure of the training courses and materials to be developed for each user group. The training activities that have taken place or will be carried out during the course of the project are also reported.

1.1 Objectives Training within P4A aims to:

• Allow access to training/information about the elements, characteristics and capabilities of the components they can use (internal and external developers and implementers);

• Inform and train implementers, end users and stakeholders in using several parts of the infrastructure;

• Inform and train implementers and users on how the core architectural elements of the infrastructure are connected (important for the growing up of the P4A ecosystem);



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• Train end-users and stakeholders in using the enhanced/added functionalities of the SP3 products (evaluation-centered).

Anticipated positive outcomes of the training activities with different user groups are the following:

• Allow addressed actors to serve as a direct and long-term real feedback mechanism for the creators of the materials, the components, and the implementations;

• Increase chances of usage of P4A infrastructure and use of its different parts (i.e. increase in knowledge and affinity and familiarity, potentially increases use and trust);

• Support open and organized dissemination activities by offering training videos, tutorials, and step-by-step instructions;

• Increase technical and social awareness amongst developer communities. This is actually a goal of the ecosystem and beyond the scope of this deliverable, but the use of the trainng platform will evidently support the communities created in the ecosystem to communicate. For example, offering training for integrating components for a web developer searching for online training materials, may attract them to enter the DeveloperSpace to access its components or ask an expert for further assistance and guidance.

Training will primarily target:

a) SP3 and external implementers;

b) End-users with accessibility needs & various stakeholder groups.

It should be kept in mind, though, that those actors will potentially play interchangeable roles when they interact with the P4A ecosystem. Hence, training will be blended (mixture of several approaches; see chapter 5) and offered via many channels in the project, apart from the scheduled training activities and online platform), such as:

− Training by an expert offered through the DeveloperSpace;

− Documentation, instructions, help.me files available at DeveloperSpace;

− Information about products and services in Unified Listing;

− Accessibility guidelines and standards offered through DeveloperSpace;

− Autopersonalisation guidance and features offered by Ubiyu;

− Current GPII wiki support and documentation;

− Github information.



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These sources will be connected with training activities (especially for developers and implementers).

Training will be delivered to the implementers as individuals, as well as members of a community. Implementers will acquire new technology and scientific knowledge and thus they will be able to enhance their products. Internal training activities will continuously take place, based on the requirements and arising needs of the SP2 and SP3 collaborations.

This report includes already carried out training activities and scheduled ones. However, other training activities might be carried out in the lifetime of the project that are not yet planned, mainly depending upon the arising training needs of the external implementers.

It should be kept in mind that any training activities and materials discussed in this document are not exhaustive of the training material and opportunities that could be developed when the infrastructure will be fully deployed and the arising opportunities during the lifetime of the project.

1.2 Contribution to the overall architecture Any form of training created and carried out in the project indirectly contributes to the stability of the overall architecture as well as eases the access to the content (i.e. accessible training courses). As such, training activities potentially increase the chances of attracting users, by offering support and guidance throughout the development process (developers/implementers) or the interaction session (all users).

The connection with and the contribution to its sub-project follows:

SP1: Defines the clusters of actors to interact with the ecosystem that are actually the P4A trainees and the use model characteristics, which will guide the preparation of the online training courses (i.e. based on real-life scenarios).

SP2: Developers and responsible component partners will create training material (documentation, instruction, videos) to be used by the SP3 and external implementers. They will receive feedback about the usefulness, quality and use of these training materials.

SP3: Implementers will use the training material prepared by the SP2 responsible teams and will create/offer training instruction for the evaluations with end-users (WP403).



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Figure 1: Prosperity4All workflow diagram

SP4: Training courses will be prepared for the evaluation activities for the following major categories:

− Internal and External implementers (2nd and 3rd evaluation phase; WP402): will use the SP2 components and respective training material during the integration process to their products.

− End-users: will be individuals with accessibility needs who will learn and be trained to use the SP3 products, based on selected accessible courses, uploaded on the training platform and following pre-evaluation training workshops.

− Stakeholders: will use training material and information found on the training platform to learn about the integration process, the various functional packages of the infrastructure, and the training courses for the end-users (e.g. a formal carer working in a user organization with older patients with Parkinson’s Disease can learn how to use the newly added haptic modality in SOCIABLE and then transfer the acquired knowledge to them or guide them to search for themselves).

The evaluation activities so far (i.e. first evaluation phase with implementers) highlighted the following criteria as important when selecting components to use and/or integrate (D402.2):


http://www.cognitivetraining.eu/


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a) Licensing;

b) Example codes and tutorials;

c) Documentation;

d) Peer ratings;

e) Actuality (when was a component last updated).

Therefore, these criteria will be applied when the training courses and materials will be prepared. They should include frequently updated information regarding these criteria for each component and part the users will receive training for.

The training platform will be evaluated by users with regards to its layout, content and completeness (a short evaluation form can be found in Annex A).

2 Methodology

Trainee can be anybody who wants to interact with the infrastructure momentarily (e.g. find documentation and download it), to complete a task (e.g. find a component and start implementation), and for a longer period of time (e.g. search for customised solutions in an autopersonalised and autoconfigured environment).

The overall aim is to meet the user training needs and requirements on a personal (end-users) and professional level (implementers) starting from generic examples created during the building up of the infrastructure and aiming to offer personalised training services for professionals after the deployment of the ecosystem through DeveloperSpace (the place where developers, and other interested parties can find components to use and integrate to their products, search for documentation, talk with other professionals, find users, ask for expert help and guidance, etc). Thus, multi-faceted methods are selected and a hybrid approach is adopted to effectively accommodate for the diversity and complexity in training needs (two major dimensions of the overall evaluation framework, introduced in D401.1).

Training activities fall under both formal e-learning approaches (existing documentation and instructions to read through in the form of standard courses) and the new approaches towards interactive and less formal styles. On the one hand, the training platform will offer training material and will be selectively interactive (e.g. offering functions such as search, select, participate in the forum, ask questions, evaluate the training process and content).On the other hand, training through DSpace and actual training sessions will be primarily based on immediate and delayed interaction between the two parties (i.e. trainer-trainee).



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Training materials will be tailored to the specific groups needs and requirements, including videos with instructions, video and audio conferencing and meetings, networking, fora and communities connections, currently adopted learning styles by major and pioneering learning platforms (e.g. Lynda.com).

The overall adopted blended training approach relies heavily on:

a) the identified interaction dimensions and value propositions, as discussed in D402.1 and evaluated in D402.2 (shown below);

b) the user models (who needs what) and the infrastructure depictions prepared within (the functional packages and their connections with users) being developed within SP1.

Thus, the implementers‘ curricula should touch upon the following:

• Discover (learn): acquiring new knowledge for carrying out the implementation (extended learning – initiation phase).

• Develop: learning or checking bits and pieces of information and specific chunks of knowledge (opportunistic, less frequent, and need-specific training – core and implementation phase).

• Deploy: learning in this part of the implementation processing is mostly relevant to dissemination process of the product and is usually accomplished through two routes: a) communication with developers and b) documentation, i.e. licensing (finalization and extravert phase). Training will focus mainly on providing general guidance on the relevant and required processes for deploying their products within the project.

On the contrary, learning for end-users will be mainly focussed on training the participants to use the functionality or the enhanced aspect oft the SP3 (or external) implementation and not the product per se. Training will include information about the product, the scenarios to be completed and, of course, the project and the whole concept of the P4A ecosystem.

3 Overall approach

3.1 Types of training activities Training can be delivered through the following routes:


http://www.lynda.com/


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• Short and dedicated information/training content (provided by specific tutorials, the GPII wiki);

• Training on demand (provided through remote meeting and telephone conversation) whenever the trainee has to fulfill a need, to complete a task, test an integration in collaboration, verify their work, etc.;

• Learning material and content adapted to the trainee’s daily working requirements and needs (i.e. creating mainly instructions and documentation by the SP2 developers for an SP3 implementation team);

• Training material, content and tutorials are continuously and always available through the training platform whenever and wherever the trainee needs them as part of a continuous and evolving course or a set of courses.

