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Trapeze is the first project EFECOT
has carried out with the support of the European Space Agency (ESA) where
it was funded under the Artes 3 Multimedia Programme.Through
ongoing research and evaluation it has become clear that the use of satellite
technology is key to the development of an effective learning environment
to meet the needs of occupational travellers. This is largely because travelling children have
little or no access to fixed communication lines due to the nature of
their housing although their homes are invariably fitted with mobile
communications systems such as GSM telephony and satellite TV reception.
At the same time, tutoring resources appropriate to the very specific needs of these
children are increasingly available. The objective is therefore to find an accessible and cost-effective network that will support a
reliable and fit-for-purpose communications system to make such tutoring
resources available to these children. The work carried out during Trapeze
us an important step in creating such a system that can be used to link
these children with their tutors, no matter in which part of Europe they
find themselves.
The objective behind
Trapeze can be described as having been:
To build a satellite Tele-education service showcase that convinces
organisations in the E.U. involved in the education of travelling
communities of the value of integrating such services into their existing
teaching practices. In order to reach this objective the following actions
were planned to take place during the project:
- Build a pilot satellite Tele-education
service based on a state-of-the-art communications platform
- Test it with a typical group of 30
learners and their tutors with home-bases in the Netherlands and
the U.K. while they are travelling in the 'summer' season using either
off-the-shelf applications or those developed specifically for the
target group.
- Create a blueprint for integrating
satellite Tele-education services into organisations involved in the
education of travelling communities consisting of guides, evaluation
documentation, technical plans and specifications, costing
information, description of organisational implications, etc.
- Carry out a series of consultative
activities aimed at convincing organisations involved with the
education of travelling communities to integrate satellite
Tele-education services into their existing teaching practices.
Click in the menu above for more
information.
Download the final
report of the Trapeze Project (!! 2,25 MB PDF file !!)
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