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09 October 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Barend Nagel
Braille Signage
Big on Braille: Members of the Kovsie community who are living with visual impairments can now access directions through the new braille system.

The University of the Free State (UFS) commemorate World Sight Day, which is celebrated annually on the second Thursday of October. The day has been set aside and aimed at drawing attention to blindness and vision. This was originally initiated by the #SightFirstCampaign of the Lions Club International Foundation in 2000. 
The university aims to contribute to the development and social justice of all students through the production of globally competitive graduates. Thus, the development and implementation of co-curricular programmes, activities, services, and mutual infrastructure will allow for humanising daily lived experiences among students, which are essential for universal access, student academic success, social behaviour, engagement, and an inclusive institutional culture.

With this in mind, the university rolled out a capital project that included the construction of tactile pathways with braille indicators on the pathways, designed to support and caution pedestrians who are blind or visually impaired. The indicators are universally accessible, because it includes Braille and text. The text then gives indications to new students who are also struggling to find their way around campus.

A UFS Bachelor of Social Sciences student who dreams of becoming a social worker, Tshegofatso Nkatlholang, who was born partially blind, but is now completely blind is motivated by the prospect of living a life where she has the ability to help the less fortunate. Her opinion of the construction and implementation of the new tactile pathways on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus is that they are extremely helpful. She went on to say, “That is my road, and I am grateful for a university that strives to operate an inclusive infrastructural environment where I don’t feel sidelined.”
Kovsie student Keamogetswe Mbele was born partially blind with very low vision, eventually losing her eyesight. She explained that she had no knowledge of the newly built braille indicators on the tactile pathways, but that she felt appreciative of the university’s initiative to constitute an inclusive academic and infrastructural environment for all students on campus. Motivated by her personal goals of independence and financial freedom, ‘Kamo’, as her peers refer to her, is determined to live a prosperous academic life throughout the course of her studies at the UFS.

According to Mookgo Moloi, a Kovsie student who was not born blind but gradually lost her sight at the age of 15, said, “Life on campus is very caring”. She reflected on the opportunities, as well as the technical and emotional support that the Center for Universal Access and Disability Support (CUADS) has provided her, which has made her academic career a lot easier, and more advantageous for her to graduate. 
CUADS further strives to facilitate, create opportunities, and enhance students’ understanding of multiple intersections and ways of being that are consistent with human rights and the principles of social justice.




News Archive

Pianoboost a hit on Google Play Store
2017-03-01

Description: Pianoboost Tags: Pianoboost

Pianoboost is an interactive app developed by
Dr Frelet de Villiers, lecturer in the Odeion School of Music
at the University of the Free State.
Photo: Supplied

“I got the idea after watching my children play Sing Star on PlayStation, where the game can detect how accurately you sing. I realised this could turn my dream into a reality if I looking into the possibility of an app that can do note recognising,” says Dr Frelet de Villiers, developer of the Pianoboost app, about her brainchild.

Dr De Villiers, lecturer in the Odeion School of Music (OSM) at the University of the Free State (UFS), developed this interactive app for piano learners to learn music. She started the developing process three years ago, but the project only got momentum when she  approached LivX, a digital developing company in Pretoria, six months ago.

Useful for other instruments
Pianoboost has been live since 9 February 2017 and already received positive reviews, with a five-star rating on the Google Play Store. “In my experience as piano teacher, I know that learners struggle to learn their notes. They can’t recognise the note on the music sheet and therefore cannot play it on the piano,” says Dr De Villiers. Although this app is developed for piano, it is also successfully used for other instruments like the marimba, violin, and guitar, because it can pick up sounds from almost any instrument.

Ideal for use in academic programme
There are students in the certificate and diploma modules at the OSM who haven’t received any formal music training. Therefore, the app is ideal for them to use. “We have instrument-specific methodology in our degree courses. So, those students could also be exposed to the app for use in their own teaching of young learners,” says Dr De Villiers.

Different features sets app apart
The app, available on Android devices, has instant music recognition and impressive features that already sets it apart from existing learning apps. It is used on a real acoustical piano (you do not need to plug the tablet into a keyboard), has instant note recognition, shows the correct position of the note on the piano when you are wrong, and works like a flash card system, to name a few. “By using the app, you also learn the names of notes whether you played it right or wrong,” says Dr De Villiers.

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