| Traditional classrooms are not being designed with deaf and hard of hearing learners in mind. Providing equal learning opportunities with the use of appropriate instructional design strategies to deaf and hard of hearing learners requires that instructional designers, faculty, and educational institutions understand what accommodations and strategies should be included in the curriculum. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to gather information about deaf and hard of hearing learners' perceptions from a hybrid learning experience and recommendations of how to design better hybrid courses to accommodate their needs. The literature review examined the deaf and hard of hearing protective laws, instructional design, online delivery approaches, web content accessibility, adaptive technology and assistive technology, and universal design that could be used to support hybrid courses for deaf and hard of hearing learners. In this study the learners were interviewed to include a focus group session, completed journal questions, and a perception survey questionnaire. The detailed explanations from the learners' perceptions and recommendations helped the research to identify common themes that provided pertinent information for the study. Study findings revealed (a) positive perception of a hybrid learning experience, (b) participation experience in a hybrid course and traditional course, (c) liked face-to-face with professor and sign language interpreter, (d) online course to access anytime and study own time, (e) experience with classroom equipment and laboratory (f) liked learning management system of Blackboard, closed captioned videos, and sign language interpreter, (g) instructional design strategies helped to achieve an equal learning opportunity and an effective and equal learning experience, (h) learners felt important and part of the hybrid course and made them feel closer to each other, (i) traditional courses vs. hybrid courses, (j) best hybrid intervention features, (k) basic design effective features, and (l) Blackboard and web content accessibility. The learners benefitted from the instructional design strategies that were used to build the hybrid course for this study. Instructional designers can benefit from the findings of this study and apply the instructional strategies employed in this research to enhance deaf and hard of hearing learning experience. |
