B.A.S.I.C.S. - A Quality Management System to improve access for science students with disabilities in an open distance

learning (ODL) institution in South Africa

Presentation format• Context • Who are we …• Where are we…• Where are going?• Unisa’s contribution to the discourse (BASICS)• Significance of project • Way forward

Introduction & Context A prominent feature of policy discourses in South Africa - shortage of

scientists and engineers to address the imperatives of growth, knowledge and capacity development within the context of a developmental state.

In spite of this - potential that resides in students with disabilities (SWD) - not recognised , nor realised, or addressed - by policy makers in government and institutions of higher learning.

Historically, the laws and policies successfully excluded SWD from pursuing education and careers in science, mathematics, engineering and technology fields (HSRC, 1987).

Concomitantly, 15 years after democracy, the disabled still under-represented in science classrooms and workplaces – indicating that the potential that resides in them is still not adequately recognised or realised.

Introduction & Context Before 1994 - medical model of disability or a functional limitations

model - locates the problems of disability with the individual concerned (Stalcup, 1997; Leicester, 1999; Armstrong and Barton, 1999; Gleeson, 1999)

In 2001 - the Department of Education in South Africa introduced the Education White Paper 6: Special Needs Education (Department of Education, 2001) - inclusive education and training system – signalled towards the ‘social model’ of disability.

Social Model - views disability as a social construct created by the interactions of the disabled with a physical and social world designed for non-disabled living –puts emphasis on the social aspects of the world that can be changed (Leicester, 1999; Armstrong and Barton, 1999; Gleeson, 1999).

Who are we?

Unisa’s regional centres

Unisa- University of South Africa

• Only dedicated open distance education institution in South Africa

• Comprehensive• 2 science colleges

- CAES: College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences- CSET: College of Science, Engineering & Technology

• 5 Hubs; 9 Regions• Laboratory facilities arranged with universities in regions• Work-Integrated-Learning (WIL) facilities – regional

arrangements with industry

Open distance learning is a multi-dimensional system aimed at bridging the time, geographical, economic, social and communication distance between student and institution, student and lecturers/tutors, students and courseware, and student and peers.

Open distance learning focuses on removing barriers to access learning, flexibility of learning provision, supporting students and constructing learning programmes with the expectation that students can succeed.

Unisa’s definition of Open Distance Learning (ODL)

Unisa’s definition of ODL

Types of disabilities• Visually Impaired: Blind• Visually Impaired: Low vision• Visually Impaired: No Audio SM• Hearing: SM Transcribed• Deaf• Learning Disabilities• Communication//Speech Problems• Cerebral Palsied• Paraplegic• Quadriplegic• Epilepsy• Muscular/skeletal/Joint/Limb• Neurological Diseases• Cardio-Vascular Diseases• Kidney/Blood Deficiencies• Stroke/Brain Disorders• Mental/Chem Disorders/Fobia• Diabetes• Serious Chronic Diseases• Multiple Disabilities• Disabilities not mentioned•

CAES

students with disabilities

1ST SEMESTER 2009

Region Total Gender Disability

m f

Kwazulu Natal 8 2 6 Disabilities not mentioned(1)

Muscular/Skeletal/Joint/Limb(1) Diabetes (1)

Visually Imp: Read Difficult (2)

Dyslexia/Learning Problems(3)

Gauteng 5 3 2DISABILITIES NOT MENTIONED (1)VISUALLY IMP: READ DIFFICULT (1) PARAPLEGIC (1) EPILEPSY (2)

Mpumalanga 1 1 Disabilities not mentioned

North West 2 2MUSCULAR/SKELETAL/JOINT/LIMB

Western Cape 3 2 1DYSLEXIA/LEARNING PROBLEMSVISUALLY IMP: NO AUDIO SMDYSLEXIA/LEARNING PROBLEMS

Northern Cape 2 1 1 Dyslexia/Learning Problems

Visually Imp: No Audio SM

Free State 2 1 1 Deaf

Paraplegic

Eastern Cape 1 1 Serious Chronic Diseases

TOTAL 24 9 15

CSET :Students with disabilities (declared)

