104

Pedagogical aention strategies in

students with visual impairment

Arnoldo Rafael Rodríguez Noriega

Gustavo Adolfo González Roys

Leonardo Enrique Martínez Arredondo

To reference this article / Cómo citar este artículo / Para citar

este artigo: Rodríguez-Noriega, A. R., González-Roys, G. y Martínez-

Arredondo, L. E. (2023). Pedagogical attention strategies in students

with visual impairment. Revista UNIMAR, 41(1), 104–123. https://doi.

org/10.31948/Rev.unimar/unimar41-1-art6

Reception date: January 19, 2022

Review date: May 9, 2022

Approval date: June 23, 2022

Abstract

The objective of this research was to understand the importance of pedagogical

attention strategies in the classroom, for students with visual disabilities

in the context of educational inclusion at the Universidad Popular del Cesar,

Sabanas headquarter, Valledupar municipality. It was based on various authors:

Aguirre (2016), Arizabaleta and Ochoa (2016), Bromberg et al. (2016), Carrillo

et al. (2017), and it was developed under the qualitative approach in the

phenomenological method. A documentary review and interviews were carried

out with two students with visual disabilities and two teachers of the institution,

where the important eort of the latter was evidenced when considering all their

students in the pedagogical practice, including those with visual disabilities. It

is concluded that there is a need to train teaching sta to work competently

to achieve more important achievements in terms of educational inclusion and

pedagogy of inclusion related to disability.

Keywords: pedagogical attention strategies; visual disabilities; educational

inclusion.

Candidate for a Master’s in Pedagogy (Universidad Mariana); Degree in Spanish and English Language (Universidad Popular del

Cesar). Teacher (Universidad Popular del Cesar). Email: arnoldora.rodriguez@umariana.edu.co

Ph.D. Candidate in Educational Quality UBC (Mexico); Master in Management of Research and Development Projects URBE (Venezuela);

Agro industrial Engineer, UNICESAR. Research Coordinator of the Master’s program in Pedagogy, Universidad Mariana, Valledupar,

Colombia. Email: ggonzalezr@umariana.edu.co

Ph.D. Candidate in Educational Sciences URBE (Venezuela); Master in Chemistry Teaching; Specialist in Environmental Pedagogy,

Universidad Popular del Cesar; Graduate in Chemistry and Biology Education Sciences, Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de

Colombia. Email: leonmartinez@umariana.edu.co

An article resulting from the research entitled: ‘Pedagogical attention strategies in students with visual disabilities’, developed from

May 2019 to November 2021, at the Universidad Popular del Cesar, Sabanas headquarter, Colombia.

105

Estrategias de atención pedagógica en estudiantes

con discapacidad visual

Resumen

La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo, comprender la importancia de las

estrategias de atención pedagógica en el aula, para estudiantes con discapacidad

visual en el contexto de la inclusión educativa en la Universidad Popular del

Cesar, sede Sabanas, municipio Valledupar. La investigación se fundamentó en

diferentes autores: Aguirre (2016), Arizabaleta y Ochoa (2016), Bromberg et

al. (2016), Carrillo et al. (2017), entre otros y, se desarrolló bajo el enfoque

cualitativo en el método fenomenológico; se realizó una revisión documental, así

como entrevistas a dos estudiantes con discapacidad visual y dos docentes de la

institución en estudio, donde se evidenció el importante esfuerzo de estos últimos

al considerar en la práctica pedagógica a todos sus estudiantes, incluyendo a

aquellos con discapacidad visual. Se concluye que, existe la necesidad de formar

al personal docente para trabajar con competencia en pro del alcance de logros

más importantes en materia de inclusión educativa y pedagogía de la inclusión

relacionada con la discapacidad.

Palabras clave: estrategias de atención pedagógica; discapacidad visual;

inclusión educativa.

Estratégias pedagógicas de atenção em alunos com

deciência visual

Resumo

O objetivo desta pesquisa foi compreender a importância das estratégias de

atenção pedagógica em sala de aula para alunos com deciência visual no

contexto da inclusão educacional na Universidad Popular de Cesar, em Sabanas,

município de Valledupar. Baseou-se em diversos autores e foi desenvolvida sob

a abordagem qualitativa do método fenomenológico; foi realizada uma revisão

documental e entrevistas com dois alunos com deciência visual e dois professores

da instituição, onde cou evidenciado o importante esforço destes últimos ao

contemplar todos os seus alunos na prática pedagógica, inclusive aqueles com

deciência visual. Conclui-se que há necessidade de capacitar o corpo docente

para atuar com competência para alcançar conquistas mais importantes em

termos de inclusão educacional e pedagogia da inclusão relacionada à deciência.

Palavras-chave: estratégias pedagógicas de atenção; deciência visual;

inclusão educacional.

Pedagogical aention strategies in students with visual impairment

106

Arnoldo Rafael Rodríguez Noriega

Gustavo Adolfo González Roys

Leonardo Enrique Martínez Arredondo

1. Introduction

For some people, having one or more disabilities

means something severely adverse that partially

or totally aects their development and active

participation in everyday situations. Disability

as a condition is dened by the dictionary of

the Real Academia Española (RAE, 2021) as

the “situation of the person who, due to their

long-lasting physical [...] or mental conditions,

encounters diculties for their participation

and social inclusion” (n.p.). Thus, disability in

the particular context of this study represents

breadth and inclusiveness.

Over the years, in the educational scenario, it

has been observed that students with disabilities

have gradually assumed greater visibility in their

own spaces, both in schools and universities,

thanks to global initiatives such as the Strategy

for the United Nations for the Inclusion of

Disability (United Nations Organization [UN],

2018) in favor of accessibility, which has been

penetrating the sensitivity of governments,

institutions, organizations, and people. Although

for many this situation can be addressed from

special education, it should not be so, since

it is about building inclusion (Villa, 2017);

educational work with people with disabilities is

a task and responsibility of all educational levels

and instances.

The World Education Monitoring Report 2020

(United Nations Educational, Scientic and

Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2020)

expresses very clearly that inclusion cannot

be limited to children and young people with

disabilities attending ordinary schools, colleges,

and universities that lack support and preparation

for it and, therefore, cannot take responsibility

for achieving inclusion, which would mean that

actions such as these, could increase experiences

of exclusion, leading to results adverse to the

objectives of inclusion proposed by educational

systems.

