Evaluation of student support services at an open distance and e-learning university: towards a framework for students who are deaf and hard of hearing

Abstract

This explanatory sequential study aims to evaluate the student support services (SSS) provided to Deaf and Hard of Hearing students (SDHH) at an Open Distance and eLearning (ODeL) institution. The objective was to identify 1) whether SDHH were aware of the SSS offered, 2) accessibility, 3) efficacy, 4) level of inclusiveness, and 5) whether the existing student support offering is in line with and contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the Republic of South Africa. The study is theoretically undergirded by the critical disability the ory, transactional distance theory, and theory of change, which offer recommendations for how to support SDHH in ODeL spaces. The literature reviewed not only reveal areas of population, methodological, theoretical, and practical research gaps, but also offer the theoretical founda tion for associated studies. To adopt the transformative research paradigm as a conceptual foun dation for the study, transformative mixed method research (TMMR) is applied. Census is used as a data collection tool for 105 SDHH and 118 staff members from various departments, ap plying a stratified simple random sampling technique. Descriptive and inferential statistics are used to analyse quantitative data. Furthermore, correlation analysis and Chi-square are testing the strengths of associations. Results reveal that participants (staff and SDHH) were unaware of the SSS offered at an ODeL university. Where they were aware of it, they discovered that the services were inaccessible, ineffective, and exclusive. The mixing of data occurs after the quantitative data analysis where an interview protocol is developed to understand quantitative results through the semi-structured interview with five SDHH and eight staff members. The qualitative findings offer explanations for the lack of accessibility, efficacy, and inclusion, as well as suggestions for reasonable accommodations. The study meets all of its aims, while theoretical, empirical, and research design, as well as practical contributions are made to fill the research gap, identified in the literature review. Future research, useful interventions, and a framework for inclusive student support for SDHH in ODeL universities are also recom mended. Practical interventions, future research, and an inclusive student support framework for SDHH in ODeL institutions are recommended. Lastly, an inclusive student support frame work for SDHH in ODeL is developed and is transferable to different contexts based on the identified assumptions, inputs, strategies, outputs, outcomes, and external factors. The study and framework are important for creating a scientific foundation for SDHH in higher education (HE) settings, particularly now that sign language is getting much attention on becoming an official language.