Welcome to our professional MOOC on Accessibility for the Scenic Arts. This MOOC has been developed as part of the Erasmus+ European Project ACT, which stands for Accessible Culture and Training, and whose aim it is to define the professional profile of the Media Accessibility Coordinator and Manager for the scenic arts. What is the difference between a coordinator and a manager? Well, in our terminology, a coordinator is attached to one venue whereas a manager is responsible for various venues, for instance regionally. On the basis of well-defined learning outcomes, we developed the training activities and course materials required to train both professionals, and these you are about to explore. This MOOC has been created by the different partners of the ACT project: Universidad Autónoma Barcelona, the University of Antwerp, Queens University Belfast, University of Vienna, European Certification and Qualification Association, NT Gent, Generalitat de Catalunya Departament de Cultura, Inter, and Transìt Projectes. This introductory unit, called Unit 0, has been developed by the team of the University of Antwerp in Belgium, Aline Remael, Isabelle Robert, Nina Reviers and myself. I am Gert Vercauteren of the University of Antwerp and I am one of your trainers in this unit. I am in my early 40s, have dark blond hair and I am of average build. I wear stylish glasses and have a neatly trimmed beard. In this unit you will learn about the specific objectives of the ACT MOOC and about the profile of its potential participants. In addition, you will learn about the structure of the ACT MOOC from a content-related and timing-related point of view. Finally, you will be sensitized to the importance of respecting netiquette guidelines when working on blogs and fora. This MOOC has been designed for people who work in cultural venues and want to develop the necessary skills and competences to become an accessibility coordinator or manager for the scenic arts. It is a professional MOOC, not an academic MOOC, since it targets professional learners who wish to work on their continuous professional development, and not so much undergraduate students who primarily want to acquire credits in a degree course. So in this ACT MOOC some knowledge is transferred by instructors, but it relies to a great extent on the existing background knowledge, experience and curiosity of the participants, that is, on you, professionals who work in cultural venues or the like. Our ACT MOOC has been divided into 6 main units, running over a 6 week period. Each Unit will require between 2 and 4 hours of work. Unit 0 is this one, an introductory unit. Unit 1, Inclusion and Accessibility, is dedicated to these two concepts, to the different audiences that may need accessibility and the different types of access support that are available to them, and to legislation on inclusion and accessibility. Unit 2, Venue Accessibility, will teach you about the accessibility requirements for both outdoor and indoor venues. Unit 3 consists of two parts: part a, Access Services - Concepts, focuses on the support services from a conceptual point of view, think, for example, of surtitles or audio description, services that you have probably heard of, but there are many others. In part b, Access Services – Implementation, we will teach you how to facilitate implementation of the various access facilities you explored in Unit 3a, with a particular focus on the steps to be taken in advance of the event, on the day of the event and after the event. Unit 4, Communication and Dissemination, is dedicated to communicating and promoting accessibility, in other words, public relations. In Unit 5, Management, you will learn about managing a team and coordinating an event. The last unit, Unit 6, Final Assessment and Debriefing, consists of a final global assignment in which you will combine all the skills you have learnt. In the course of the MOOC you will be asked to access a number of videos, go through suggested readings and consult external links. And you will be assessed through quizzes and peer assessed assignments. In a MOOC environment, peer assessment is crucial, so consider the peer assessments you'll be asked to carry out as another assignment. Don't forget to read the netiquette guidelines in this unit carefully, because a web-based course involves a form of interaction that has its own rules. Ready to become an accessibility manager? The whole ACT MOOC team is ready to take the journey with you. So, let's start.