Training will be enriched during the lifetime of the project and various training material will be used. The collection and upload of training materials will be continuously monitored and evaluated. As training activities will evolve, then feedback from trainees will be used to modify and improve the existing materials or considered for the materials to be prepared (feedforwarded).

Decisive factors for the preparation of the training materials are:

-The components selection, i.e. nature and complexity of integration process;

-The readiness of the components and products;

-The requirements and needs of the trainee (i.e. implementers, end-users, and stakeholders);

-The external members interacting with the various parts of the P4A infrastructure, heavily depending on the parts they choose to interact with and their functional readiness.

3.2 Online training platform The online training platform will serve mainly the following purposes:

− provide generic training material for implementations for external implementers, stakeholders, freelancers, and other professionals;

− include training courses for carrying out the evaluation sessions with end-users;

− include training for using the different functional packages of the infrastructure when they will be in a functional form;

− include online training platform user manuals (a general user manual for using the ATutor platform can be found in Annex F).



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The online training platform was selected based on an important criterion, the full compliance of the Acontent (i.e. learning content authoring system and repository) with the W3C WCAG2.0 specifications at the AA+ level. The ATutor, developed by ATRC (Adaptive Technology Resource Centre, University of Toronto), is a free Open Source LMS, used to develop online courses and create elearning content. ATutor was selected based upon the benchmarking carried out within the AEGIS project (D5.2.1 “Training platform and users guide”). The ATutor was compared against other e-learning platforms and the results were summarised in the following table (D5.2.1, p. 6). ATutor software is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

Table 1: Benchmarking assessment

Platform Requirements Support Forum

Used by people with acc.needs

Accessible interfaces

SCORM compliance (import/export)

Moodle Easy installation

Yes No Partially Yes/No

LRN (Learning, Research, Network)

Complex Yes Yes Partially Yes/Yes

Claroline Easy Yes No Partially Yes/Yes

ATutor Easy Yes Yes Fully Yes/Yes

They key characteristics of the selected online training platform are:

− Open source software aligns with the P4A “open-to-all” philosophy;

− Easy to access, manage, and maintain;

− Allows for different authorisation rights (i.e. administrators-trainers and users-trainees);

− Makes use of many current HTML features in current web browsers (FireFox 2+, Opera 8+, Microsoft Internet Explorer 7+, and Google Chrome);

− Enhanced accessibility features;

− Diversity in training-related features (e.g. course structure and organisation, exams, surveys, fora).


http://www.atutor.ca/acontent/%23featuresacontent

http://www.w3.org/

http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/

http://www.atutor.ca/

https://www.gnu.org/home.en.html

https://moodle.org/

http://dotlrn.org/

http://www.claroline.net/

http://www.atutor.ca/

http://www.atutor.ca/atutor/docs/atutor_access.php

http://www.atutor.ca/atutor/features.php


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When stable versions of the SP2 components will be available, then courses will be uploaded to the online training platform with generic examples (examples of integration not specific to a certain product but to general categories of products, e.g. depending on OS, platform, device, developing environment, etc.).

URL: http://www.hit-projects.gr/prosperity4all/login.php

User name: pavlos

Password: password13

Isolated and product-based training is provided by training techniques, as described in the specific section because they are part of the collaboration and implementation process and are viewed as more productive.

3.3 Face-to-face and remote training activities Several phone conferences between SP2 and SP3 teams took place before the face-to-face meeting in order to facilitate the matching between SP2 and SP3 developments. The face-to-face meeting was the opportunity for finalizing the SP2-SP3 matching process. The communication between SP2-SP3 individual teams after the face to face meeting was more intense. The following tables present the reported activities carried out so far in the course of the project and current prospective plans for further training. Activities were so far all skill-driven meetings and in most cases they were carried out in small groups or classes (e.g. HdM students’ training activities).

These activities are based upon training webinars with demos from SP3 improved products (linked to the P4A virtual demo site) and the different functional packages of the P4A infrastructure. Demonstrations are used in conjuction with training material and constitute another connection point between the training activities of SP5 and the demonstration activities within WP405.

The webinars aim to inform the general public (including all user groups) about the work performed and completed within the project and attract external implementers (i.e. users) but aim also to stimulate the future populations of the ecosystem. Therefore, it is aimed to carry out at least two webinars and participate in at least three major conferences bringing together dissemination (demonstrations) and training activities.




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Table 2: Organized webinars so far by P4A

Webinars Topic

January 23rd, 2015 Virtual workshop Smart Homes and AAL applications

July 7th ,2014 Student accessibility software competition. SS12EU finals at ICCHP

A list of proposed events is included in Chapter 7. Until now two webinars have been organized (Table 2) and many more workshops at different sites across Europe (Table 3).

Table 3: Organized Workshops so far P4A

Workshops Events

November 6th, 2014

CEDETI. Presentation and P4A demo for 45 university libraries in Chile. (Santiago de Chile)

November 6th, 2014

Alternate formats Infrastrucute (Kracow)

November 3rd, 2014

Infrastructure, Robobraille (Copenhague)

July 2nd , 2014 AsTeRICS workshop (Linz)

May 5th, 2014 EIP-AHA C2 Workshop (Berlin)

April 2nd, 2014 Robobraille. (Workshop at University UBB, Cluj-Napoca)

February 19th, 2014 AAL Interoperability Days (Brussels)

An overview of planning and outcome of these activities will be included for implementers in D502.4-1 (M30) and for end-users and stakeholders in D502.4-2 (M40).



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Table 4: Overview of face-to-face and remote training activities performed so far within P4A

Title Date Type Training materials

Partners involved (SP2 / SP3)

Audience Type/size

Achievement Future plans

Pre-training1: Using the printing services (T302.2)

Pre-training: Using the conversion tool for

June 2015 (several times per week)

mid July 2015-ongoing

Online/Face-to-face

Remote meetings

Print Service website

• Offline

conversion tool

• Instructions by telephone/Skype

Training 1:KIT-SZS

Training 1:KIT-SZS

Students/15

End users/approx. 15

System debugging, incorporation of suggestions made either F2F or via email

Training in integration of micro-payment system and MarketPlace.

Attract users (upload data, check data, etc. (http://service.szs.kit.edu) Resulting in tutorials/guidelines for printing correct

1 Pre-training: Preliminary training of end-user groups to learn to use the system and report issues before moving on to integration and training of implementers


http://141.3.78.15/printservice

http://141.3.78.15/printservice

http://service.szs.kit.edu/

http://service.szs.kit.edu/


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Audience Type/size


LaTeX (T02.3)

tactile documents.

Training for porting the conversion tool on a proper server system (incl. step-by-step guide).

Adaptation of online tutorials to serve individual with accessibility needs.