At the university level, the challenge for teachers

becomes more evident, since it is a training that

expects a higher level of autonomy from the

student, both in their mobility of action and in

their learning process. In this regard, Bromberg

et al. (2016) state:

No one prepared us for the urgent and

necessary opening that universities had to

assume in the face of the increasing entry

of people with disabilities into university

education. Many teachers from these

universities have found themselves helpless

in the face of ignorance about academic

coexistence and pedagogical strategies to

eciently enhance the abilities of students

with disabilities. (p. 18)

These authors reect, in written form, what

many teachers think when they assume or when

the challenge of working in the classroom with

students with disabilities is imposed on them, as

it is in most cases: they nd intuitive knowledge,

not consciously, without tools previously

considered and designed based on the real needs

of these students, often having to appeal to an

adaptation of classroom practices, in adherence

to what could be called ‘pedagogy of normality’.

The lack of understanding of the potentialities,

capacities, and possibilities that a person with

disabilities possesses still prevails, which leads

them to other ways of learning; consequently,

teachers use new ways to facilitate learning,

clinging to trying to impose what is already

known (Villa, 2017).

In the words of Villa (2017), “it seems that there

is an absolute hegemony of normality [...] that

prevents rethinking the way [how] the subjects

of education are conceived” (p. 119), assuming

them as people who are the object of teaching

and not as subjects who daily build their being.

Hence, it is necessary to constantly reect

on the teaching practice and even more so,

when it occurs amid groups of students where

there is a presence of disabling conditions,

understanding that it is not about treating them

dierently, but about developing an inclusive

practice to cover everyone in a general way,

avoiding uncomfortable situations that, on many

occasions, generate student desertion.

In the Colombian context, according to the gures

provided by the Basic and Secondary Education

Student Enrollment System (SIMAT), for the

year 2018, there were 180,743 students with

disabilities registered in schools throughout the

country, “of which only 5.4% [reached] the level

of higher education […] and only 1.7% of people

with disabilities nished university education”

(Fundación Saldarriaga Concha, 2018, para. 3).

Bermúdez et al. (2009) rearm the above and

express that the initial access to education for

people with disabilities is noticeably reduced,

decreasing more and more when the transition

is made between basic and higher education:

More than answering to an institutional

guideline, inclusion has often arisen from

teachers interested in the subject, or it is

generated as a response to the case of students

who have entered and present particular

demands for support and accompaniment to

the university. (p. 51)

Pedagogical aention strategies in students with visual impairment

107

Arnoldo Rafael Rodríguez Noriega

Gustavo Adolfo González Roys

Leonardo Enrique Martínez Arredondo

Based on all these descriptions, as well as on

data obtained through an initial observation

carried out at the Universidad Popular del Cesar

(UPC), located in the municipality of Valledupar,

in Colombia, features of a problem related to

teacher attention and interaction are evident

in the classrooms of this higher education

institution with students with disabilities,

specically those with total visual impairment

or reduced vision. Among the possible causes,

the lack of preparation on the part of teachers

for classroom work was raised, as well as the

administrative body in its interaction with them;

likewise, the inadequate infrastructure of the

classrooms and the available resources that

the teacher uses as support in the classroom,

and so on. Consequently, each student in

these conditions faces physical, structural, and

pedagogical barriers, together with those of an

emotional and psychological nature, which hinder

the development of the educational process at

the university level and the relationships that

exist there, negatively aecting learning.

Added to this is the non-compliance with laws,

decrees, and agreements stipulated in the

Colombian national territory, such as the case of

Statutory Law 1680 of 2013, which establishes

the provisions to guarantee the full exercise of

the rights of persons with disabilities, but the

reality is very far from what is proposed and

stated on paper. Therefore, it is assumed that

a ssure in the organizational system does not

allow the adequate conguration of an inclusive

educational community. From this circumstance,

the fact of the investigation is born, which aims

to identify causes, consequences, and possible

contributions to meet latent needs in this

controversial and pressing issue.

When visually impaired students enter the

university with the aim of training and growing

personally and professionally, they face a series

of problems in the classroom. To verify this,

the Department of Inclusive Education of the

UPC provided this information: the entity has

managed some resources, certain tools, and

physical space to benet this student population,

but, despite this, most teachers do not have

adequate training to deliver appropriate care.

From the above, the following question arose:

What is the signicance of the pedagogical

attention strategies in students with visual

disabilities of the UPC, Sabanas headquarter,

in the municipality of Valledupar in attention

to the principles of equality and equity? And,

from it derived the purposes that made it

possible to guide the research process around

the general objective, related to understanding

the importance of these pedagogical attention

strategies in the classroom.

For this, in the context of this higher education

institution, it was necessary to issue the following

specic objectives:

• Recognize the principles of educational

inclusion related to people with visual

disabilities.

• Identify the conditions, needs, and interests

of students with visual disabilities.

• Analyze the pedagogical practices in the

teaching and learning processes for the

attention of students with visual disabilities.

• Assess the signicance of pedagogical

attention strategies for students with visual

disabilities at the Universidad Popular del

Cesar.

Given the need to investigate the area of

inclusive education and, especially visual

impairment, the importance, utility, and benet

that this type of study brings to the mentioned

population becomes evident, to be attended

as a notorious party and active link of the

conguration or socio-educational structure. In

addition to this purpose of inclusion of diversity,

the process of dignifying and making visible

a population minority is necessarily touched,

which constitutes an important task through its

contribution to the construction of an awareness

of equality and respect for the rights of each

human being, regardless of the dierences. The

use of each strategy and resource is called upon

to supply the critical points that make academic

life a traumatic and frustrating episode in the

training of students with disabilities, especially

in specic cases of visual impairment. Thus, it

would be contributing to the primary purpose

of pedagogical research, which touches the

bers of the social network and emerges as an

impetuous need for change in latent models and

paradigms today.

The investigative process was supported by

several studies. On the international stage,

the contributions of Ocampo (2018), Fajardo

(2017), Medina (2016), and García et al.

(2016) provide valuable data on the subject of

educational inclusion from their contexts and

point as a whole to the search and achievement

of a more integral, supportive, and fair

education. In the Colombian national scenario,

the works developed by Arizabaleta and Ochoa

(2016), Aguirre (2016), Zárate-Rueda et al.

Pedagogical aention strategies in students with visual impairment

108

Arnoldo Rafael Rodríguez Noriega

Gustavo Adolfo González Roys

Leonardo Enrique Martínez Arredondo

(2017), Velandia et al. (2018), and Duarte et al.

