Pedagogical and Technological Accessibility Barriers faced by Undergraduate Students with Visual Impairments in Natural Sciences and Quantitative Reasoning Courses under the HEC Undergraduate Policy 2023
The implementation of Higher Education Commission (HEC) Undergraduate Policy 2023 has made Natural Sciences (NS) and Quantitative Reasoning (QR) a compulsory part of the undergraduate education in Pakistan. These courses are very visual, however, resulting in significant obstacles for students with a visual impairment (SWVIs). The purpose of this study was to explore the pedagogical and technological challenges that SWVIs encountered in their required General Education courses What is Science? and Exploring Quantitative Skills and Tools for Quantitative Reasoning. A quantitative descriptive survey design was used. The data were obtained from 122 visual impaired undergraduate students using multistage sampling technique from selected public and private universities of Lahore, Pakistan. The barriers to pedagogical, technological and institutional accessibility were measured using a 26 item researcher developed questionnaire. The internal consistency of the instrument was excellent (Cronbach’s α = .925). Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests and one way ANOVA were used to analyse the data. The results showed that the pedagogical, technological and institutional barriers were considerable. The most common pedagogical problems were the use of visual explanations in the classroom, which were unavailable for students with dyslexia and inaccessible for those with other disabilities; the most common technological problems were inaccessible scientific symbols and notations. The most highly rated institutional barrier was a lack of adaptation of laboratory activities. Significant differences were found based on degree program, type of visual impairment; but not across gender, age, or institution type. The study concludes that to achieve effective implementation of the HEC Undergraduate Policy, universities must increase the availability of accessible instructional practices, provide assistive technology, enhance faculty preparation, and adapt the assessment and laboratory procedures. The findings in this paper offer evidence-based recommendations to support equitable participation and academic success of students with visual impairments in compulsory science and quantitative reasoning education.