AsTeRICs camera mouse module integratio

25/09/2014

28/01/2015

Java Runtime

Online meetings, continuous support, self-driven

Documentation, instructions, and manuals for the following topics:

GUIDALINFO/FHTW

Developers/implementer, engineers, AT developers

First test version release (Step-by-step installation) (15/06/2015)

Continuous

Online training of facilitators (create tutorials and demos:

For using the camera


http://www.latex-project.org/


3



Audience Type/size


n into GUIDALINFO Linux environment

Update

25/02/2015

Support in installing the new Linux version of the facetracker (step-by-step)

15/06/2015

Test version release (step-by-step)

training by using shared docuumentation by the FHTW team

-Download AsTeRICs system

-Setup installation

-Starting the .exe

Support in missed fufunctionalities

Support on on-board/keyboard

support in missed functionalities and errors

09/07/15 Final release for rollout

Linux version of the camera module implementer on Gudalinfo OS tested in one center with no issues reported.

module after the:

Implementation of the camera module to the whole Gudalinfo telecentre network

Upgrade of guidalinfo OS


http://www.asterics.eu/


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Audience Type/size


use

Training in integrating the camera input module of AsTeRICs in SOCIABLE

February 2015

SP2-SP3 developers’ fair in Stuttgart)

May-June 2015

Email exchange with lead developers about camera input

Face-to-face and one-to-one discussion with lead developer

Documentation and support is available

Personal meetings and ad-hoc drawings on board

Written explanations and instructions about the camera module integration

FHTW/SILO Developers, AT developers, project analyst

Initial understanding of camera input module, its design , architecture, and applications

Initial discussions about how it could be integrated into Sociable

Queries were answered

Moving on to actual integration will need and use examples by the SP2 development team and other implementers who are undergoing or have completed this phase (expert and experience guidance and advice).



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Audience Type/size


module of AsTeRICs

Better understanding

Training integration of FLUID and FLOE framework into Brian

April 2014 (WP301/203 developers’ Fair in Stuttgart)

Face to face, one to one discussion with lead developer about FLUID and FLOE frameworks

Verbal and ad hoc drawings

Full documentation and open source examples available online, including GPII core code and access to team via IRC

IDRC/OpenDir

Developers, web developers, engineers, web designers, inclusive designer

Good understanding of FLUID, its design, and architecture, and application to Brian

Questions were answered

Once gained experience through prototyping, Then will move with exploring fluid.

Training for

June 2012 and ongoing

Deeply embedded

Documentation on wiki and

RtF-I/OpenDir

Developers, web

Thorough understanding of

Fully integration to Brian will require


http://fluidproject.org/

http://www.floeproject.org/


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Audience Type/size


integration of an AT solution with GPII APfP2 (MAAVIS in Cloud4All project) to Brian

for the last 3 years-an ongoing process starting from another project and continuing in P4A

F2F support in a workshop with the GPII core team. We were an early adopter, created documentation (Best way to learn) and guided others.

open source code

developers, engineers, web designer, accessibility experts

using the GPII APfP in an AT and tracking changes in design.

updated documentation and revisiting once more code has been developed.

2 APfP: AutoPersonalisation from Preferences: adapting the accessibility features of a device, application, service to the preferences of the user.


http://gpii.net/

http://maavis.fullmeasure.co.uk/

http://www.cloud4all.info/

http://www.cloud4all.info/


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Audience Type/size


Ongoing access to team via meetings, IRC, and 1 to 1 discussions.

Training for integration of MySpace and Universal Remote Control into Brian

April 2014

(WP301/203)

Developers’ Fair F2F meeting in Stuttgart

Presentations, discussion and Q&A about these technologies and how they might apply to Brian

OpenDir/FhG User experience designer, accessibility designer, web developers, developers, engineer, cognitive impairment expert

Development has not started yet

Revisit it when code is available



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Audience Type/size


Training in using the AoD infrastructure

21st May

2nd June

18th June

29th June

3rd July

July 15th

31st July

Consultation and bilateral meetings and workshops

GPII wiki AoD infrastructure materials

AoD infrastructure prototype (clickable demo)

Crowd Funding Uses Cases (GPII wiki entry)

Micro Payment Use Cases (GPII wiki entry)

Microlabora

SILO/ILUNION

Developers/web developers/

Documentation/minutes from discussions

Integration on paper mocks

Mock up to integration step training (early October, just before the implementation starts)


https://wiki.gpii.net/w/AOD_Assistance_on_Demand_Infrastructure



http://83.235.169.221:8025/

http://83.235.169.221:8025/

http://83.235.169.221:8025/

https://wiki.gpii.net/images/a/ae/Crowd_Funding_UseCases.pdf

https://wiki.gpii.net/images/a/ae/Crowd_Funding_UseCases.pdf

https://wiki.gpi.net/images/2/24/Micro_Payments_Use_Cases.pdf

https://wiki.gpi.net/images/2/24/Micro_Payments_Use_Cases.pdf

https://www.microlabora.org/


9



Audience Type/size


presentation

Training for Integration of AsTeRICs Camera mouse module to FlashWords

(March 2015-ongoing)

Permanent Skype meetings

Email exchange and two other calls started from January

several different AsTeRICS models were created for LIFEtool:

• several different AsTeRICS models and materials were created for LIFEtool

FHTW/LIFEtool

4 Nearly finished the implementation of the web-cam-based face-tracking module prototype into FlashWords

Already planned meetings regarding the integration of motion sensors within the range of task 302.4.


https://github.com/asterics/P4AllBuildingBlocks/tree/FacetrackerLK-windows-1.0.0TEST2-AsTeRICS-2.7TEST2


10



Audience Type/size


Face to face meeting. General discussion about the “Routing Guidance System” application

The face to face meeting was held at MLS offices in Thessaloniki, on 02/02/2015.

Meetings

• Description of Routing Guidance System

• List of current supported functions

• User manual

MLS/CERTH 3 Basic knowledge was required. What the solution functional supports and how it is working (usability issues).

Investigate which of the SP2 solutions can be applied or integrated or just be used by the Android MLS Routing Guidance System application.



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4 Challenges in training activities

Training activities constitute a dynamic and continuous process and are rigidly set from the beginning of the project. Therefore it is essentially difficult at times to follow and record. Similarly, training material and documentation cannot be prepared earlier because its selection and development is a dynamic process and covers the implementers‘ emerging training needs. As such, the thematic training areas are diverse and vast and not all are possible to be covered within the framework of the project. Restrictions were applied to enable realistic execution and completion of training activities.

Large scale training will be prepared for generic development work (e.g. integration of AsTeRICS camera module instructions) and not necessarily specific to an application but to a group or category of applications based on integrated functionalities according to the existing (and later refined) categorisation schemes (see 6.3.1).

To address the inherent challenges, decisions were taken for the depth and breath of the training materials to be uploaded to the training platform. The existing categorisation (see 6.2.1) is not final but is based on the initial categorisation for the SP2 components in the GPII wiki. The categorisation of courses in the training platform is harmonised with the DeveloperSpace categorisation (for the developers‘/implementers‘ training courses), to enable easier adaptation and assimilation of knowledge and avoid any dissonance effects.

5 Learning model and techniques

A general blended learning model was adopted for designing and planning the training activities as well as the structure of the online training platform. Blended approaches are increasingly popular the last years and especially for e-learning and online training platforms. The flexibility of selecting self-paced on instruction-led learning is a considerable added value of this learning model, which is considered as a well-matched option for a technology-oriented content (Chase, 2012). Nonetheless, such a flexible learning approach makes room for case-by-case consideration in training, which is important for an ecosystem where developers might wish to learn how to customise one solution for one person.

As discussed also in the previous chapter, main training consists of two phases, which are very much related to interaction with the ecosystem phases. The first phase reflects the


https://wiki.gpii.net/w/Main_Page


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Learning acquisition based on identified needs (relevant to search and find phase of interaction) and the actual application of the acquired knowledge and know-how (relevant to develop and deployment phases of interaction). The knowledge acquisition phase is further divided in the phases of collecting the relevant knowledge and assimilating the knowledge (making it part of their own working pattern, i.e. making it their „own“).

The second phase addresses the process of firstly applying the acquired knowledge in simple task and secondly to more complex activities and work projects.

Finally, the users will evaluate the acquired knowledge with regards to content, presentation (layout) through an online questionnaire in the training platform (form in Annex A).

On the one hand, training is largely asynchronous, self-driven and at a pace chosen by the implementers. The SP2 developers support and provide the implementers with required materials and therefore flexibility in training techniques is necessary. This skills-driven training depends very much on the practice period the implementers will spend on acquiring the knowledge and expertise. The role of the trainer is supportive and complementary in the whole implementation process. Valuable interactions with the SP2 developers aim to solve issues, queries, and any arising problems.