1ST SEMESTER 2009

Region Total M F Disability (declared)Kwazulu Natal 18 9 9 VISUALLY IMPAIRED: BLIND (2)

VISUALLY IMPAIRED: READING DIFFICULTY (1)VISUALLY IMPAIRED: NO AUDIO SM (3)HEARING: SM TRANSCRIBED (1)COMMUNICATION//SPEECH PROBLEMS (1)PARAPLEGIC (1)QUADRIPLEGIC (1)EPILEPSY (1)MUSCULAR/SKELETAL/JOINT/LIMB (3)DIABETES (1)DISABILITIES NOT MENTIONED (1)WHEELCHAIR: ACCESS (1)DYSLEXIA/LEARNING PROBLEMS (1)

Gauteng 66 55 11 VISUALLY IMPAIRED: BLIND (3)VISUALLY IMPAIRED: READING DIFFICULTY (4)VISUALLY IMPAIRED: NO AUDIO SM (4)HEARING: SM TRANSCRIBED (3)DEAF (3)DYSLEXIA/LEARNING DISABILITIES (2)COMMUNICATION//SPEECH PROBLEMS (3)PARAPLEGIC (4)QUADRIPLEGIC (2)EPILEPSY (2)MUSCULAR/SKELETAL/JOINT/LIMB (8)NEUROLOGICAL DISEASES (2)STROKE/BRAIN DISORDERS (1)MENTAL/CHEM DISORDERS/FOBIA (7)DIABETES (4)SERIOUS CHRONIC DISEASES (1)MULTIPLE DISABILITIES (1)DISABILITIES NOT MENTIONED (11)WHEELCHAIR: ACCESS (1)

Mpumalanga 10 6 4 VISUALLY IMPAIRED: BLIND (1)VISUALLY IMPAIRED: READING DIFFICULTY (1)DEAF (1)DYSLEXIA/LEARNING DISABILITIES (1)PARAPLEGIC (1)MENTAL/CHEM DISORDERS/FOBIA (3)DISABILITIES NOT MENTIONED (2)

North West 5 3 2Hearing: SM transcribedMENTAL /CHEM DISORDERS/FOBIAPARAPLEGICWHEELCHAIREPILEPSY

Western Cape 22 20 2 VISUALLY IMPAIRED: READ DIFFICULTY (2)VISUALLY IMPAIRED: NO AUDIO SM (1)DYSLEXIA/LEARNING PROBLEMS (4)COMMUNICATION//SPEECH PROBLEMS (1)QUADRIPLEGIC (3)EPILEPSY (2)MUSCULAR/SKELETAL/JOINT/LIMB (2)NEUROLOGICAL DISEASES (1)MENTAL/CHEM DISORDERS/FOBIA (2)DISABILITIES NOT MENTIONED (4)

Free State 2 1 1DeafMUSCULAR/SKELETAL/JOINT/LIMB

Eastern Cape 6 4 2Hearing: SM transcribed

Paraplegic

Epilepsy

Neurological diseases

Multiple disabilityMUSCULAR/SKELETAL/JOINT/LIMB

Limpopo 9 9Paraplegic(2)MUSCULAR/SKELETAL/JOINT/LIMB(2)DYSLEXIA/LEARNING PROBLEMS (2)QUADRIPLEGIC (1) MENTAL/CHEM DISORDERS/FOBIA (1)VISUALLY IMPAIRED: READING DIFFICULTY (1)

TOTAL 138 116 22

Where are we?

Unisa Strategic Plan 2015

to promote Unisa as an institution of first choice for students with disabilities and support these students through an empathetic understanding of their needs, the provision of appropriate facilities and the removal of existing barriers to access

Unisa 2015, Key objective and strategy 6.6.5

How can Unisa be made a barrier-free, more welcoming and supportive environment for

students with disabilities?

Central challenge which confronts the institution…

Considerations Voices of disabled excluded from much of previous published

research - portrayed such learners as passive, dependent and vulnerable (Priestly , 1999) Consequence : concealed way in which disabled children function as

social actors, negotiating complex identities within a disabling environment.