(2019) allow us to notice the need to continue

investigating the educational inclusion at the

level of higher education of students with visual

disabilities, since, most of the time, they are

complex life stories, loaded with suering both

at personal, family, and social level.

After having made a tour of the categories of

the study, two major themes are highlighted:

inclusive education and pedagogical attention

for students with visual disabilities. The rst

represents the transformation and adaptation

necessary for education for all, as expressed by

UNESCO (2009):

Inclusive education is a process of

strengthening the capacity of the education

system to reach out to all learners and thus

can be understood as a key strategy to

achieve education for all (EFA). As an overall

principle, it should guide all educational

policies and practices, starting from the fact

that education is a basic human right and the

foundation for a more just and equal society.

(p. 9)

In Colombia, inclusive education is assumed

as a determining process that recognizes

the dierences in human diversity. In the

regulations, through Decree 1421 of 2017,

article 2.3.3.5.1.4., numeral 7, the Colombian

State denes inclusive education as follows:

A permanent process that recognizes,

values, and responds in a pertinent manner

to the diversity of characteristics, interests,

possibilities, and expectations of girls, boys,

adolescents, youth, and adults, whose

objective is to promote their development,

learning, and participation with same-age

peers, in a common learning environment,

without any discrimination or exclusion, and

that guarantees, within the framework of

human rights, the support and reasonable

adjustments required in their educational

process, through practices, policies, and

cultures that eliminate existing barriers in

the educational environment. (p. 5)

Considering the above, it becomes evident that

the Ministerio de Educación Nacional (MEN),

by presenting this document of technical,

administrative, and pedagogical indications

for inclusion, oers a normative foundation in

response to the need to work on the concept of

inclusion and to determine theoretical support

for academic work. On the other hand, it is

convenient to clarify the dierence between

educational inclusion and inclusive education,

since they are concepts that, at rst glance,

seem to have the same meaning, but they

are not. In this regard, Arizabaleta and Ochoa

(2016) state: “Inclusive education is far from

educational inclusion, by including all students

in diverse and inclusive classrooms [...], with

the support of management, administrative,

nancial, academic, and community of the

Colombian HEIs” (p. 42).

The authors clarify that educational inclusion

refers to the incorporation of a minority group

of students into the classroom and inclusive

education opens the range of opportunities for

all students, without distinction of any nature,

considering all areas and spaces that cover

education. Hence the relevance of working with

inclusive education and not with educational

inclusion, since it is a question, in the case

that occupies this research, that students with

visual disabilities are attended with the same

prerogatives as their other classmates.

Hence the relevance of working with inclusive

education and not with educational inclusion,

since it is a question, in the case that occupies this

research, that students with visual disabilities

are attended with the same prerogatives as

their other classmates.

In this way, it is interpreted that higher education

institutions in Colombia must oer students with

any type of disability, the possibility of access,

permanence, and educational quality, following

the guidelines of the inclusive higher education

policy of the MEN (2013), as a task of social

commitment, since:

By transcending the strictly academic and

curricular to focus on the very constitution

of the social, inclusive education has as its

central objective, to examine the barriers

to learning and participation typical of the

entire system. In higher education, it is not

the students who must change to access,

remain, and graduate; it is the system itself

that must be transformed to address the

richness implicit in student diversity. (p. 18)

Based on this vision, when a student reaches

higher education under the framework of

inclusive education, positive results could be

seen in the training and inclusion processes, not

only at an academic level but also at a human

and social level. However, given what is stated

in the guidelines from the observations in the

context of reality, the educational system leads

the students with disabilities to adapt to what

the institution oers them, without taking into

Pedagogical aention strategies in students with visual impairment

109

Arnoldo Rafael Rodríguez Noriega

Gustavo Adolfo González Roys

Leonardo Enrique Martínez Arredondo

account or adapting conveniently and relevantly

to their needs.

Considering the normative guidelines, education

for disabilities under the framework of educational

inclusion must aim at students with these

conditions and take into account all aspects that

are related to it. In other words, educational

policies and the educational process, in general,

must be designed for this historically excluded

population, with similar educational needs to

those of their other peers. However, students

with disabilities must overcome barriers that

make the pedagogical training processes dicult.

Being part of a system that, operationally, does

not consider the needs of this population and

adjusts to pre-established student models,

relegates the practice of including students with

visual disabilities to a lesser level.

Regarding the subject of pedagogical attention

for students with visual disabilities, pedagogical

accompaniment is required, based on the

identication of particular situations, so that

adequate strategies can be designed that oer

signicant experiences for their learning, also

allowing adequate follow-up to the educational

process from the teaching action. Therefore, it can

be ensured that the educational practice directed

at the attention of visual disabilities involves

a constant challenge and, at the same time,

proposes the construction of specic parameters

to interact adequately in educational settings.

In the particular case of visual impairment,

pedagogical practices must respond to the needs

for access to information, comprehensiveness

in the educational environment, and equal

opportunities within reasonable adjustments to

diversity, to the point of obtaining good learning

and training outcomes. It can be ensured that a

large percentage of the information received is

derived from sight, which is an insurmountable

challenge faced by students with visual

disabilities. In this regard, Hernández et al.

(2019) state:

80% of the information we receive throughout

the day is through the visual system. When

we look at something, we not only see with

our eyes but we inspect, distinguish, identify,

and interpret everything as part of the visual

system. (p. 2)

Consequently, adequately caring for a visually

impaired student demands an ethical, moral,

professional, and human commitment, which

implies recognizing the value and importance of

knowing their needs, just as it is done with other

students. By understanding this, the teacher

commits him/herself to the student’s learning,

begins to adapt his/her practice to the particular

needs of this through a detailed study, and

congures a teaching process adapted to them.

Teachers represent an irreplaceable and

transversal role in the adequate management

of students with visual disabilities; in their

practices, they become the pillar of an adequate

direction that points towards academic-

formative growth, for which the inclusive

resources of an institution are essential in the

teaching and learning processes. Educational

work should be oriented towards breaking down

the barriers faced by this class of students

when they venture into the spheres of higher

education, where the academic requirement is

headed for the training and development of the

autonomy of a competent professional, leader in

their professional and occupational prole.