On the other hand, training for end-users is very focussed and specific to the evaluation activities, as preparation for the conduct of the evaluation sessions. Training sessions will be carried out only through the training platform and provide information about the scenarios to be completed and the use of certain applications.

A far-end goal might be to apply an attitute/behaviour driven model (especially for stakeholders and organizations, and the general public) when the infrastructure will be deployed and populated by various users and actors. Change in behaviour in the ecosystem is not envisaged to be the outcome of instruction but rather the result of interactions between the users (i.e. peer-to-peer support and communication as part of a users‘ and developers‘ communities). Thus, the training platform can act as a supplementary entry-point to the P4A ecosystem for users who are looking for a specific type of information. Guidance will foremostly be provided by the part of DeveloperSpace dedicated to offering training and guidance for certain skills to be acquired and questions to be asked.



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These models will selectively be used for the specific user groups, however the ecosystem will evolve and users might play several or more than one roles, as defined by the P4A User Model (developed within SP1). Therefore, the models will, as such, evolve during and after the project ends. The training platform will be maintained, supported, and potentially updated after the end of the project to support the ecosystem’s growth (i.e. people looking for training).

5.1 Structure of courses

. The training scheme comprises three parts: a) the introduction to training course and its objectives, b) the overview of the each course, and c) the summary at the end of its course. This structure ensures homogeneity accross subjects and used material; making transition from one course to the next easier and comforting for trainees . The P4A training approach for structuring the courses is presented in Figure 2.

5.1.1 Guidelines for designing the courses

The aim of designing the course is to meet its desired learning objectives for each addressed user group. The courses’ objectives will include the criteria for evaluation for each course. Each course will include a summary and a glossary of key terms used (Figure 2).

The courses will be short and easy to follow and understand. The online courses will last no more than five minutes each. The content will be offered in bite „chunks“ to the user to ensure that content will be easier to remember and retrieve. Courses might last less but this depends on the course‘s content.

Each course will cover the needs of the addressed population. Specifically, for courses targetting end-user groups with various accessibility needs, the courses should be accessible and comprehensible by all user groups (e.g. accessible by users with visual impairments and understable by individuals with cogntive impairments and/or decline). At the moment only examples of available videos are uploaded on the training platform but a variety of delivery methods (videos, text, examples) will be used fort the final versions oft he courses. For each course, the headings and sub-headings will be concise, clear and easy to understand. The responsible teams will ensure that there is adequate number of videos and other presentation material to cover the objectives of a course. The content should be replaced by visuals and graphics wherever relevant and should flow as well as be free from grammatical, spelling, or syntactic errors. The content will be continuously updated and



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inline with the rest of the curriculum. In case referenced text or content is used, it will be properly quoted and referenced. The text and tone will be always appropriate for the end-users. Where possible and appropriate, text will be replaced by maximum 5 bullet points. All facts and links will be checked before uploading to the P4All training platform, to make sure they are working and are up to date.

Before designing the layout and presentation of the courses, the syllabus for each course will be defined based on the information provided by each course responsible (course construction template; Annex D). The courses should not only ensure content flow and continuity but also be aesthetically uniform (i.e. less than 4 fonts used, same justified style for all text). All the elements will be visible and and a consistent colour scheme will be used. When content is presented, only necessary text will be used with adequate part of the screen to white, to keep the feel and look as „clean“ and „organised“. The teams responsible for the course creation will ensure that all content fits in the screen at all times (i.e. avoid any type of scrolling). The content will be displayed on clear white page, unless there is any other reason (e.g. training selects another contrast) or training purpose. The course structure will be easy to handle in order to add or modify the course content.

The content presentation will be consistent across all courses. Each course will be easy to navigate and all courses and chapters will be presented in the right sequence. The user will be able to return to the previous and landing course page and they will always have access to the table of contents of each course.

Wherever multimedia are used, the teams responsible for each course will ensure that all material and video elements used are of good quality, synchronization has been checked, there are no legal restrictions and implications, and the user will be able to control all elements (e.g. play, pause, back). As an end-goal of the project, it is aimed that all videos will include captions. Additionally, all visuals will be accompanied by alternative text. Additionally, a FAQ page will be created and respective hyperlinks will be added to the courses. The user will be able to print parts of the courses and any h/w and/or s/w requirements will be added at the beginning of each course.



15

Figure 2: Training overall approach for structuring the courses



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6 Audiences, thematic areas and materials

6.1 Audiences The targeted audiences belong mainly to cluster A and fall into three major categories: a) the implementers, b) end-users, and c) stakeholders, as depicted in the central circle of the Venn diagram below (from D401.1).

They are the major users of the infrastructure (i.e. the users that will interact with the different functional parts of P4A during the course of the project).

Apart from the potential diversity in user types, the number of external participants cannot be controlled or defined beforehand, which adds to the existing diversity. An overview of training activities and techniques for each addressed user group follows in section 6.3.

Figure 3: The clusters of actors (from D401.1)

Table 5: Overview of P4A training activities’ plans per user group

Activity Objective Example Courses Delivery

Training activities for developers

Acquisition of technical skills and know-how

Use of technologies

knowledge of P4A infrastructure

Technical on-line

Tutorials, with step by step instructions and installation instructions

Online and face-to-face

User manuals



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Activity Objective Example Courses Delivery

Traingin activities for end Users and stakeholders

Raise awareness about the different functional parts

Real-life scenarios and general integration examples

Online/regional workshops, joint events (see Chapter 7)

Training activities for pilots

SP3 applications, services (addressing end-users; general public).

To be acquainted with the usage of the P4Aapplications

To ensure a smooth pilot operation (addressing all involved in pilot activities; the supervisors, experts and the pilot participants)

Pre-pilot training, user

Manuals, instructions

Relevant to the running pilot, special conditions, limitations, data collection.

Sessions

Regional workshops at pilot sites

Online/Training sessions

Face-to-face workshops

6.2 Thematic areas The thematic areas the courses fall in, upon depending on the developments and deliverables of the project, are presented in this section based on upper level categorisations already agreed in the project. Any changes, modifications or additions made during the course of the project will certainly affect the structure and qualities of the thematic areas. The courses will fall mainly under the following thematic areas:

• Courses for developers/implementers (section 6.3.1)

• Courses for end-users (people with accessibility needs) and stakeholders (section 6.3.2)

6.3 Training material Material is categorised in training material, supporting documentation, and training evaluation forms and questionnaries. Material is also discerned in existing material (already available by the SP2 developers as part of the component’s documentation; indicative links can be found in Annex C) or adapted to the SP3 implementation that uses/integrates an SP2 deliverable.



18

Training courses (based on general use/implementation instructions and steps), as defined in the previous section, incorporate the material to be prepared when a stable version of the SP2 developments is agreed and shared by the responsible SP2 team.

The training material will be accessible to all groups, not only to end-users. The aim is to create training material that could be used by any actor who might interact with the P4A infrastructure with different roles each time or has characteristics from different groups (e.g. a developer with disability).

The questionnaires and forms will be periodically used to evaluate the online training platform with regards to its structure, layout, content, usefulness and use (Annex A) and can be accessed through the P4A training platform (Figure 5).

6.3.1 Courses for developers/implementers

Training material is of limited use in the second evaluation phase (for external users) and the final evaluation phase with implementers (both internal and external) mainly because the first two phases with implementers are largely exploratory and informative, hence training activities are mostly based on remote communication and exchange of files. However, in the final evaluation phase, functional prototypes of core architectural elements of the infrastructure will be ready and therefore training and user manuals/guides for their use will be created.

