The Role of ICTs in the Provision of Engineering Education to Visually Impaired Learners in South Africa

Inclusivity in education fosters the academic development and social integration of all learners despite their disabilities. In spite of the support extended by higher education institutions towards inclusion, there is a substantial exclusion of visually impaired learners in engineering courses in South Africa. This indicates that there is a lack of an effective framework that guides institutions in South Africa to promote the provision of visually impaired learners in engineering. The purpose of this paper is to firstly obtain the perceptions of visually impaired learners from special schools in the Free State Province regarding the provision of visually impaired learners for engineering education. Secondly, the paper aims to investigate which ICT tools can be used to overcome some of the challenges that visually impaired learners may face in engineering education. Focus groups were used to collect qualitative data from visually impaired learners in the Free State Province of South Africa. The lack of awareness about engineering and the lack of engineering tools were some of the key challenges raised. ICT tools such as iNETSim, AudioMath, PRISCA, LoggerPro, MoodleVox etc. are recommended for specific engineering courses. It is further recommended that tertiary institutions seek to address the challenges faced by visually impaired learners, so that they too may contribute to the socio-economic development of South Africa. This paper forms part of a larger study that aims at developing a framework for the successful adoption and use of ICTs in engineering courses in higher education institutions of South Africa.