Strategies in the classroom and access to

information are essential points to manage

academic encounters with students who are blind

or have low vision, which limits their autonomy

in the learning process; this forces the teacher

to resignify his/her practices, for their benet;

so, it is pertinent that the management starts

from an approach to their particular needs

and, based on the observation and analysis of

their characteristics, provides specic supports

under the use of resources such as typhlological

ones and, in turn, a disposition by adapt their

pedagogical practices towards the needs of

students with visual impairment.

Previous considerations allow us to appreciate

the complexity of the academic work that the

attention of sight-impaired students represents.

In the sense of strategies, understanding them

as those actions that the teacher executes in their

behavior in the classroom, Andrade and Yepes

(2020) provide guidelines for their development,

determining them into two typologies: the rst,

directed at the description of visual images,

objects, and situations, bearing in mind that,

through it, the most representative features of

what is being shown are outlined; for example,

tables, charts, maps, drawings, among others;

in this way, “the description is, perhaps, one

of the most used strategies in the classroom

context to facilitate the understanding of the

subject that the teacher develops at a certain

moment” (p. 9).

The second strategy is oriented to the

verbalization of the texts that are written on

the board. At this point, the MEN urges teachers

to express and read what they are writing on

Pedagogical aention strategies in students with visual impairment

110

Arnoldo Rafael Rodríguez Noriega

Gustavo Adolfo González Roys

Leonardo Enrique Martínez Arredondo

the board, whether they are texts, numbers,

symbols, and/or formulas. In this sense,

verbalization “is a strategy that benets, not

only students with visual disabilities but also

students who are located in the last positions

in the classroom” (Andrade & Yepes, 2020, p.

10). In the case of numerical exercises, it is

extremely important to emphasize reading, in

cases such as parentheses, announcing their

opening and closing, as well as the use of the

signs of mathematical operations.

On the other hand, Bromberg et al. (2016)

propose relying on recordings for the design

of strategies, since sight-impaired students

not only collect and store information but also

maintain attention, being able to discriminate

later with more time available, the voices and

sounds they heard in the classroom, enabling

them to be analytical and critical. These speech-

focused strategies also allow everyone to

participate, regardless of their vision capacity,

and complement the use of “tactile, information

in Braille, use of large print, high contrast, voice

synthesis programs in the computer, among

others” (p. 68). Additionally, they suggest:

Deliver in advance, as far as possible,

the program of the subject, the list of

bibliographies to consult, and the class

material. The most operative thing is to do it

in digital format so that they can read it with

the help of new technologies. (p. 71)

On another side, the signicance of promoting

proper treatment among classmates must be

addressed, since everyone’s support is required

to achieve the goals of inclusion in the classroom.

On this aspect, Luque and Luque-Rojas (2014)

propose the reection:

… on some intervention guidelines in

teaching action towards a positive classroom

climate, in personal and social interaction,

particularly with the disabled partner, based

on the acceptance of dierence, providing

collaboration and help in a cooperative, fair,

and respectful exchange with people, values

that must be shared by the entire community.

(p. 5)

Thus, teachers are called to become generators

and managers of a favorable space and healthy

coexistence, both for the growth and for the

educational training of students with visual

disabilities; this requires them to operate in a

communicative and interactive dimension that

transforms their work into something more

complex, that goes beyond action since it

constitutes an ethical and social commitment,

typical of education.

Pedagogical practices are one of the most

important parts of the educational work of the

agents who will manage or manage inclusive

classrooms […]. Practices located within the

educational and social context are those that

give a central axis to education, since from

there the steps to follow in the classroom will

be implemented, how the already established

practices will be directed, and a new paradigm

of educational inclusion [that seeks to know

the current practices under the light of

inclusion] will be transformed. (Carrillo, et al.

2017, p. 4)

As a consequence, constantly reected

pedagogical practices are needed, where the

projection and development of the classes

are based on the needs and particularities of

all students in general, especially those with

specic requirements, such as those with

visual disabilities, strategically outlining the

learning from the dierent ways of approaching

knowledge.

The research was framed in the interpretive

paradigm, in the phenomenological approach,

supported by three stages: descriptive,

structural, and information analysis. As data

collection techniques, participant observation

and in-depth interviews were used. The work

unit was made up of two students with visual

disabilities and two teachers linked to the UPC,

Sabanas headquarter.

2. Methodology

The development of the research was guided

by the phenomenological method, as a way

to search for knowledge in the reality of

pedagogical attention strategies in students

with visual disabilities at the UPC, Sabanas

headquarter. The investigation was focused on

understanding how social actors (teachers and

students) conceive these strategies, to know

from their own experiences, what their behavior

has been in the face of this phenomenon when

considering their experiences in the classroom.

In this sense, it was necessary to design the

investigative process through a sequence of

empirical, theoretical, and methodological

actions, typical of the interpretive paradigm

and thus, build the structures that allowed the

phenomenon to be addressed. Under this vision,

the procedure of this study was dened, adapting

the investigative work to the stages proposed

Pedagogical aention strategies in students with visual impairment

111

Arnoldo Rafael Rodríguez Noriega

Gustavo Adolfo González Roys

Leonardo Enrique Martínez Arredondo

by Martínez (2004) for the phenomenological method, supported by Albert (2007), constituting

three stages: descriptive, structural, and analysis of the information (see Figure 1), from which

the interpretative hermeneutics of the phenomenon of pedagogical attention strategies in students

with visual disabilities of the UPC, Sabanas headquarter, emerged.

Figure 1

Graphic representation of the methodological design

Source: Adapted from Martínez (2004).

The study was developed in the educational context of the UPC, Sabanas headquarter, with the

support of the Inclusive Education Center of that institution. The data is true and is supported by

the Registry and Control databases, a department that does signicant work in terms of information

on students entering the UPC. Two students with visual disabilities and two teachers from the same

university were taken as a work unit.

To have foundations and veracity, virtual meetings were established with the students, to determine

the circumstances and situations that could be representing diculties and/or barriers to the

adequate performance of the teaching and learning processes. At the same time, the dialogue with

the teachers allowed us to know and understand the dynamics of the practices inside the classroom,

with sight-impaired students. The only criteria for their selection were: the visual disability of the

students, whether blind or low vision, their connection to the UPC, and that their participation

was spontaneous. On the part of the teachers, their direct relationship with the students, in their

academic load.

To observe and demonstrate the situations of these students in the classroom, in-depth interviews

were carried out that allowed a detailed study of how they faced educational challenges, guided by

the following categories: the conditions and needs of people with visual disabilities. The in-depth

interviews with the teachers made it possible to study the practices they used with these students,

highlighting the category ‘Pedagogical strategies for the attention of visual disabilities’.