Training refers to the provision and facilitation of knowledge during acquiring new technologies (e.g. development environments, use of APIs, use of specific components, including hardware) for the implementers for the following:

• Learn to integrate components;

• Be trained by experts (part of DeveloperSpace);

• Watch step-by-step video tutorials;

• Participate in telephone or online meetings (one-to-one or small group discussions) whenever need arises;

• Use the training platform for accessing training courses;

• Use the GPII wiki training material and links;

• Use the Github and JIRA material;

• Use documentation, videos and instructions stored in the online training platform for implementers, end-users and stakeholders.



19

Apart from these major categories, training in the form of user manuals, FAQs, and instructions will be available for each major application and service developed or improved within the project (e.g. AoD infrastructure, DSpace, Unified Listing, Market Place).

End users will receive training about using the SP3 implementations and, specifically, the additional functionalities or options added/integrated in the product during the course of the project, not other existing functionalities.

Training for developers and implementers aims to be asynchronous and self-paced, with a mixture of self-help documentation, instruction-based by the developers, face-to-face meetings and training events whenever an issue or problem arises. An initial database was created, based on the information and material that are currently available at different spaces of the project, in order to collect and gather them in one repository and then further cluster them.

The content of the courses for developers and implementers will focus mainly on the integration/use of SP2 components in the improvement of the SP3 or external products. The courses will use general examples that will be useful for groups of products rather for a specific product. However, training videos and examples will be based on successfully completed integrations, based on the available deliverables.

The content of these courses categorised based on the main development clustered areas in the project, with examples using products or applications from the project:

• DeveloperSpace (Developer Facing elements) o Use of DeveloperSpace o Use of “Auto-personalization from preferences” (APfP) o Use/integration of Building Blocks o Use of Frameworks and Tools o Use of components on financial Infrastructures o Use of Developer Resources (information, people, testers, etc) in the

implementation process (examples will reflect several aspects, like security, scalability, maintainability, gamification, etc.)

• Service Infrastructures o Use of components on Media Augmentation Infrastructures o Use of components on the Document Transformation Infrastructures (Doc/Media

Hybrid Infrastructure) o Use of components on the Assistance on Demand infrastructure

• User Tools (User facing elements) o Unified Listing (instructions/video featuring main functionalities for end-users and

other user groups) o Marketplace (instructions/video featuring main functionalities for end-users and

other user groups) o User Participation (use of tools to establish/increase communication among

different user groups/forming communities)



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For each bullet at least one online course will be prepared. The general course outline (i.e. chapters) will be the following, further adapted and adjusted to the requirements of the training content and the addressed user group(s). The course structure will be defined based on the template (Annex D) to be completed by each SP2 and SP3 team when work is available and stable.

1. Course title

2. Course objectives

3. Introduction

4. Description of tool to be used/integrated and links for the specific clustered area (see above)

5. Example of use/integration (video with step-by-step instructions)

6. The outcome

6.3.2 End-users’ and stakeholders’ courses

The online courses for the end-users will mainly focus on the familiarisation of the users with the project, the ecosystem and the different SP3 applications and services they will use.

The training course will include clear instructions on how to use the application or service in order to be able to complete any evaluation scenarios. The end-users will evaluate the use, usefulness, usability of the new/improved functionalities of the SP3 product added in the course of the project, therefore it is important that end-users are familiar with using the SP3 implementations.However, they will not be trained on hot to complete the evaluation scenarios. Training in using the implementations removes any confounders because of learning and confusion when interacting with a new product.

End-users will receive credentials to the online training platform as soon as they are recruited for the first and second evaluation phases with end-users (in the third and final year of the project, respectively).

The training curriculum will roughly include:

• An introduction to the P4A ecosystem

• Description of the SP3 implementation and the added/improved functionalities

• Instructions for the evaluation sessions



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An initial workshop will be held with end-users and stakeholders to present the P4A concept for an evolving ecosystem, attracting participants for the two evaluation phases with end-users and introducing the online training platform to attendees.

6.3.3 Training the moderators

Moderators are the individuals who will moderate and communicate training needs and materials; they are not necessarily the people who will carry out training or the experts who will create the training material.

The moderators are the indivduals who will facilitate the conduct of the evaluation sessions and the data collection. Instructions and training will be solely dedicated to the procedure of the sessions and is mostly relevant to the evaluations with the end-users, starting after the third year of the project. A course for moderators will be created for each evaluation phase (two in total). It comprises instructions and training material for the moderators, with the following chapters.

Chapter 1: Basic guidelines for an efficient moderation

Chapter 2: Considerations for carrying out evaluations with people with accessibility needs

Chapter 2: Setting up the evaluation environment (installing, s/w and h/w requirements, etc.

Chapter 3: Technical/evaluation requirements

Chapter 4: Material and forms (including links, templates, translated consent forms, utensils, etc.)

Chapter 5: Recording and data collection instructions

Chapter 6: Closing, debriefing and double-checking

These six chapters correspond only to the courses‘ structure. The content will be different for each course, depending upon the evaluation plans (D403.1) for the evaluations with end-users.

The content for end-users will be available in the languages of the 4 pilot sites (Austrian, Germany, Greece, Spain).

6.4 The P4A online training platform

There are many different platforms to support the above activity. ATutor is one of them and it has been selected due to its capabilities and existing experience of project responsibles with it. ATutor can be easily installed and updated and it supports the development of



22

custom themes to give ATutor a more desired style. The platform supports quick assembly, package, and redistribution of web-based instructional content and easy import of prepackaged content (SCORM compliant content). Using ATutor the end user (student) may learn in an accessible, adaptive and social learning environment.

The ATutor platform is actually a web based application with specific (e-learning) functionality. The new user should register to the platform to gain access to the available courses where this registration is free of charge.

Figure 4 (left screenshot) shows the first page of the P4A platform. A new theme (template) has been developed in compliance to the colours of the P4A website, to provide a familiar look and feel. The students should enroll to the courses that they prefer to access the content. The list of available courses can be found on the Browse Courses tab (Figure 4; right screenshot).

The features and functionalities already implemented in the online platform (accompanied by respective screenshots) as well as the technical spefications can be found in Annex F.

Figure 4: The main page of the P4A Atutor platform (left) and list of courses (Browse Courses tab) (right)

6.5 Developer Space: training by expert DeveloperSpace will offer the opportunity to receive direct training from an expert in the area you are looking for. This will be either an expert in accessibility, on the integration of components to a product, on customising an existing product, etc.



23

The experts offering their services through DSpace will be able to use/re-use updated information, documentation and examples that will be publicly available within their own curriculum and courses in the form of webinars or as supporting material to the people requesting their help. This is going to be a free and/or paid service (i.e. when the ecosystem deploys) depending on the expert who will register for offering their expertise to other professionals.

Training opportunities will range from setting curricula to customised training accompanied by FAQ and the option to ask specific questions to the experts. They could also follow the existing learning approach within the project: learning by actually doing the work with considerable support. The latter will be more useful for experienced professionals. Individual on demand training will be offered for short tasks and queries.

The development of this part of the DeveloperSpace (including its content) is not part of this activity but it is mentioned here because it is training as other places of DeveloperSpace might offer in the future, such as the documentations and supporting documents part and the GPII wiki part, where information about different components can be searched, based on functionality, name, and product.

7 Activities timeplan and opportunities

This chapter offers a plan for the next training activities, courses, workshops and material, based on the currently available implementation, evaluation plans and opportunities for workshops through pre-pilot and dissemination activities.

The following tables present an overview of the training activities to be carried out (Table 6) and identified opportunities for combining the training activities with dissemination and demonstration activities (Table 7).

