The learning experience of a visually impaired learner at a higher education institution regarding emergency blended teaching and learning

doi:10.18820/2519593x/pie.v39.i1.21

Abstract

Disability or impairment in general does not deprive one of the rights to basic human needs and care. However, often people with disabilities encounter barriers such as unfriendly infrastructure to access basic services such as education and health care. In this paper the authors explore the experiences of learners with visual impairment on the implementation of blended learning to thwart the challenges of COVID-19 in institutions of higher education. This narrative case study employed a telephonic semi-structured interview guide to collect data on a visually impaired learner enrolled with the University of Eswatini (UNESWA). There were two research questions that the study sought answers for: what was the learning experience of a visually impaired learner regarding blended learning during COVID-19? And, how did a visually impaired learner cope academically during the emergency blended learning and teaching? The study found the following: a) incompatible devices; b) poor internet connection; c) challenges to log onto and manoeuvre Moodle and d) a need for a step-by-step guide to help the visually impaired learner to master the Moodle platform. Thus, the study recommends a) awareness creation on disability issues; b) installation of JAWS software in the computer labs; c) intensive Moodle training for visually impaired learners; d) a need for a resource centre that caters for different impairments, e) technologically savvy lecturers to troubleshoot and f) institutional opportunities for learners to procure affordable devices.

Highlights

COVID-19 has speeded up the implementation of blended learning; a rapid change that has brought a lot of change and challenges for learners with disability
Set against the Kingdom of Eswatini’s higher education context, this paper focuses on the University of Eswatini (UNESWA) whose traditional education provision faced a drastic change following the repercussions brought about by COVID-19 starting in March 2020
The findings in this area revealed that the learner experienced some challenges in accessing the teaching and learning content on the UNESWA Learning Management System, Moodle

Summary

Introduction

COVID-19 has speeded up the implementation of blended learning; a rapid change that has brought a lot of change and challenges for learners with disability. 2020 to mitigate the spread of the disease and placed decision-makers in a tight position of ensuring that education continued through other means besides face-to-face teaching and learning. One such strategy was blended learning – “a combination of contact teaching with a teacher and of a self-contained preparation using on-line education” (Hubackova & Semradova, 2016:552), which is gaining significant global momentum. The learners gain time management as well as digital literacy skills in the comfort of their homes while allowing simultaneous multiple tasking (Medina, 2017) This flexible nature of blended learning implies that visually impaired learners too can benefit from blended learning in the comfort of their own homes. More research is required to explore the experiences of visually impaired learners regarding blended learning during COVID-19 era

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