Equipment, devices, apparatuses, services, systems, processes and environmental modifications used by people with disabilities to overcome social, infrastructural and other barriers to learning independence, safe and easy participation in learning activities, and full participation in society (UNESCO, 2020a, p. 419).

‘Enabling technologies’ is another term for ‘assistive technologies’. However, these focus more on creating opportunity than overcoming a deficit.

Blended learning in formal education and training involves a diversity of approaches and is to be understood as a school (in primary and secondary education, including vocational education and training), teacher and trainer or learner taking more than one approach to the learning process:

• blending school site and other physical environments away from the school site (either with the presence of a teacher/trainer, or separated by space and/or time in distance learning);
• blending different learning tools that can be digital (including online learning) and non-digital.

Using their professional pedagogical judgement, teachers, trainers and schools will select and facilitate the use of these approaches as part of engaging and effective learning tasks that support broad competence development, as appropriate to the age, abilities and circumstances of the learners and intended learning outcomes.

Other physical environments may include, for example, on the one hand: the home; hospitals (in the case of sick or injured children); and on the other hand cultural and memory institutions; farms, companies and other workplaces; nature sites and outdoors; sports and youth spaces (Council of the European Union, 2021, p. 12).

Digital education comprises two different but complementary perspectives: the pedagogical use of digital technologies to support and enhance teaching, learning and assessment and the development of digital competences by learners and education and training staff (European Commission, 2020, p. 95).

Digital transformation is organisational transformation enabled by digitalisation.

Digital transformation covers both the integration of digital technologies by European enterprises and the impact on society of new technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, innovative digital platforms and blockchain technologies (Negreiro and Madiega, 2019, p. 2).

The Agency considers Inclusive Digital Education as digital transformation that goes far beyond applying suitably designed digital technologies in education. Inclusive digital education involves all education system levels – from the individual, to the educational institution, to the regional or national level. In inclusive education systems, this entails addressing inclusion, exclusion, digitalisation and the digital divide as interconnected and inter-dependent cross-cutting issues. This is vital if digital education is not just to be implemented for some, but is to be permanently anchored in the education system’s structures to foster resilient education systems that provide equitable education opportunities for all learners (European Agency, 2022b, p. 8).

Education that is institutionalized, intentional and planned by an education provider. The defining characteristic of non-formal education is that it is an addition, alternative and/or a complement to formal education within the process of the lifelong learning of individuals. … Non-formal education mostly leads to qualifications that are not recognized as formal qualifications by the relevant national educational authorities or to no qualifications at all (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, no date).

Online learning is defined as learning that takes place using digital technology to connect different devices and to facilitate interaction between the learner and teachers, trainers or other educational staff, or other learners, aimed at obtaining learning content or other information to achieve the objectives of learning programmes (Council of the European Union, 2021, p. 12).

‘Available for everyone to use’ (Cambridge Dictionary).

According to the Agency’s Open Access Policy, open-access refers to content that is digital, available online, free to access and free of most usage restrictions. The goal of open access is to provide resources to everyone who can benefit from them.

In the Agency context, users are free to access, use and disseminate open-access resources with appropriate credit to the Agency. However, users may not modify or translate these resources without the Agency’s approval.

‘Open-source software is free to use, and the original program can be changed by anyone’ (Cambridge Dictionary).

In the context of Agency work, users are free to access, use, modify and disseminate open-source materials with appropriate credit to the Agency. This includes publications intended for practical use, such as self-review tools. See the Agency’s Open Access Policy for more information.

Web-based learning refers to the type of learning that uses the Internet as an instructional delivery tool to carry out various learning activities. It can take the form of (1) a pure online learning in which the curriculum and learning are implemented online without face-to-face meeting between the instructor and the students, or (2) a hybrid in which the instructor meets the students half of the time online and half of the time in the classroom, depending on the needs and requirement of the curriculum. Web-based learning can be integrated into a curriculum that turns into a full-blown course or as a supplement to traditional courses (Zheng, 2008).