Table 6: Overview of future training activities within P4A

Training type Audience Purpose Timeline

Online training platform

Remote training sessions

Small dedicated workshops

Developers/implementers (mainly for externals)

Second evaluation phase with implementers (D402)

Familiarise with P4A concept

Access use/integration materials

Learn about the

December 2015



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functional parts of infrastructure

Prepared to participate in the evaluations


Remote training sessions

Small dedicated workshops (Open developers’ day)

Developers/implementers (externals)

Second evaluation phase with implementers (D402)



Use the functional parts of infrastructure


August 2016


User workshops and open days in the 4 pilot sites (Austria, Germany, Greece, Spain)

End-users and stakeholders

First evaluation phase with end-users (D403)





August 2016


User workshops

End-users and stakeholders

Second evaluation phase


Access

August 2017



25


and open days in the 4 pilot sites (Austria, Germany, Greece, Spain)

with end-users (D403) use/integration materials



7.1 Timeplan for joint dissemination, demonstration and training activities Joint activities will prove useful because they aggregate the learning experience with information acquisition and practical demonstrations, thus they maximize learning capacity and attract newcomers. The following consitute opportunities for joint events, based on the technical annex requirments, identified events, and the timetable work starting in the project (i.e. demos and the virtual site).

Opportunities combining training with events: Such opportunities will be planned in detail in the first version of D405.3 (M24) and updated with the results of these activities (including training related outcomes) on M47.

Opportunities combining training with demos and “Open Learning Days” (D405.1; M36, updated M47): The opportunities for demonstrations will be first identified in the demonstration plan and then realized on the online demo site (D405.2; non-interactive demo versions M30, updated M42).

Therefore, two “Open and Learning demo Days” can be organized:

• Small local events (at least pilot sites; till M42) with limited interaction between the users and the different demos (partial demo kit) and training sessions focusing on the use of the various functional packages of the infrastructure (e.g. journey maps with limited interaction).

• One large international event (conjointly with major project dissemination event; after M47) with a complete interactive demonstration kit, access to the virtual demo site for attendees, parallel training sessions per user type (i.e. developers, end-users



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and stakeholders) with fully active scenarios and variety of journey maps as examples, of real life demonstration.

Table 7: Overview of prospective joint training and dissemination activities within P4A

Event objective Audience Timeplan

Stakeholder events (5)

Dessiminate project’s activities

Stakeholders August 2015-August 2017

Small local events (4)

Limited interaction demo kit

Training external implementers (3rd evaluation phase with implementers)

Developers/end-users August 2016

International event Disseminate the work

Attract the first “population 0” for the ecosystem

Learning to use the different parts of the ecoystem

All December 2017

7.2 Workshops for pilots The training workshops to be carried out before the pilots will be carried out in groups of users and will be supported by the moderators (receiving their own training; section 6.3.3).

The workshops will be supported by the training courses, the online user manuals (a general description can be found in Annex E), the official project presentation and the newletters distributed to attendees.

After the workshops, users will be able to access all these materials at home before participating in the evaluation session. Each workshop moderator will organize all required information and materials and have a “dry run” before the workshop. All demonstations and project deliverables will have been verified and validated prior to the workshops.



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8 Evaluation of training activities

Evaluation of training activities entails the evaluation of the content, the structure, layout of the platform and other training actions. A short training evaluation questionnaire has already been added to the platform (Annex A). However, this is a short overall evaluation form, aimed to be used to evaluate the whole experience (Figure 5). Each course and each user group will be able to evaluate their training experience (online, workshops, joint events, face-to-face and remote meetings) through dedicated training evaluation questionnaires.

A short informated consent form (based on the D401.1 template) will be completed by all trainees, ensuring them that any gathered data will be anonymous and confidential. Each user will register and have personal credentials to access their personal space on the training platform.

Figure 5: Training evaluation form page


https://wiki.gpii.net/w/ANNEX_C.2a:_Prosperity4All_Informed_Consent_Concerning_Private_Information


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The training platform evaluation will be carried out before any evaluation phase with the end-users to ensure the completeness and appropriateness of the training materials prepared for the pilots and will be presented in a workshop held prior the instantiation of the pilots and before the third evaluation phase with external and internal implementers.

Apart from the subjective evaluation of the learning experience, objective measures will also be recorded and analysed. The objective measures will be the following:

• Time to complete the course;

• Time to successfully complete random tasks based on real-ilfe scenarios (similar to the examples used in the tutorials).

The objective measures allow for comparison of the trainee’s performance across different periods of using the online courses, hence, calculating the individual learning curve. The comparison to the subjective assessments performed by each trainee (i.e. online course questionnaires based on the rationale of the overall questionnaire in Annex A), can be used also for the evaluation of the appropriateness and effectiveness of the training courses and included material.

The results of the evaluations will be included in the two updates of this deliverable, dedicated to the courses descriptions and the training platform evaluation from the two major user groups; implementers and end-users (incl. in many cases stakeholders).

Two levels of training (Kirkpatrick, 1994) are considered:

• During training (Level 1: Learning and Level 2: Reaction)

• After training (Level 1: Behaviour, Level 2: Results )

The following indicators will be measured in each user group:

• Use of training courses and material;

• Usefulness of training courses and material;

• Effectiveness of training activities;

• Transferability of knowledge;

• Application of knowledge;

• Self-explainability;

• Support and documentation.

It is a viable part of research ethics to evaluate the training courses offered to various user groups but it is also essential to comply with the project’s ethics policy (D502.1-1). Therefore, analysis of trainee’s data will abide to the project’s ethical legislation, guidelines,



29

standards and privacy protection principles, as they are defined also in D401.1 (gpii wiki page).

9 Conclusion

Training activities within PAA are currently mostly related to skill-based team-to-team communication and support.

It is planned to fully describe the training activities and courses for implementers (D502.4-1) and end-users (D502.4-2) in two separate updates of the deliverable to complete the work presented in this version (M30 and M40, respectively) and to be able to capture the development progress carried out in the next years of the project as well as to reflect the requirements set in the evaluation plans for end-users (D403.1).

In addition, updates will incorporate guidance for interacting with several functional packages of the infrastructure when they will be ready, allowing the training of any user to seamlessly enter and interact with many parts of the ecosystem.

Guidance and support with stable and complete parts of the infrastructure ensures the smooth operation of the training platform after the end of the project.


https://wiki.gpii.net/w/P4All_Evaluation_Framework_(D401.1)%23ANNEX_C:_Ethics_related_material


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References

Chase, C. (2012). Blended Learning – Combining Online Technology with Classroom Instruction: 1 of 3 Make Edtech Happen.

Claudiu Amza et al. (2010). D5.2.1: Training platform and users guide. AEGIS project, CN. 224348, 7th Framework Programme, ICT & Ageing.

Kirkpatrick, D.L. (1994). Evaluating Training Programs. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.



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Annex A. Training activity and platform evaluation form

The following short evaluation form is already available on the online training platformtraining platform and will be used to evaluate the overall training experience. It will be differentiated from the evaluation of the training courses any other interactive training activities (e.g. workshops, training for pilots, joint events and demonstrations).


http://www.hit-projects.gr/prosperity4all/mods/_standard/tests/take_test.php?tid=1

http://www.hit-projects.gr/prosperity4all/mods/_standard/tests/take_test.php?tid=1


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Annex B. On-Line Training platform: technical specifications and standards

Technical specifications ATutor Requires:

HTTP Web Server. (We highly recommend using Apache)

PHP 5.0.2+ with the following libraries installed. (NOTE PHP 5.4+ is not supported in ATutor versions prior to 2.1.1.)

--with-apxs2=/usr/local/apache2/bin/apxs

--with-mysql

--with-zlib

--with-curl

--enable-mbstring

--with-gd

--with-jpeg-dir=/usr/lib

MySQL - 4.1.10+

See the System Software section of the site to download the required software.

Database User

A database user account with the privilege to create databases is required if your database does not already exist. That same user will then need create table privileges as well. See the MySQL chapter How the Privilege System Works for additional information.

Web Browser

ATutor makes use of many current HTML features that are only supported in current Web browsers. Though ATutor will function effectively in older, or text only browsers, we strongly recommend updating your browser to a more recent version. Current versions of FireFox 2+, Opera 8+, and Microsoft Internet Explorer 7+, and Google Chrome work well with ATutor.

