Digital mobility services have great potential to increase passengers' transportation options, improve their experiences and reduce exclusion. For example, they can facilitate access to information and support, and join transport modes together more seamlessly. However, these advantages will only be available to those who can access and use these services effectively. To facilitate the development of usable and inclusive services, information on the range of potential users' digital interface capabilities, attitudes and current use of digital services is needed. A population-representative survey examining these issues was carried out with 1010 participants in Germany in 2020. As well as self-report questions, it examined basic digital interface competence using simplified paper prototyping. The results are examined in terms of the characteristics of groups that are particularly vulnerable to either digital or transport exclusion. Older people (aged 65+), people with disabilities and people with low levels of education were found to have particularly low levels of digital technology access, use, attitudes and competence. Caution is thus required when rolling out digital mobility services. Non-digital alternatives are needed to ensure an inclusive service. When digital interfaces are used, they need to be designed carefully to be usable by and reassuring to digital novices.
Worldwide, pupils with migrant backgrounds do not participate in school STEM subjects as successfully as their peers. Migrant pupils’ subject-specific language proficiency lags behind, which hinders participation and learning. Primary teachers experience difficulty in teaching STEM as well as promoting required language development. This study investigates how a professional development program (PDP) focusing on inclusive STEM teaching can promote teacher learning of language-promoting strategies (promoting interaction, scaffolding language and using multilingual resources). Participants were five case study teachers in multilingual schools in the Netherlands (N = 2), Sweden (N = 1) and Norway (N = 2), who taught in primary classrooms with migrant pupils. The PDP focused on three STEM units (sound, maintenance, plant growth) and language-promoting strategies. To trace teachers’ learning, three interviews were conducted with each of the five teachers (one after each unit). The teachers also filled in digital logs (one after each unit). The interviews showed positive changes in teachers’ awareness, beliefs and attitudes towards language-supporting strategies. However, changes in practice and intentions for practice were reported to a lesser extent. This study shows that a PDP can be an effective starting point for teacher learning regarding inclusive STEM teaching. It also illuminates possible enablers (e.g., fostering language awareness) or hinderers (e.g., teachers’ limited STEM knowledge) to be considered in future PDP design.
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In order to empower more people to become more selfreliant in society, interactive products and services should better match the skills and values of diverse user groups. In inclusive design, relevant end-user groups are involved early on and throughout the design and development process, leading to a better user experience. However, for IT businesses not operating in the academic domain, getting access to appropriate user research methods is difficult. This paper describes the design and prototype development of the Include Toolbox, in close cooperation with practitioners of small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in IT. It consists of an interactive app paired with a book. The app helps to find suitable research methods for diverse user groups such as older people, people with low literacy, and children. The book offers background information on the advantages of inclusive design, information on different user groups, and best practices shared by other companies.
The projectThe overarching goal of DIGNITY, DIGital traNsport In and for socieTY, is to foster a sustainable, integrated and user-friendly digital travel eco-system that improves accessibility and social inclusion, along with the travel experience and daily life of all citizens. The project delves into the digital transport eco-system to grasp the full range of factors that might lead to disparities in the uptake of digitalised mobility solutions by different user groups in Europe. Analysing the digital transition from both a user and provider’s perspective, DIGNITY looks at the challenges brought about by digitalisation, to then design, test and validate the DIGNITY approach, a novel concept that seeks to become the ‘ABCs for a digital inclusive travel system’. The approach combines proven inclusive design methodologies with the principles of foresight analysis to examine how a structured involvement of all actors – local institutions, market players, interest groups and end users – can help bridge the digital gap by co-creating more inclusive mobility solutions and by formulating user-centred policy frameworks.The objectivesThe idea is to support public and private mobility providers in conceiving mainstream digital products or services that are accessible to and usable by as many people as possible, regardless of their income, social situation or age; and to help policy makers formulate long-term strategies that promote innovation in transport while responding to global social, demographic and economic changes, including the challenges of poverty and migration.The missionBy focusing on and involving end-users throughout the process of designing policies, products, or services, it is possible to reduce social exclusion while boosting new business models and social innovation. The end result that DIGNITY is aiming for is an innovative decision support tool that can help local and regional decision-makers formulate digitally inclusive policies and strategies, and digital providers design more inclusive products and services.The approachThe DIGNITY approach combines analysis with concrete actions to make digital mobility services inclusive over the long term. The approach connects users’ needs and requirements with the provision of mobility services, and at the same time connects those services to the institutional framework. It is a multi-phase process that first seeks to understand and bridge the digital gap, and then to test, evaluate and fine-tune the approach, so that it can be applied in other contexts even after the project’s end.Partners: ISINNOVA (Italy), Mobiel 21 (Belgium), Universitat Politechnica deCatalunya Spain), IZT (Germany), University of Cambridge (UK), Factualconsulting (Spain), Barcelona Regional Agencia (Spain), City of Tilburg(Netherlands), Nextbike (Germany), City of Ancona (Italy), MyCicero (Italy),Conerobus (Italy), Vlaams Gewest (Belgium)