Based on this analysis and the ndings that gradually emerged, it was possible to reect, infer,

and interpret the meanings in the continuity of the intersubjective dialogue process with the key

informants. The information extracted from the interviews with teachers and students with disabilities

was analyzed and interpreted from a thematic coding derived from the research question: “the

research problem is the social distribution of perspectives on a phenomenon or a process. The

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Leonardo Enrique Martínez Arredondo

underlying assumption is that dierent visions can be found in dierent social worlds or groups” (Flick,

2007, p. 201). Hence, this type of coding was used, given the characteristics of the key informants, which

are explained in the Analysis Unit.

3. Results

In this segment, the results of the application of the information-gathering techniques and

instruments presented in the previous section are collected, which allowed an in-depth analysis

of what was expressed by the key informants: teachers, and students, concerning the general

objective of this research: Understanding the importance of pedagogical attention strategies in the

classroom for students with visual disabilities, which promote equality and educational equity at

the UPC, Sabanas headquarter, Valledupar municipality.

Phenomenological investigations based on in-depth interviews seek, according to Taylor and

Bogdan (1984/1987), to explain “things from their point of view” (p. 153). This means guiding

the inquiry in the search for details about the contextual situation, which express the meanings of

situations and elements present in them, and which are of relevant interest to those who provide

the information (Emerson, as cited in Taylor & Bogdan, 1984/1987).

Under these considerations and, from an interpretive position, the analysis of the data provided by

the two students with disabilities and the two UPC teachers was carried out. These contributions

led to discovering and understanding, as a researcher, the peculiarities of the context around

pedagogical attention strategies from the perception of their social actors, to identify, in the

rst instance, the conditions, needs, and interests of these students, to analyze the pedagogical

practices in the teaching and learning processes for their attention in this institution, considering

principles of equality and equity.

For investigative purposes, the interview allowed establishing a dialogical relationship with the

visually disabled students; therefore, it was oriented by the following categories: Conditions and

Needs of sight-impaired people, from which the subcategories that are highlighted and interpreted

in Table 1 were derived.

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Table 1

Interpretive analysis of the narratives of key informants: Students with visual impairment

Objective

Identify the conditions, needs, and interests of sight-impaired students at the Universidad Popular del Cesar

Category

Strategies of pedagogical attention for the attention of the visual disability

Sub-questions

1. In your teaching practice in the classroom, do you develop strategies that promote the inclusion of all

students?

2. What kind of strategies do you use in the classroom with your higher education students in the subject

you teach?

3. How would you dene the pedagogical strategies aimed at serving students with disabilities?

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Teacher 1 Teacher 2 Thematic interpretation

1. I am aware of the need that

we teachers have to generate

actions that allow us to build

spaces for inclusion inside and

outside the classroom. It is

required that we all participate

in it, not only the teachers but

also the administrative teachers,

to work together and achieve

the goals, through community

strategies that promote the

inclusion of all...

2. Well, I always try to work

with collaborative teams, to

encourage everyone to get to

know, participate and help each

other, generating cooperative

learning. I like to hold debates

and symposiums because that

way everyone can participate,

talking to each other, as

teammates and with me, to

guide them in their academic

work. You know that, at the

level of higher education, the

student’s autonomy is sought,

in the sense that it is he who

nds the best way of learning,

according to his needs; but,

in cases of visual impairment,

they should receive more direct

support, since they require

more detailed descriptions, for

example, of what is written on

the board.

3. I could dene them as the

activities that teachers plan, in

response to the needs of people

with disabilities, considering

their needs, depending on the

type, because if it is visual, they

would require more strategies

where orality is prevalent. You

also have to take the rest of the

students into account, because

if you don’t do it that way, and

focus on helping only those with

disabilities, the others notice

and start to get uncomfortable;

thus, you are not being inclusive.

1. I could say yes, although

it is not something I have

thought of because these

cases come without warning;

that is, we are not notied

in advance and, suddenly, at

the beginning of the course,

the rst day a student enters

with any condition, be it a

disability, race, nationality

and... well, we have to move

forward and nd strategies

that help to create a climate

of inclusion.

2. Dialogue is essential for

understanding between

people and... well, I work a

lot on that: to get to know

each other, especially in the

rst classes, to promote

the construction of team

learning; I like to work like

this, in teams, but, from

the knowledge of each one;

this promotes inclusion,

camaraderie, and support

among all.

3. They are all those

pedagogical actions that

teachers develop with our

students, based on prior

planning, to attend to those

with disabilities, from an

inclusive vision. It is worth

noting that we should not

treat them dierently; that

is, make two plans and two

types of strategies because

if we do so, we would be

generating exclusion. It

is about creating working

strategies aimed at everyone

equally; that is, where

everyone can participate,

considering, of course, their

characteristics and needs,

according to their type of

disability.

It is evident that teachers are aware of the

need to be inclusive in their classrooms, but

for this, they must have the participation

of the entire academic community, since

educational inclusion is not limited to the

classroom, but must be considered in all

academic elds and transcend the social

environment. In this regard, UNESCO

(2018) states that inclusion is the task

of the educational system as a whole,

conceiving it as a key strategy to achieve

Education for All. Therefore, it must be

taken as a guiding principle, both for

policies and educational practices in the

classroom, to achieve true inclusion. It

is observed that teachers have worked

intuitively since they have not had prior

information to prepare themselves, much

less training on inclusion pedagogy.

The practice of the two teachers coincides

in terms of the use of strategies focused

on dialogue and oral language, such as

exhibitions, debates, and symposiums,

which enable the participation of all

students, including those with visual

disabilities. On the other hand, teachers

resort to descriptions of the contents that

work on the board, as well as collaborative

teams, to achieve meaningful learning,

where everyone learns from everyone. It

is interpreted that they understand that

inclusion in the classroom requires the

support of classmates, which implies a

social dimension since it is based on values

such as respect, tolerance, and empathy.

From the analysis, it can be deduced

that teachers are clear in their denition

of pedagogical strategies aimed at the

attention of students with disabilities,

since they assume them from the planning

in attention to the needs and interests of

these students, without undermining the

needs of the rest of the group. Otherwise,

they would aect the classroom climate

and would not promote inclusion. The

foregoing is based on what was stated by

Andrade and Yepes (2020), who dene the

strategies, such as those actions carried

out by the teachers in their behavior

in the classroom, aimed at people with

disabilities, an action carried out by the

interviewed teachers, some focused

on in the description and others in the

verbalization.