Standards The e-learning environment should be manageable, accessibile, with re-usable (content and code) information, expandable and scalable (trainers can add other functionalities or



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content and be customized to the requirements set by the targeted user group). Further, the e-courses should be accessed by different platforms with no major issues (interoperability) and knowledge should be easily stored, transferred, communicated outside the consortium for longer than the project’s life (longitivety and sustainability).

Technical

• SCORM interoperability standard for e-learning application, managing the connection between the content and the LMS.

• W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) level ++ compliance will be achieved for the P4A training platform (recommended level).

UI elements

• Interface elements should be consistent across courses and structure; • The navigation buttons, icons and cues must be the same with regards to purpose;

function and layout across all courses; • The trainee should all times understand the functions of each navigation elements

and graphics should be easy to understand and identify; • Interactive parts and elements should stand-out and be easily identified; • Use standard web fonts (e.g. Verdana, Arial); • The structure of presenting and adding training materials should be consinstent

across courses; • “Home” and “Back” buttons are essential navigational elements; • Language shoud be clear and appropriate for the intended audience. Any terms or

abbreviations should be clearly explained and linked; • Consistent numbering and categorization is necessary for all training courses; • Legibility of layout, colours and graphics is essential, especially over background

colours; • Text layout is appropriate for computer presentation; • Training is self-paced and controlled by the user. • Visual and graphical cognitive load should be minimal (apart from working load

required when reading the content).

Annex C. On-Line Documentation & materials

This annex contains links to documentation, information about the SP2 components and training examples currently available on the GPII wiki used for the first integration work


http://scorm.com/

http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/

http://www.w3.org/WAI/


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carried out within the project. The list is not exhaustive and these are not the only documentation available at the project but it shows how the developers and implementers share required knowledge and know-how (i.e. skill-based training related) for carrying out integration till the first evaluation phase (July 2015). These are additional documentation and training materials from the ones mentioned to be used in Table 4.

Two training material spreadsheets have been created in order to keep track of existing training materials and the ones to be created, which are regularly updated. one spreadsheet includes information about the components based on their functionality and the other one based on their names. Similar spreadsheets will be created for other products and solutions and the core parts of infrastructure (i.e. DeveloperSpace, Unified Listing, OpenMarketplace, Assistance on Demand).

• P4AllBuildingBlocks

o https://github.com/asterics/P4AllBuildingBlocks

• Camera Input Modules

o https://wiki.gpii.net/w/Camera_Input_Modules

o Accessibility-developer-tools

o https://github.com/GoogleChrome/accessibility-developer-tools

• Mockup for Developer Space Repository of AT-Components

o https://github.com/deinhofer/zurb-foundation.docpad

• Social Sensing API

o https://wiki.gpii.net/w/Talk:Social_Sensing_API

• Haptic and Touch IO Modules

o https://wiki.gpii.net/w/Talk:Haptic_and_Touch_IO_Modules

• Developers Space/Ideas

https://wiki.gpii.net/w/Developers_Space/Ideas

• Affect Sensing Modules

wiki.gpii.net/w/Talk:Affect_Sensing_Modules

• Smart Home Integration Modules

o https://wiki.gpii.net/w/Smart_Home_Integration_Modules

o https://github.com/teco-kit/UsableWi-FiAccess

• HTML5 Recognition


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByuDyC9td4K4RXZNMGZVdERiWUU/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByuDyC9td4K4UGYxTU52YUlvYU0/view?usp=sharing

https://github.com/asterics/P4AllBuildingBlocks

https://wiki.gpii.net/w/Camera_Input_Modules

https://github.com/GoogleChrome/accessibility-developer-tools

https://github.com/GoogleChrome/accessibility-developer-tools

https://github.com/deinhofer/zurb-foundation.docpad

https://wiki.gpii.net/w/Talk:Social_Sensing_API

https://wiki.gpii.net/w/Talk:Haptic_and_Touch_IO_Modules

https://wiki.gpii.net/w/Developers_Space/Ideas

https://wiki.gpii.net/w/Smart_Home_Integration_Modules

https://github.com/teco-kit/UsableWi-FiAccess


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o https://github.com/teco-kit/jActivity

• HTML5-based Learning and Generation for Virtual Sensors

o https://wiki.gpii.net/w/HTML5-based_Learning_and_Generation_for_Virtual_Sensors


https://github.com/teco-kit/jActivity

https://wiki.gpii.net/w/HTML5-based_Learning_and_Generation_for_Virtual_Sensors

https://wiki.gpii.net/w/HTML5-based_Learning_and_Generation_for_Virtual_Sensors


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Annex D. Online course creation template

This template will be circulated to partners when their SP2 developments are stable and robust for developing the courses based on the information to be added in the following template. This template is only relevant to the online P4A training platform courses and not any other training activities that might take place (e.g. face-to-face meetings).

COURSE CREATION TEMPLATE

Course Title

Course creator (partner, teams involved)

Existing /created (improved) within P4A?

Yes/No (brief statement)



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Audience(s)

Application areas

Learning objectives

Course chapters and techniques (instructions, step-step tutorial, video) with any required links

Chapter 1 Title: Content: Techniques:

Chapter 2 Title: Content: Techniques:

Chapter 3

Title: Content: Techniques:

. . Chapter n

Title: Content:



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Techniques:

Other relevant training content

(external/GPII wiki/Github/company product webpage, etc.; please provide updated links OR attach documents not available online)

Dependencies & Limitations

1) Restricted or public access? 2) Yes, No

Please, elaborate:

3) Dependencies in setting-up the course (s/w, h/w, or other)? Yes, No Please, elaborate:

4) User group related limitations? Yes, No Please, elaborate:

5) Training course is available for a specific time period? Yes, No Please, elaborate:



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Additional information not requested

(that you believe is necessary for the course creation)

Timeplan (when the course will be ready)



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Annex E: User manual (P4A online training platform)

Every user will be able to register and use their login credential to access the P4A training platfom (http://www.hit-projects.gr/prosperity4all/login.php) and soon will be accessed by the official project's website.

Figure 6: Sign/Register user page

Once logged in, the “My Courses” screen will be presented with top links to “Browse Courses” and “Create Course” screen. There are tabs “Profile” and “Preferences” available on the page. The user may change in tab “Profile” their profile data. whereas in tab “Preferences” it is possible change some basic preferences about inbox notification, auto-login feature, type of content editor, topic numbering etc. Users will see a list of courses that are available when pressing the link “Browse Courses” on “My Courses” screen.

The screen “Browse Courses” is divided in three columns. The first column of the “Browse Courses” screen provides a list of course categories, the second displays a list of courses within a selected category, and the third column shows details about the selected course. Each course displays the name of the course, name of the instructor with the possibility to


http://www.prosperity4all.eu/outcomes/training/


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contact the course instructor and the type of access of a respective course. When the user enters the course the screen called “Home” opens which is a list of tools available for the course. Tools are arranged as icon links with textual title below icons. The tools are listed according to settings defined by the administrator. Blogs, reading list, forums, chat, glossary, links, site map, export content, tracker, tests and survey, polls, frequently asked questions are available, but not all of them will be activated for the P4A training.

Figure 7: Course menu page



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Browse Courses

The “Browse Courses” page lists all courses presently available on the platform. If a course is “Public”, it may be accessed without logging in first. “Protected” and “Private” courses require that you be logged in. “Private” courses are available only to those who have been approved and enrolled in the course. Within P4A, we will make use of both open and protected courses.

My Start Page “My Start Page” is a personal area displayed after logging in. The “My Courses” section lists the courses that the user either teaches, or is enrolled in. From here one can also create a new course, or browse through courses. There is also a “Profile” section for editing personal details (including changing a password or an email address), and a “Preferences” section for editing some system preferences such as the way information is displayed and the preferred theme.

