Covid-19 and Learners with Disabilities: Towards Divergent Praxis in Teacher Preparation for Equity and Epistemic Justice

Emergence of COVID-19 further exposed educational inequalities and epistemic injustices experienced by learners with disabilities (LwDs). COVID-19 presents additional challenges for teachers and LwDs whose life and active learning engagements depends largely on social interaction. While the lockdown persisted, teachers of LwDs became anxious about potential relapse of previously gained learning outcomes and aggravated disabling condition. Unfortunately, there seem to be less teachers' capacities to continually foster learning among their LwDs during the lockdown because there exist low teachers' morale and pedagogical gaps for digital teaching. Based on current realities, it is evident that there is need for a paradigm shift in teacher preparation and training towards equity and epistemic justice for LwDs. Hence, this intellectual piece advanced the need to modify the existing teacher education curriculum to extensively build on teachers' morale while it consciously infuses technological pedagogies in preparation programmes of teachers of LwDs in Africa.

Rethinking technological learning spaces for effective teaching and learning in higher education institutions: A perspective from south africa

The emergence of learning technology in higher education is an interesting phenomenon that continues to gain acceptance. While South Africa is regarded as one of the leading African nations with quality higher education, there is a need for her tertiary institutions to fortify their technological learning spaces to meet the needs of today’s upwardly-mobile higher education students. This study adopts a single case qualitative study design in the form of a survey to examine the state of technological learning spaces in a comprehensive university. The actual data for the study was collected from eight (8) academic staff in a rural-based university in South Africa. Data were collected through focus group interviews to allow for rich descriptions of the true state of technological space of learning in the institution. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The main variables of technological learning spaces were broken down into sub-themes to address key research issues raised in the study. The findings revealed that though technological facilities such as Wi-Fi internet services, computer laboratory, and Learning Management System (LMS) are available in the institution, some factors are constraining the staff and students from effectively utilizing of these technologies. The study recommends adequate funding/investment, as well as a partnership between the rural based institutions and the universities of technologies in South Africa, as key steps in repositioning the institution’s technological space towards teaching and learning needs of the 21st century higher education students. © 2020, Conscientia Beam. All rights reserved.