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.