Francesca Tosi

The product falls within research sector of Ergonomics in Design and Inclusive Design with special reference to the Universal Design for Learning in the educational and ICT fields. In contemporary society, technology is increasingly the main tool for producing and promoting information and well-being. With special regards to the framework of ICT for learning, assistive and adaptive technologies as well as e-learning and m-learning platforms, are usually employed to provide equal access to knowledge regardless of any impairment or disabilities. However, due to several limitations of technology, people can be socially excluded. In the present work, to deeply understand such limitation, the most relevant learning theories in the creation of instructional environments were investigated. On the basis of this preliminary research, the work is aimed at analyzing the inclusive potential of current ICT and related standards of web accessibility, platforms and content format in order to assess what may be the contribution of Ergonomics for design and Universal Design for improving learning environments and social inclusion for the widest number of person.

In a period of about twenty years, the area of research and intervention in Ergonomics defined today as "Ergonomics in Design” takes shape as a structured set of knowledge, intervention methods, and result sets, specifically placed in the field of Design. In particular in the field of Industrial Design, where the close relationship with the production system allows a strong integration between the innovation demands coming from companies and the development of new research lines and new professional skills, and, in the reverse sense, the possibility to apply the research and experimentation results to the realization of new products. Over the years, Ergonomics has approached to Design as the depositary of the project intervention capability, capable, by definition in "give shape to the product" summarizing in the project contributions and knowledge on current and possible people expectations. The Design has gradually approached to Ergonomics, which makes available skills and intervention methods, capable of leading the entire product development process, starting from the people needs and expectations.

Design and its methods of planning and project intervention are today recognized internationally as strategic factors for innovation and social and economic growth. The role of Design is defined primarily as a project intervention activity based on the capacity for innovation and, furthermore, as a capacity for synthesis and connection between the different professional skills involved in the decision-making processes both in the production and social fields. Design is – by definition – the capacity for creative synthesis, based on the ability to imagine and make innovative design solutions feasible, and develop them into a finished product. The role of the Designer lies in his planning ability, i.e. proactive intervention on the existing, based on the ability to interpret the complexity of the factors of innovation and change that surround us, and to develop intervention solutions capable of responding to needs and expectations and people's desires, but also to propose new behaviors and suggest new lifestyles. A second aspect to underline, but certainly no less important, is the role of Design as a connecting factor between different disciplinary and professional skills and specificities. The professional Designer, and more generally Design as a field of research and intervention, operates within a generally very complex system of skills, in which each case of intervention is addressed with operational tools and even very distant perspectives. The essay examines the evolution of the relationship between Design and Ergonomics/Human Centered Design, and vice versa, analyzing the different experiences of progressive integration also in light of the most recent developments in the User Experience and Design Thinking approaches.

Today's ageing phenomena is bringing about important changes in the make-up of our population with consequential need for assistance and cures, thus substantially increasing the costs sustained by society. The political policies of the European Community aim to maintain general health and to promote life styles capable of sustaining a level of self sufficiency and at the same time an 'intelligent" process of ageing, where one remains active and healthy for as long as possibile. The education to physical activity and to sports is a very important objective, which require the development of a conscious attitude of citizens towards their own health. With emphasis on the ergonomics of design and on methods of innovation, Human Centered Design designates likely scenarios in the near future and proposes possibile solutions which concentrate on needs and expectations, allowing one to maintain an active life, through wellness and prevention. This paper presents the results of applied research, developed by the Laboratory of Ergonomics and Design of the University of Florence in collaboration with a business which sells equipment for physical activity concerned with "smart running". The projects represent innovative solutions for indoor running, particularly intent on involving an increasing number of participants.

The essay analyses the development of training in ergonomics over the last 20 years, addressing its problematic aspects and current evolution. In recent years, training in ergonomics has followed a path parallel to the progressive spread of ergonomics and its methods and tools of intervention in different professional and productive fields, and an equally progressive consolidation of its role in both the professional and research fields. Over time, ergonomics has found increasingly broad areas of intervention and specialisation, represented today by almost all sectors in which human activities take place. Similarly, the range of professional specialisations that are part of ergonomics is extremely vast. Parallel to the interdisciplinary nature of ergonomics, which by definition constitutes its characterisation and recognisability, the profession of ergonomist has become increasingly defined on the basis of the professional specialisation of the individual – partly, but not necessarily coinciding with their original training – and the different areas of intervention in which ergonomics operates.

 In recent years, both the role played by ergonomics content and methods within companies and organisations and the role of ergonomics professionals have changed profoundly. Today, ergonomics professionals are no longer identified solely by their specialisation in ergonomics and/or their title of European Ergonomist, but rather by their specific skills. The development of professional fields in the area of occupational safety and clinical risk management and the consolidation of professional figures operating in these sectors, the growing role of ergonomics in the field of assessment and design of industrial products, environments and workstations, and finally the development of the various areas that now fall under HCI, in particular User Experience and Design Thinking approaches, which combine content and methods from cognitive psychology, computer engineering, product design and communication, have also led to anew demand for training in ergonomics. It is in this context that, after a hiatus of about 10 years, both university and non-university master's degrees, now structured according to the European Ergonomist training model, and training courses focused on specific areas of ergonomics have been relaunched. The new training model for European Ergonomists (Eur. Erg.), approved in 2011 by the CREE (Centre for Registration of European Ergonomists), replaces the first model approved in 1992.