The first workshop of the KlimaOER project took place on October 1-2 in Bonn and was initially intended for active project members only. Under the theme "Digital Inclusion" we discussed how to make OER content as accessible and usable as possible for everyone.
On the first day we met at the Institute for Meteorology at the University of Bonn in Endenich to get to know each other and to get an introduction to the topic. Ellen Arimond, the coordinator of the project, introduced us to the topic with an interactive presentation and created a first awareness of inclusion and accessibility. This aspect is probably one of the most important - to be aware of the barriers and needs that exist and to keep them in mind when creating materials.
After this first unit we went to the Haus der Geschichte in Bonn in the afternoon to visit the permanent exhibition "NACH HITLER - Die deutsche Auseinandersetzung mit dem Nationalsozialismus". This was less about the content itself and more about the different forms of presentation used in the museum. Everyone explored the exhibition for themselves and tried to answer the question "How do we learn? We looked at how the content was presented, which form we found most appealing, and how it could be implemented in the media. We also looked at what had been done to make the exhibition as accessible as possible. At the end of the day, we went out for pizza together and discussed the results of this excursion.
The next day started again at the institute in Endenich, where we had a visit from Svenja Hollstein, the representative of the CIMND* department of the Asta of the University of Bonn. The name of the department stands for Chronically Ill, Mad, Neurodivergent, Deaf and Disabled Persons and others affected by ableism, so it is a group that advocates for the rights and concerns of students affected by ableism. Svenja told us a bit about this group and their work and was able to tell us about the needs and problems in the area of inclusion that are currently a priority at the University of Bonn.
We then got an introduction to H5P elements (HTML5 package), which are a commonly used media form for creating learning units. They can be used to create interactive interfaces and videos, tests or even presentations, and can be embedded in websites such as Moodle or other learning materials. Of course, accessibility must always be taken into account. To get a feel for this and to familiarize ourselves with the platform, we created our first H5P elements and checked other existing elements for accessibility.
The first workshop ended with a joint lunch, which taught us a lot of new things, both in terms of content and organization, and prepared us for future workshops.