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From the discourse of the teachers, it was

possible to infer that both agree on what

educational inclusion means, especially about

the issue of disability, since they are aware

of the need to work with inclusive criteria in

their classrooms. This requires, according to

them, the participation of the entire academic

community, taking into account that educational

inclusion is not only the task of the teacher in

the classroom but must be considered in all

university academic areas and transcend the

social environment. However, they have had

to work intuitively, since they have not been

provided with information, much less training on

the pedagogy of inclusion and disability.

4. Discussion

This section presents the discussion of the results

of the process of collection, systematization,

analysis, and investigative reection on the

lived experiences of the key informants around

the theme of pedagogical attention strategies

in sight-impaired students of the UPC, Sabanas

headquarter, a work that began from the

investigative motivation from the pedagogical

practice of the researcher, who started from an

initial observation to recognize the phenomenon

of study, from which questions arose and

derived the purposes of the study, which serve

as guiding guides for the discussion.

From the interviews with sight-impaired

students at the UPC, it was possible to show

that there are teachers who are unaware of the

principles of educational inclusion since they use

inadequate strategies and resources in regard

to their needs. This student approach diers

from what was issued by Decree 1421 of 2017,

in its article 2.3.3.5.1.4., numeral 7, where it is

specied:

Inclusive education is a permanent process

that recognizes, values, and responds

in a pertinent manner to the diversity of

characteristics, interests, possibilities, and

expectations of girls, boys, adolescents, youth,

and adults, whose objective is to promote their

development, learning, and participation with

peers of the same age, in a common learning

environment, without any discrimination or

exclusion, and, which guarantees, within

the framework of human rights, the support

and reasonable adjustments required in

their educational process, through practices,

policies, and cultures that remove existing

barriers in the educational environment. (p. 5)

It is unfortunate that, in many cases today,

some teachers do not worry about knowing or

understanding students, to develop strategies

oriented to their requirements and particular

characteristics, so that an inclusive perspective

can be built in the classroom that transcends

classmates, both inside and outside; that is,

towards the educational community and society.

This attitude or ignorance of the teachers could

be inferred from the words expressed by the key

informants (students):

If you mean, if they take us into account for

class activities, some do; not all of them,

because sometimes they plan activities and

it seems that they don’t remember that we

can’t see them, because they show images

and don’t describe them and we end up like

this... so, I have to say: teacher, please

describe the image to me and... sometimes

it’s embarrassing being in that situation and...

I stay without knowing, trying to imagine.

(ICE-1, LP 1-7)

This situation is contrary to the approaches of

Bromberg et al. (2016):

It is then a matter of assuming teaching

from an inclusive perspective, seeing it as an

opportunity and, in turn, as a strategy that

enhances functioning, which seeks to facilitate

university coexistence with students with

disabilities to break with the myths and false

diculties associated to special education,

oriented towards an inclusive pedagogy

based on logic and empathic communication

between teachers and students. (pp. 35-36)

However, the interviews with the students and

with the teachers revealed the presence of

teachers who were genuinely concerned with

meeting the needs of sight-impaired students

and with including them in the activities carried

out during the pedagogical practices together

with the other classmates. When considering

their needs, they are considering them as

human beings and as students without any

distinction due to their disability, which helps

to build a classroom climate around inclusion,

based on knowledge and understanding of the

needs of all. This is in line with what UNESCO

(2020) expresses, in that inclusion is a task of

the educational system as a whole and must be

conceived as a key strategy to achieve Education

for All, which must be taken as a guiding principle,

both for policies and educational practices in the

classroom, to achieve true inclusion; otherwise,

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Leonardo Enrique Martínez Arredondo

if there is no support from one of the areas, it

will not fully develop.

Despite this, the interviews with the teachers

revealed that they work intuitively on the

planning and development of pedagogical care

strategies for students with visual disabilities

since there is no information or prior training

to prepare them on inclusion pedagogy, which

allows them to face the situations of disability

that have arisen. For this reason, they have seen

the need to improvise and learn, developing their

classes spontaneously, without training from

the curriculum, an academic scenario that must

regulate and guide aspects related to teacher

training, according to the needs of the students.

students. In this regard, the ICD-2 stated:

It is not something that I have thought of,

because these cases come without warning;

that is, they do not notify us in advance; and,

suddenly, at the beginning of the course, the

rst day a student enters with any condition, a

disability, race, nationality, and... well, you have

to move forward and nd strategies that help

create a climate of inclusion. (ICD-2. LP 1-5)

Therefore, in higher education institutions,

inclusion must understand the need to recognize

disability as part of a naturally diverse world,

which must be addressed from education and

which requires teachers who are informed and

trained in a relevant way, accompanied in the

educational process, to support their work.

In this regard, Bromberg et al. (2016) state:

“Inclusive pedagogy involves understanding

that the socialization and inclusion of people

with disabilities that make up the university

community are a fundamental right” (p. 37).

The four interviewees, both students with

visual disabilities and teachers, agreed that

some teachers resort to strategies focused on

orality; that is, on spoken language, to facilitate

learning for these students. To do this, they use

descriptions of what is drawn or written on the

board or what is shown in a slide presentation,

with which sight-impaired students can keep

track of the content that is being worked on in

the classroom.

Teachers turn to activities such as exhibitions,

class debates, conversations, and symposiums,

among other strategies, which favor orality,

to express ideas, opinions, arguments, and

questions, with which not only students with

visual disabilities participate, but also the

rest of the classmates: “The teachers have

conversations and debates, which are quite

interesting because there, everyone has an

opinion on a subject and you learn a lot from

the others and the teacher when he also shares

his opinion” (ICE-1, LP 35 -37).

These arguments coincide with those issued by

Bromberg et al. (2016):

The idea is that the student can apprehend

the information given in class, access

bibliographic and infographic material, and

telecommunications, participate in work

groups, develop their skills, and demonstrate

mastery of the knowledge of the subject

to be studied, equalizing and equating

opportunities. (p. 37)

The work on spoken language is what was stated

by Andrade and Yepes (2020), who determine

two types of strategies to address situations of

visual disability in students: the rst is aimed

at the description of visual images, objects,

and situations, considering that, through this,

the most representative features of what is

being shown are outlined: tables, charts, maps,

drawings, among others. “The description is

perhaps one of the most used strategies in the

classroom context to facilitate the understanding

of the subject that the teacher develops at a

certain moment” (p. 9).