My Courses Courses that the user is in enrolled in, or courses that are pending enrolment, are listed on the “My Courses” page. To enrol into a public or protected course, the user should follow the “Browse Courses” link and locate it, then enter the course and use the “Enrol Me” link located beside the course title. If the course is private, enrolment must be requested first. Admission into the course will be allowed once the instructor has approved the request.



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Figure 8: Course navigation and jump start (up)

Preferences

The following preferences allow a user to control how some features function, and how information is displayed.



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Figure 9: Preference settings window

Trainee Settings

• Theme: Themes are used for changing the look and feel.

• Time Zone Offset: User can add or subtract hours from the times and dates displayed, so they match the local time.

• Inbox Notification: An email notification message will be sent each time an Inbox

message is received.

• Topic Numbering: Content topics will be numbered.

• Direct Jump: Using the Jump feature will redirect to the selected course and load

the same section that was being viewed in the previous course.



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• Auto-Login: Can be enabled.

• Form Focus On Page Load: The cursor will be placed at the first field of the form

when a page loads.

• Show Context Sensitive Handbook Pages: Once the user is familiar with the

system s/he may wish to hide the links included with various tools to their

associated handbook page.

• Content Editor: This preference controls how content is entered; Plain Text for

entering content text that will escape any HTML markup and will be formatted as entered; HTML for entering HTML content manually; and HTML - Visual Editor for

entering HTML content using the visual (also known as a WYSIWYG) editor which

represents the content as it will be displayed. It is also possible to change the editor manually for each item.

Display Settings

These settings are used to control the overall colours and fonts displayed. Various text formatting options can be selected to control how text and colours are displayed.

Content Settings These settings are used to control which versions of content are displayed, if for example the primary version is not accessible to the user, or s/he prefers an alternate format. These settings will be ignored if the alternative versions are not available with the content the user is viewing. Instructors and content authors should review “Alternate Content” for information on including alternate formats with the content.

• Alternatives to Text: If the user is a person with a print related disability, or prefers

content in mutli-modal forms, s/he can select from these options to have alternate

forms either replace text versions of the content, or have the alternate forms

appended to the content.

• Alternatives to Audio: If the user is a person with an auditory disability, or if s/he

prefers to read along with audio, or view visual alternatives to audio, that s/he can select from these options to have alternatives replace or append where ever there is

audio content.



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• Alternatives to Visual: If the user is a person with a visual disability, or s/he prefers

content without the usually larger, slow to load, visual information in content, s/he can select from these options to have alternatives to visual information either replace, or append to, visual information in the primary version of the content.

Tool Settings These settings are used to control which learning tools are available to the user in a side menu block. Under “Learner Support Tools”, the user can select from the various tools, the ones s:he would like to be available when accessing courses.

Control Settings These settings are used to enable or disable various navigation tools.

Navigation: To show a “Table of Contents” at the top of each content page that can be used to navigate to sub sections within the page; To show “Next/Previous Navigation” links to aid navigation through content in the order pages are intended to be viewed, or to provide quick access back to the content page the user left off on, when s/he returns to viewing content in a current or future session; To display “Breadcrumb Navigation” at the top of every page to provide up and down navigation through hierarchies of topics and sub-topics, or to keep a display of the user's current location in view at all times.

Course Homepage

After a user has entered into a course, s/he is presented with the course “Home” page. The “Home” page may contain a course banner, links to “Student Tool”, and course announcements. A few of the course features are explained below.

File Storage Users and instructors can access a personal file management tool using the “File Storage” area, if enabled for a course. Workspaces can be selected for storing files, their presence depending on one's access rights:

• Course Files: This is the default workspace, and is managed by the instructor, or

assistants with file storage privileges, course resource files are made available for download by course members.

• My Files/ Private files only the user can access and manage.

• Groups: Shared files managed by group members, and accessible to instructors



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and users with group privileges.

• Assignments: The user can choose the assignment for which the user is handing in

the file, and then press “Submit”.

To move between workspaces, the user should select them from the drop-down menu and use the “GO” button. To view a file in the “File Storage” area, the user should download and open it locally on your own computer.

To organise files, folders can be created using the “Create Folder” feature at the top right of the file area. To upload a new file, with an optional description of its contents, the user

should use the “New File” feature at the top left. The file will be uploaded to the currently

opened directory.

Managing Files

It is also possible to download files to the user's hard drive, hand in a file for an assignment, edit file details and rename folders, move files around within a workspace, as well as delete files and folders. Depending on the type of workspace, the buttons that appear will vary. If enabled, file revisions can be kept, so a history of the document or file is available. Uploading a file with the same name as one that exists will create a second version of the file. With each revision comments can be added, to summarize the changes from authors, and to perhaps collect feedback from reviewers.

Detailed documentation for these options and others can be found in the ATutor Handbook for users and instructors.


http://help.atutor.ca/index/index.php

http://help.atutor.ca/common/print.php?general

http://help.atutor.ca/common/print.php?instructor


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Annex F: Secondary functionalities of the P4A online training platform

The secondary functionality of Atutor that supports the registered users of Prosperity 4All e-learning platform is the following:

a) Inbox/Messaging, b) Forum, c) Networking and d) Tests and Surveys.

In more detail,

a) Inbox/Messaging

The Inbox is used for privately messaging other users in the courses. Inbox messages appear in a table, with new messages flagged accordingly. Figure 10 shows the inbox form of a registered user.

Figure 10: Inbox area of the e-learning platform

b) Forum

A forum is the area that allows course members to communicate in a structured manner through messages. Course instructors and students with forum privileges can manage and mediate the forums by deleting, locking, and sticking threads and messages. Figure 11 shows the Forum functionality of a specific course. Its course has its own forum to avoid misunderstandings between topics an easy to follow environment.



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Figure 11: The forum functionality of a specific course



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c) Networking

Networking is a social network environment that allows the platform users to develop a network of contacts, create and participate in social groups and develop a social profile. Figure 12 shows the Networking functionality.

Figure 12: The Networking functionality of the P4A e-learning platform

d) Tests & Surveys

Specific Atutor users (instructor and assistants with test privileges) may create tests and surveys to be administered to enrolled students. There is a variety of options for defining tests like setting the release date and using randomized questions or group-specific tests. Figure 13 shows the Tests & Surveys functionality page by page. Once again, each course has its own Tests & Surveys area.



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Figure 13: The Tests & Surveys functionality of the P4A e-learning platform

e) Supported Languages

The e-learning platform can be displayed in many different languages according to the needs of the users. The supported languages of Prosperity 4All e-learning platform are: a) English (default language), b) German and c) Spanish. Figure 14 shows the supported languages. The selection of a different language can easily be done from each user using the fast links at the end of each web page.



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Figure 14: The supported translation languages of Prosperity 4All e-learning platform

f) Platform Accessibility

ATutor includes a variety of features designed to ensure that the e-learning platform is accessible to all potential users using assistive technologies to access the web, including people with disabilities.

Many of the accessibility features in ATutor are based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0) developed by the W3C and a consortium of groups from many different countries. In many cases, international policies on Web accessibility have been based on the W3C guidelines (http://www.w3.org/WAI/Policy/).

Furthermore, except of the default P4A theme (template), four more themes have been developed based on color-font contrast (shown in Figure 16):

• Black on White Theme – Black font on white background color

• Black on Yellow Theme – Black font on yellow background color

• White on Black Theme – White font on black background color

• Yellow on Black Theme – Yellow font on black background color

The above selection is available to all users and it can be found on the Preferences tab, under the Atutor Settings menu selection (see Figure 15).


http://www.w3.org/WAI/Policy/


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Figure 15: The Preferences page of the P4A platform



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Figure 16: UI Contrasts (Black on White theme, Black on Yellow, White on black, Yellow on Black)


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