Towards curricula in design for all for information and communication products, systems and services.

The aim of the Inclusive Design Curriculum Network (IDCnet) is to integrate information and identify core knowledge sets and skills for model curricula in design for all (DfA) specifically for information and communication products, systems and services. Identifying such knowledge and skills is a step towards providing designers with training and competence in inclusive design principles, methods and tools. One of the first major activities of IDCnet is a workshop to be held in Helsinki in February 2003 called ‘Design for All Curriculum: Towards a synergy of the needs of ICT industry and education.’ The workshop will be bringing together: • Experts from DfA-aware industries to discuss and suggest what they would expect from graduates they would employ who claim to have proficiency in DfA, and • Experts from the academic world, with teaching or research interests in DfA, to use their own experiences in the field to suggest key knowledge sets and skills that would be necessary for curricula in this area. This presentation will: • summarise and discuss the Helsinki results and recommendations • discuss existing fora, information resources, materials and tools which could form part of model DfA curricula • seek further views and opinions from educators, trainers, students, education policy makers and end-users, and • promote the network to a wider audience of those interested in design for all curricula in the specific field of ICT