When I worked with children with total

blindness, I resorted, for example, to the

description of images that illustrate certain

contents, such as the water cycle; and I try to

be as detailed as possible; I ask the student if

he/she is imagining what I describe; and, not

only I do it; I also ask the other classmates

who can indeed see, to describe when they

use images. (ICD-1, LP 62-66)

This goes hand in hand with the second strategy

proposed by Andrade and Yepes (2020), aimed

at the verbalization of the texts that are written

on the board, using the reading of texts,

numbers, symbols, and/or formulas. In this

sense, verbalization “is a strategy that benets,

not only students with visual disabilities but also

students who are located in the last positions in

the classroom” (p. 10). In the case of numerical

exercises, it is relevant to emphasize what

is being read, in cases such as parentheses,

announcing their opening and closing, as well

as the use of signs in mathematical operations.

It is worth noting the coincidence of the

interviewed teachers when applying strategies

mediated by collaborative work teams, whose

orientation is the support of all towards all

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Leonardo Enrique Martínez Arredondo

for the achievement of the objectives and the

development of the activities, also centered on

the dialogue between classmates, considering

all equally, as a center of teaching and learning,

by organizing debates, talks and presentations

of topics by teams. In this way, “I intuitively

told myself: if he can’t see, he can hear, so I

decided to work with activities that involved

oral language, such as class presentations and

conversations” (ICD-2, LP 31-33).

The foregoing is complemented by what is stated

by the ICD-1:

Look, you have denitively to work with

strategies focused on dialogue, exhibitions,

symposiums, debates, and conversations,

which allow students with visual disabilities

to use spoken language to interact with their

peers and with the teacher; this also benets

other classmates because it is easier to express

and exchange opinions, and questions;

this gives everyone a greater capacity for

expression, improves their vocabulary and

the way they deal with other people, which, in

the professional eld, is highly valued. (ICD-

1, LP 86-92)

These results coincide with what was issued by

Andrade and Yepes (2020):

The strategies that facilitate the teaching-

learning processes of blind students and/or

with irreversible low vision are the same as

those applied to their peers without visual

impairment; the dierence is that many of

these must be adjusted to the requirements

and particularities of each person, given their

condition of total blindness or irreversible low

vision. (p. 7)

Additionally, Bromber et al. (2016) suggest that,

at the beginning of the classes, the planning

with the subject program, the bibliography to

be consulted, and, if possible, the class material

should be given to the students so that they can

be prepared in advance of the course each class.

These and other actions are executed by the

ICD1 and, it is evidenced when he expresses:

Now, before the start of classes, I try to

nd out if I have enrolled a student with

a disability, whatever it may be so that I

can reect and plan. I present the plan to

everyone and ask them if they agree with

the proposed strategies; sometimes they

give me suggestions for changes and, if I

consider them pertinent, I do them. The idea

is to serve everyone, whether they have a

disability or not. (ICD-1, LP 45-49)

The teachers interviewed also stated that they

allow voice recordings during their classes, with

which both students with visual disabilities and

the rest of their classmates have the opportunity

to use this resource to review classes and

academic conversations around the topics

discussed in the classroom. On this, Bromberg

et al. (2016) express that students with visual

disabilities not only collect and store information

in this way, but it also allows them to maintain

attention, being able to later discriminate with

greater availability of time, the voices and sounds

they heard in the classroom. In this sense, the

ICD-2 and ICE-2 commented:

I also allow them to record the classes, so

that they can listen to them carefully at

home later. This has been a great help, both

for those who have a visual disability and

for their classmates, because they can also

record and review. It helps me as a teacher

because I don’t have to repeat so much, I can

progress better and, well, I learn to speak

carefully and to be more descriptive. (ICD-2,

LP 43-48)

In the latest expressions, this informant

described the use of other learning resources,

to which he and some teachers turn to support

their educational process: Internet and digital

applications designed especially for people with

visual disabilities, which can be used on devices

mobiles; this allows complementing the use of

“tactile resources, information in braille, use of

macro types, high contrasts, voice synthesis

programs on the computer, among others”

(Bromberg et al., 2016, p. 68).

ICE-1 stated: “I use Braille, but of course, that is

already a resource that I must look for: books in

Braille or digital reading and audio formats” (LP

40-45). This allows us to infer the responsibility

that these students assume for their learning

process, not leaving everything in the hands

of the teachers. On this, ICE-2 agrees when he

expresses: “I think that it is a matter of attitude;

we, people with disabilities, whatever it may be,

can help teachers understand each other and

work together, but both parties must have the

necessary attitude and disposition” (LP, 58-60).

Discursive analysis with visually impaired

students allowed us to verify that the experiences

focused on orality, such as activities and events

inside and outside the classroom, have been

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Leonardo Enrique Martínez Arredondo

very satisfying since they feel that they are

taken into account and are not excluded by

their condition; on the contrary, they have been

participants and actors with responsibility within

the group activities that they have developed.

These actions make it possible to strengthen

both cognitive and procedural knowledge as

well as attitudinal and coexistence knowledge,

raising their self-esteem and motivation.

Although their condition of disability may be

obligatory to accept for some, they know that

they can contribute and oer from their learning

and value as human beings, in a social and

educational environment.

Based on what is stated by the dictionary of the

Real Academia Española (RAE, 2014), these

elements are implicit in the eld of Typhology, a

science that studies the conditions and problems

that surround people with visual disabilities,

to develop solutions that allow achieving their

inclusion and educational, labor, social, and

cultural integration.

The interviewed teachers, for their part, manifest

positive achievements, but they also recognize

that there is still a long way to go on the issue

of educational inclusion, and with people with

visual disabilities; in this regard, they refer

Well, they have been satisfactory

achievements, because I have tried to adapt

to their requirements and work with them;

when they are not understood, it is thought

that they are the ones who must adapt to

the system. It is not about treating them

dierently, because that way there is no

inclusion; it is about understanding them and

working for all of them. (ICD-1, LP 75-83)

These results are related to what was argued by

Carrillo et al. (2017):

Pedagogical practices are one of the most

important parts of the educational work of the

agents who will manage or manage inclusive

classrooms […]. Practices located within the

educational and social context are those that

give a central axis to education, since from

there, the steps to follow in the classroom

will be implemented, and how the already

established practices will be addressed

and transformed into a new paradigm of

educational inclusion since it seeks to know

the current practices in an inclusive light.

