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22 September 2021
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Story Michelle Nöthling
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Photo Supplied
Annemarie Le Roux.
“I love working with children.” This is one of the first things Annemarie le Roux mentions when asked to describe herself. This love for children propelled Annemarie into the field of education and she graduated in 2006 with a BEd in Foundation Phase at the UFS. Annemarie immediately immersed herself in the Deaf community, enriching the lives of children at the Thiboloha School for the Deaf in Qwaqwa and the De la Bat School for the Deaf in Worcester.
The academic world enticed Annemarie back to the University of the Free State (UFS) and she was appointed as a junior lecturer in the Department of South African Sign Language (SASL) and Deaf Studies in 2013. Going from strength to strength, Annemarie completed her master’s degree in SASL in 2019, and published an
article earlier this year that she co-wrote with Marga Stander. In this article, they found that SASL “has become an increasingly popular language that hearing university students want to learn as a second language” and subsequently explored different teaching methods used for this emerging group of interested students.
Although now firmly established in academia, Annemarie is still committed to the practical application of SASL. “I am closely involved in student and community engagement through the
SIGNALS Sign Language student association that helps empower the Deaf community and South African Sign Language.” She also interprets for the Deaf community whenever she gets an opportunity, as well as for Deaf students in class and meetings.
On the importance of Sign Language and the recognition of the Deaf community in South Africa, Annemarie believes it will open greater opportunities for development. “More people will be able to learn SASL, and it might even become a subject in school for hearing children.”
New online journal repository launched during research week
2016-08-03
Open Access core team.The annual research week marked the official launch of KovsieJournals published on KovsieScholar, the UFS output repository. Library and information Services and the office of the Vice Rector: Research, Prof Corli Witthuhn, hosted the week-long events of 26-29 July 2016 on the Bloemfontein Campus.
KovsieScholar is the UFS’s research repository that collects, preserves, and distributes open access digital material. It is an important tool for preserving the university’s legacy, facilitating digital preservation and scholarly communication. It aims to increase the university’s global visibility, the impact and profiles of its researchers, and contribute to the preservation and sharing of knowledge. Currently, it holds journals published since 2010.
The main launch event of 27 July was opened at the Equitas Building’s Senate Hall by Mr Charlie Molepo, Deputy-Director: LIS Research and Scholarly Communications, who also presented the project background. Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector said it is a great initiative that will allow anyone to have access to UFS research outputs anywhere in the world, something he is glad to see happening during his term.
A roundtable discussion brought together more than ten senior professors and heads of department to explore topics such as Open Access and its benefits and pitfalls, centralisation of institutional research output, and the future publishing platform of KovsieJournals, amongst others. Research Week will end with training for Open Access and Centre for Teaching and Learning’s core teams.