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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2024.1421761

Online Learning Experiences of Female Students Living with Albinism Amidst a Global Pandemic: Evidence from South Africa and Zimbabwe

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Central University of Technology, Bloemfontein, South Africa
  • 2 Morgenster College of Education, University of Zimbabwe, Theory of Education Department, Masvingo, Zimbabwe., Masvingo, Zimbabwe

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Our paper explores the online learning experiences of two female students living with Albinism in South Africa and Zimbabwe during the COVID-19 era. Using a two-case qualitative research design, we conducted in-depth face to face interviews with the purposefully selected sample. The intention was to bring to the fore, the unique online experiences of female students living with Albinism. Data were thematically analysed. Literature suggests that the unique health and physiological characteristics of students living with Albinism tend to present unique but surmountable challenges. Our study established that the gender and physiology of the students tended to complicate or enhance their desire to benefit from online learning during the COVID-19 era. The findings make a case for academic inclusion in universities' academic projects. Institutions may consider instituting pedagogically inclusive online learning mechanisms that are not only gender sensitive, but are in sync with, not only the COVID-19 realities, but similar calamities. accepted that the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted education worldwide, with many schools and universities transitioning to remote learning (Smith, 2020). Female students with albinism, face unique challenges in accessing online education. Hence, this paper seeks to explore the online learning experiences of female students with albinism during the COVID-19 era.

    Keywords: Female student1, Albinism2, COVID-193, online learning4, Qualitative5

    Received: 22 Apr 2024; Accepted: 09 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Makura and Zireva. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Alfred H. Makura, Central University of Technology, Bloemfontein, South Africa

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.