DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE LEARNING MATERIAL TO STUDENTS WITH HEARING IMPAIRMENT (HI) THROUGH ODL IN ZIMBABWE

Students with Hearing Impairment (HI) are experiencing learning problems in most
institutions of Higher Learning in Zimbabwe. Access to colleges and universities is limited
and where they are accepted, there are no facilities to cater for their needs, hence there
is need to develop learning materials that enable these students to learn effectively
through Open Distance Learning(ODL) especially with Zimbabwe Open University(ZOU).
The few Hard of hearing students enrolled at Zimbabwe Open University and other
Institutions of Higher learning have expressed difficulties in coping with their studies
partly due to the fact that the learning materials used are tailor made for the mainstream
form of education. The research will use a descriptive survey method to extract
information from students with HI and find ways and solutions on how to develop
effective learning materials through ODL in Zimbabwe. Questionnaires and Interviews of
students with HI, and lecturers /teachers will be used to collect data.
Introduction and background to the study