De veranderingen die op ons afkomen, bijvoorbeeld digitalisering en de energietransitie, brengen vragen en onzekerheid met zich mee over de toekomst. Hoe kunnen we die toekomst begrijpen en ermee omgaan Een ontwerpende aanpak voor toekomstverkenningen kan helpen.Doel Hoe kunnen organisaties toekomstverkenningen verbinden met adaptief anticiperend handelen in het heden om betekenisvol te innoveren in de huidige veranderlijke wereld? Het onderzoek draagt bij aan de kennisontwikkeling over adaptieve organisaties. Ook worden er tools ontwikkelt voor de praktijk. Resultaten Dit onderzoek loopt nog. Na afloop vind je hier de resultaten. In de praktijk De inspiratie voor dit onderzoek ontstond tijdens een aantal toekomstverkenningen waarin de ontwikkeling van future probes centraal stonden: Future Health Battle in 2014, Urban Futures Lab in 2015 en Healthy Inclusive City Challenge 2016. Tijdens meerdaagse interactieve programma’s werkten teams met o.a. studenten en beleidsmakers samen aan provocatieve “wat als” -vraagstukken. Deze werden omgezet in visuele ‘probes’; verbeeldingen die een concrete impressie geven van een mogelijke toekomst. Probes zijn vaak speculatieve producten of diensten, maar zonder de intentie om ze in productie te nemen. Ze bieden de mogelijkheid om te leren van de toekomst door discussies te voeren met betrokkenen over de (on)wenselijkheid van dit soort toekomstige ontwikkelingen. De onderzoeken leveren altijd inzichten op in waarden en drijfveren. Download de volgende publicaties voor een indruk en overzicht van Urban Futures Lab en Future Health battle. Download publicatie Urban Futures lab Download publicatie Future Health Battle Bekijk ook de video's voor een sfeerimpressie. Video Urban Futures lab Video Healthy Inclusie City Challenge Looptijd 01 april 2019 - 01 april 2023 Aanpak Future probing zet verbeeldingskracht en systemisch ontwerpen zodanig in dat betrokkenen van een innovatievraagstuk mogelijke toekomsten daadwerkelijk ervaren. Met deze ervaring en bijbehorende inzichten, kunnen innovaties in het heden betekenisvoller worden vormgegeven. We gaan onderzoeken hoe deze complexe processen precies werken. Nieuws Jezelf lokaal verwarmen in plaats van je hele huis stoken Probing duurzame warmtevoorziening ten behoeve van energietransitie in samenwerking met Energie U en studenten Communicatie en Multimedia Design. HU Studenten Future lab presenteren de toekomst Probing the future is een onderwijsmodule bij de opleiding Communicatie en Multimedia Design. The Future is Calling - Werken, leren en mobiliteit Vervolg op het probing traject met Ministerie I&W omtrent toekomst van (non-)mobiliteit. Van inzichten naar inspiratie naar concrete experimenten Resultaat van dit vervolg traject: near future experimenten. De mobiele toekomst in beeld gebracht Probing the future of mobility in samenwerking met Ministerie I&W, studenten minor Co-design. Studenten ontwerpen amfibisch huis Amfibisch zelfvoorzienend wonen als NL overstroomt, studenten werktuigbouwkunde, technische bedrijfskunde en elektrotechniek. Verslag Community Meeting 3 - Smart Urban Mobility Toekomst van mobiliteit op Utrecht Science Park in samenwerking met Community Smart Urban Mobility van CoE SSC. Het boek Smart Sustainable Cities is uit Caroline Maessen en Marieke de Roos schreven samen een hoofdstuk.
A fast growing percentage (currently 75% ) of the EU population lives in urban areas, using 70% of available energy resources. In the global competition for talent, growth and investments, quality of city life and the attractiveness of cities as environments for learning, innovation, doing business and job creation, are now the key parameters for success. Therefore cities need to provide solutions to significantly increase their overall energy and resource efficiency through actions addressing the building stock, energy systems, mobility, and air quality.The European Energy Union of 2015 aims to ensure secure, affordable and climate-friendly energy for EU citizens and businesses among others, by bringing new technologies and renewed infrastructure to cut household bills, create jobs and boost growth, for achieving a sustainable, low carbon and environmentally friendly economy, putting Europe at the forefront of renewable energy production and winning the fight against global warming.However, the retail market is not functioning properly. Many household consumers have too little choices of energy suppliers and too little control over their energy costs. An unacceptably high percentage of European households cannot afford to pay their energy bills. Energy infrastructure is ageing and is not adjusted to the increased production from renewables. As a consequence there is still a need to attract investments, with the current market design and national policies not setting the right incentives and providing insufficient predictability for potential investors. With an increasing share of renewable energy sources in the coming decades, the generation of electricity/energy will change drastically from present-day centralized production by gigawatt fossil-fueled plants towards decentralized generation, in cities mostly by local household and district level RES (e.g PV, wind turbines) systems operating in the level of micro-grids. With the intermittent nature of renewable energy, grid stress is a challenge. Therefore there is a need for more flexibility in the energy system. Technology can be of great help in linking resource efficiency and flexibility in energy supply and demand with innovative, inclusive and more efficient services for citizens and businesses. To realize the European targets for further growth of renewable energy in the energy market, and to exploit both on a European and global level the expected technological opportunities in a sustainable manner, city planners, administrators, universities, entrepreneurs, citizens, and all other relevant stakeholders, need to work together and be the key moving wheel of future EU cities development.Our SolutionIn the light of such a transiting environment, the need for strategies that help cities to smartly integrate technological solutions becomes more and more apparent. Given this condition and the fact that cities can act as large-scale demonstrators of integrated solutions, and want to contribute to the socially inclusive energy and mobility transition, IRIS offers an excellent opportunity to demonstrate and replicate the cities’ great potential. For more information see the HKU Smart Citieswebsite or check out the EU-website.
