This special issue of eLearning Papers will examine how Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) can help individuals and institutions to fight against poverty and social exclusion.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are already part of our everyday life and key enablers for many activities, such as working environments, daily communications and relationships, handling of administrative affairs, etc. However, it is still necessary to encourage
eInclusion, to promote ICT in order to enhance social inclusion in the knowledge society and to boost barrier-free technologies usable by all citizens.

In 2006, the Riga Declaration set a number of targets to promote an inclusive knowledge society for all European citizens. This was followed by an awareness and dissemination campaign in 2008 under the slogan: "eInclusion, be part of it!". The year 2010 has been declared the European Year against Poverty and Social Exclusion, and among its objectives are:

• Promoting inclusive labour markets;
• Eradicating disadvantages in education and training;
• Accessibility to adequate resources and services;
• Promoting social inclusion of immigrants and minorities.

Education and training have an important role to play in the activities that enhance eInclusion, for example through the promotion of digital literacy, e-skills, integration and cultural diversity. This also brings considerable challenges, such as issues around accessibility, the promotion of education and training among excluded groups, and the development of new pedagogic models and methods for inclusive learning.

This special issue of eLearning Papers will examine how Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) can help individuals and institutions to fight against poverty and social exclusion.

Three ways of social inclusion, made possible by TEL, will be considered in this issue:

• Material inclusion: fight against poverty and the digital divide, contribute to “education for all”;
• Physical inclusion: help disabled and geographically isolated populations to be “mobile”;
• (Inter-)cultural inclusion: integration of minorities (Rroms), refugees and migrants, boost inter-generational relations, fight against discriminations.

Which strategies and pedagogical approaches can be applied through the use of technologies in order to contribute to these three categories? What is the role of, for example, foreign languages and/or intercultural education/citizenship in these approaches? Our hypothesis is that through technologies people can find new ways of reflecting on the notions of inclusion/exclusion and gain a feeling of being included and integrated.
We are looking for articles and practical case descriptions with real life examples about how ICT have been already used for social inclusion in any of the three ways above mentioned.

The article submission closes on 26 January 2010. The provisional date of publication is the end of April 2010. See the author guidelines at:

http://www.elearningpapers.eu/index.php?page=collab_guide

Guest editors:

• Fred Dervin, University of Turku, Finland
• Christine Develotte, INRP, Lyon, France