(pp. 3-4).

Previous expressions show the importance of

accompanying pedagogical strategies with a

favorable, motivating, and stimulating climate

for learning in the classroom, which generates

in students with visual disabilities and their

classmates, the desire to share their positive

experiences and, therefore, with the teacher

who promotes them.

Despite the diculties that students with visual

disabilities have encountered to enter and

continue in university education, they have

indeed had the support, rst, of family members

and second, from some teachers and fellow

students, which is in line with what was issued

by Bromberg et al. (2016), who propose, for the

design of strategies, relying on recordings, since

students with visual disabilities not only collect

and store information in this way, but it allows

them to maintain attention, being able to later

discriminate with greater availability of time the

voices and sounds that occur in the classroom,

enabling them to be analytical and critical of

what is heard.

5. Conclusions

For the rst objective, aimed at recognizing the

principles of educational inclusion related to

people with disabilities at the UPC, we worked

with the data from the documentary review that

allowed, on the one hand, to build the state-

of-the-art on the subject of pedagogical care in

students with visual disabilities with inclusion

criteria and, on the other hand, deepen the

concepts related to inclusive education and

inclusive pedagogy. The latter was assumed as

the set of actions managed by the teacher to

facilitate signicant learning in their students,

based on the recognition of the needs of students

or people with disabilities.

It is highlighted that inclusion does not imply

that traditionally excluded students are the ones

who “should enter” an educational system, but

that it is this system that must be designed to

cover everyone, without any distinction; much

less, due to a physical condition. Rather, it is

the educational system as a whole, which must

carry out constant research and the design of

pedagogical attention strategies, which arise

from the continuous consultation with all its

students; even more so, of those who require

more specic attention, as in the case of people

with total blindness or diminished vision.

On the other hand, the results of the teachers’

discourse led us to think that there is little

knowledge about the pedagogical approach to

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Leonardo Enrique Martínez Arredondo

attention to visual disabilities, since, in general

terms, they stated that they work intuitively,

by trial and error, since they have not been

trained in an inclusive pedagogy for attention

to disabilities. Therefore, the institution studied

and some teachers are leaving aside in their

academic work, strategies of great value that

make it possible to pursue studies of students

with visual disabilities within the level of

university education.

Regarding the second specic objective,

aimed at identifying the conditions, needs,

and interests of sight-impaired students at

the UPC, the teachers interviewed, through

academic work, have given themselves the

task of inquiring about the needs and interests

of these students, coming to realize that their

needs not only have to do with the cognitive

and the procedural but a lot with the attitude

from the teacher towards them. That is to say,

the strategies of pedagogical attention toward

students with visual disabilities must start from

their design and planning; rst, the recognition

of the need to work with inclusion criteria and

values such as respect for diversity, tolerance,

and acceptance of the other, together with the

consideration of dierent learning rhythms and

styles. This, if taken to a general plane, is not far

from the attention that a teacher should have in

the direction of any of his/her students, without

making any kind of distinction.

In the case of the teachers interviewed, they give

importance to working with orality, nding that,

through strategies focused on dialogue among

all, they reach all their students in a better way.

To do this, they have had to work intuitively,

without specic training that allows them to

investigate formally and competently, but rather,

through their genius and teaching experience,

they have been overcoming diculties, asking

their students, keeping constant communication,

and promoting it in all the students, to know

the needs of all, whether or not they have a

disability, because it is not about leaving other

students aside.

In this sense, for students with visual disabilities,

it is valuable that teachers consult them about

their needs and abilities, to plan and execute

strategies that include them all. In addition,

generating activities that imply not only sharing

knowledge but also motivation and raising

self-esteem, in a context of diversity, where

the construction of spaces for understanding,

inclusion, and participation of all is necessary.

Regarding the objective of analyzing pedagogical

practices in the teaching and learning processes

for the attention of students with visual

disabilities at the UPC, the conclusions pointed

to the importance that both teachers and

students with disabilities attach to pedagogical

strategies mediated by orality. Thus, resorting

to oral presentations, symposiums, interviews,

debates, and conversations to work on the topics

and the class contents are highly privileged by

all the informants, since, in orality, students

with visual disabilities nd a competence that

they can develop to communicate with the

world. For this, they resort to voice recordings,

which are allowed by the teachers in the classes,

and constitute a resource for the review and

understanding of the theme worked on in class.

In this way, it was evidenced that some of the

teachers are prone to the topic of inclusion

and, with it, to work with strategies that enable

students with visual disabilities to live signicant

learning experiences together with their other

classmates, since the teachers gain a foothold

in collaborative teamwork, descriptions, and

activities centered on spoken language.

For their part, students with visual disabilities

recognized the interest and work of some

teachers who have certainly made an eort to

know and understand their needs and limitations,

to turn them into strengths through oral

expression, strengths that manifest themselves

in participation in face-to-face and digital

events, with quite signicant and satisfactory

achievements, both from the point of view of

sharing knowledge and from the emotional

perspective of students and teachers, who feel

that they are on a positive path.

This allowed us to assess the signicance of the

pedagogical attention strategies for students with

visual disabilities at the UPC, understanding and

conrming that pedagogical practices must have

their starting point in their needs, strengths,

weaknesses, and motivational interests, which

together, will facilitate the achievement of

educational objectives and the satisfaction of

the educational community.

In this way, the signicance of the strategies

is given by the level of achievement made by

students in their academic life; therefore, it can

be concluded that the eort of teachers to carry

out their pedagogical practice by considering

all their students, including those with visual

disabilities, has been of great relevance,

Pedagogical aention strategies in students with visual impairment

122

Arnoldo Rafael Rodríguez Noriega

Gustavo Adolfo González Roys

Leonardo Enrique Martínez Arredondo

although there is still a long way to go. Training,

motivation, and professional competence of all

teaching sta are required to achieve greater

results in educational inclusion and disability-

related pedagogy of inclusion.

6. Conict of interest

The authors of this article declare not to have

any conict of interest regarding the work

presented.

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Contribution:

Gustavo Adolfo González Roys and Leonardo

Enrique Martínez Arredondo: Writing of the

introduction, the methodology, the results, and

review of the bibliographical references.