Despite the fact that education represents the most important factor in the prevention and mediation of the psycho-social consequences of illnesses in children and young adults, students with medical issues are still less engaged in learning and face social difficulties resulting in a lower academic achievement. The best way to achieve a good education is to boost attendance in mainstream schools, which provide not only cognitive but also social and developmental advantages to all students. Students with medical needs either in hospital or at home, face isolation, disengagement and regression. They cannot access mainstream education due to their illness and associated therapies. Within this context, ICT can play a key role in providing better communication and enabling access to education during the period of absence from mainstream school. LeHo (Learning at Home and in the Hospital) is developing an online hub in order to provide effective tools and relevant resources for home and hospital education practitioners, stakeholders and interested parties. These slides provide some examples of such innovative practices and a short overview on the project itslef. This presentation has been showed by Matteo Uggeri (Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, Italy) at Online Educa Berlin 2014 within the session "Addressing Inequality: Is ICT a Silver Bullet?", chaired by Michael Meyer (Aga Khan University, Kenya). Other presentations in that session were: - "The Potential of Online Learning as an Alternative Educational Programme for Early School Leavers" by Marianne Checkley (iScoil/IADT, Ireland); - "Implementation and Evaluation of Radio as an Educational Intervention for Inclusion and Informal Learning" by Andrew Ravenscroft (University of East London, UK); - "Digital Communities and Social Networks on Preventing ESL" by Hariklia Tsalapatas (University of Thessaly, Greece).

1. Picture source from «Gorgeous animals»: http://gorgeousanimals.com/baby-lion-tiger-and-monkey-take-a-snuggle-break-at-animal-kindergarten/

2. “Did you know that there are hundreds of thousands of young people
across Europe and the rest of the world with medical needs, and that the
majority recover and go on to lead full and normal lives?
Hospital schools and home tuition programmes ensure
that students not only keep up with their education,
but that they can go on to achieve magnificent things.“
Sometimes with the support of ICT.

3. The issue of HHE
(Home and Hospital Education)
 Providing education to children and youngsters with
medical or psychological needs: a world-wide problem
 Every country has its own solution for it.
  Need for an international confrontation on this
subject
 In some countries there are online/digital solutions
that may help the schools and the family to guarantee
the right to education also to these children.

5. Monkey in my chair
AUSTRALIA
 MissingSchool developed the “Monkey in My Chair”
programme for kids having treatment for cancer.
 The kids receive a Monkey, who can go to school when the kid
is too sick to attend, and sit in the kid’s place in the classroom.
 In addition to each "Monkey Kit," each child will be given online
access to Monkey Message, an online component that allows
the sharing of pictures and documents to ensure the line of
communication stays open between the patient and the
classroom.
 http://www.monkeyinmychair.org/program/

6. MISSING PICTURE

7. Pupil Passport
UK
 Willow Bank School (WBS, Part of the Hospital
School in Leicester) use a pupil ‘Passport’ as a
way of collecting and using significant data on
pupils.
 It’s an on-line form which enables schools and
medical personnel to contribute to the
information about the pupil’s medical and
educational history.
 https://secureform.egress.com/childrenshospital

9. Webchair
GERMANY/NL/BELGIUM
 The webchair is a Mobile Device (mostly a
notebook) with a camera in classroom.
 So students who are isolated (eg. quarantine)
are able to steer its camera and interact with
classmates and teachers.
 http://www.webchair.com/

11. Educational Robotics
ITALY
 In the Gaslini Children Hospital in Genova they
use the principles of 'Educational Robotics' in a
hospital context.
 This means that a team of teachers and experts
from the Robotics School of the CNR (National
Research Centre) teach the students with
medical needs how to build little robots.
 http://pso.istruzione.it/index.php/robot-realizzati-dai-bambini-
in-ospedale

13. Aventura Tok Tok
SPAIN
 This tool, not specifically designed for HHE,
allows the creation of virtual network,
promoting the interaction between hospitalised
kids.
 They can then publish their own works
(characters, environments…) and to broadcast
them to the rest of the platform users.
 http://santosmiguel.me/project/aventura-tok-tok/

14. Innovative practices in HHE: finally an EU funded projects
THE USE OF ICT TO SUPPORT
LEARNING AT HOME AND IN THE
HOSPITAL

15. LeHo
Learning at Home and in the Hospital
Online Educa Berlin 2014
Presentation by Matteo Uggeri

16. Main project data
 Programme: LLP – Key3 Multilateral Network
 Runtime: January 2014 – December 2016
 Coordinator: Fondazione Politecnico di Milano (ITA)
 Contact person: Matteo Uggeri
 Partners:
 Università degli Studi di Perugia (ITA)
 Bednet (BE),
 Staatliche Schule fur Kranke Muenchen (GER)
 MMB (GER)
 EDEN (UK)
 Funditec (ES)
 Children’s Hospital School of Leicester (UK)
 Third Country: 57357 - Children's Cancer Hospital (EG)
+ External Evaluator: Daxa Patel
+ Board of Experts

17. Aims of this project
 Outline key educational factors & good
practices needed by ill students;
 Explore and design ICT-based solutions which
will enable children in hospital, in home
therapy, or who attend school part-time, to
access education.
 Verify how technology can impact on the
methodology and pedagogy in Home and
Hospital Education (HHE).

18. Not only for ill people
 Moreover, the initiatives adopted in the HHE,
which represents an educational extreme
are designed to be innovative and to improve
education in difficult contexts.

 They may also be effectively applied in
‘normal’ didactical situations.

19. See you on the LeHo Hub
 www.lehoproject.eu
 The LeHo community is open for everyone involved in home
and hospital education with the support of ICT: hospital and
home tuition teachers, medical staff, ICT professionals, students
and parents, etc.
 Within the international and national groups, you can meet
with your colleagues, share your experience and discuss
difficulties you come across with.
 You are also welcome to share relevant articles and
presentations.

22. Thanks
 Matteo Uggeri
 matteo.uggeri@polimi.it
 Fondazione Politecnico di Milano
 Digital Learning & Collaboration Area
http://www.facebook.com/fpmdigitallearning/