E-LEARNING TOWARDS SOCIAL INCLUSION

1. When e-inclusion is considered, overcoming mental barriers is as important as solving lack of access to networks and related equipment. The digital divide is not only technological, is also mental.
2. Research is key. We lack of precise analysis on the links between exclusion factors, and how they relate to ICT. There is a clear need to finance research programs that helps us to understand the different excluded groups online and whether these needs differ on age, ethnicity or gender.
3. Despite promising results, When people with disabilities are considered, further research is still needed. For example, we need to individuate which are the higher risk areas, avoid the generalistic approach and look for solutions that aims at specific disabilities.
4. A mere approach insisting on the importance of ICT in the workplace is probably not enough. Digital technologies have to be presented to the excluded people as something attractive; fun to use is also key to avoid lack of motivation.
5. Linking ICT with culture and social status is also a good motivational tool but it is important not to overuse it. Target groups should never get the impression that there is no life outside Internet.
6. There is a positive symbolic image linked to the use and mastering of ICT. Accessing and mastering (even at a modest level) ICT is synonymous to integration. This set of values can be used training both students and trainers.
We defend a e-learning model which is participative, peer to peer constructed and
blended:
7. Participative:. Do not define the interfaces a priori, based on former models. Allow the user to get involved in the functioning of the system from the beginning in order to see what works and what doesn’t.
8. Peer to peer teaching: promoting the youngest and students to become future trainers has also been tested several times and seems to have better motivational effects. By seeing that former peers have been able after all of learning the ICT basic skills and are also able to teach them, give the students more confidence and motivation.
9. Blended: when social inclusion is considered, a blended approach (combining use of
computers with live interaction with a professor) becomes a lot more successful than
pure e-learning approaches. Personal contact with educators is key when working with
the computer gets more complex and unmotivating.
10. One should not forget that, despite our best efforts, not everybody will be actually able to jump into the information society. Policies and inclusion strategies should also allow the full development of people that due to economical situation, physical or cognitive disability, isolation, and so on are not and will not be able to use ICT at all.
Therefore, we conclude that ICT are social instruments, with values embedded in them.
It is our main task to assure that these values lead us to a more inclusive and equalitarian information society, where these technologies are use to improve democratic participation and empower the socially excluded.