Increasing recognition of importance of personalised experience and life stories in the learning process (King, Cathers, Polgar, MacKinnon & Havens, 2000; Leicester, 1999)

• Stakeholders’ perspectives on disability and the way they conceive or theorise about disabilities – often inform their interactions with the disabled (Armstrong, 2004; Leicester, 1999)

Communities of practice

Lave and Wenger (2003) : Learning cannot simply be seen as something that happens within individuals – learning has to be seen as social (learning occurs through interested participation with other learners)

Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger (2003): “learning should not be viewed as simply the transmission of abstract and decontextualised knowledge from one individual to another, but a social process whereby knowledge is co-constructed; they suggest that such learning is situated in a specific context and embedded within a particular social and physical environment”.

Connectivism

George Siemens (2004): coined term – based on the understanding that decisions are based in rapidly altering foundations – new information is continually being acquired and the ability to draw distinctions between important and unimportant information is vital

Considerations

Where are we going?…

Unisa’s contribution to the discourse…

Project B.A.S.I.C.S –

Barrier-free Accessibility for Students with disabilities In Careers in Science

Significance Galvanise baseline information of swd at Unisa and other

HEI science programmes and workplaces in South Africa

Assure quality of facilities, learning materials and lab facilities for swd

Alternative learner support services and criteria to assure the quality thereof

Inform institutional (and national) policy and planning with regard to swd

Quality Management System

QA of Curriculum development process

Course design – how do we assure effective open and distance learning resources and teaching/assessment strategies for the teaching of science to students with disabilities

Course delivery – effective adjustment of laboratory and practical facilities, WIL (Work Integrated Learning), fieldwork exercises into barrier-free environments for students with disabilities?

How incorporated accommodation and task breakdown strategies (DO-IT, Stefanich, and others)?

Blend of technology and media to accommodate different ways to access the learning experience and to allow self-organisation of learning?

Enabled many opportunities to communicate with the help of technologies – wireless and remote technologies aimed at bringing access closer to students in remote areas?

QA of Learner support Support in the ODL context refers to the range of services both for individual

students and students in groups, which complements the course materials or learning resources. Following will be evaluated: Types of support (Lecturer, Tutor, Mentor, PCL facilitator, Literacy facilitator,

etc.) Targets of support – ranging from specific needs of an individual student

though to the needs of student groups through the tutoring system. Contexts of support - ranging from structured (e.g. discussion groups with the

lecturer, tutor or mentor) to unstructured (e.g. chance meeting with lecturer, tutor or mentor)

The nature of interaction – ranging from formal (e.g. the giving of a lecture, discussion group or tutorial session) to informal (mentoring sessions about students’ work or well-being)

How effective is the mentoring and peer collaborative learning? Monitoring and evaluation of tutor training to include swd?

QA of Advocacy and Research

• Unisa – ARCSWID (Advocacy & Resource Centre for Students with Disabilities)

• Surveys and questionnaires- Students, tutors, lecturers- Support services and regional centres- Laboratory survey- Work Integrated Learning (WIL) survey- Industry impact survey

• Qualitative interviews

Qualitative research design(Carpsecken, 1996)

Stages Brief description

Preliminary Steps Creating a list of research questions, a list of specific items for study, and examining researcher value orientation.

Stage One Compiling the primary record through the collection of monological data - researcher “speaks” alone when writing the primary record, and does not involve the people under study in any penetrating dialogue; Primary record - includes description of the site of the study, as observed at the time of the study; documents and records of examination results, learners’ academic profiles, their medical histories, psychology reports, policies ;Careful examination of the results and profiles of the learners to identify and make the final selection of suitable participants for the study.

Stage Two Preliminary reconstructive analysis.

Stage Three Dialogical data generation through qualitative interviews. Researcher engages the subjects in dialogue through unstructured interviews Information collected in this stage used to corroborate the information collected and analysed in stage one

Stage Four Describing system relations.Stage Five Using system relations to explain findings.

Way forward Develop resource guide

High school science teachers University lecturers and support staff Provincial and National education departments

Establish a database of South African success stories of PWD in science careers

Design and develop a web-site/link to assist with awareness-raising of online resources and success stories of scientists with disabilities