Challenge

Your preparation of classroom and lab materials – your syllabus, handouts, overheads and slides, videos, etc. – can enhance classroom learning for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. You want all materials to be accessible and understandable to all students and support service providers.

Strategies are provided below.

Strategies

• Provide a detailed syllabus for the course. If available include all important dates, reading assignments, homework details, testing details, classroom policies, etc. This syllabus becomes a crucial source of information for deaf and hard-of-hearing students (as well as support service providers). More than any other document, the syllabus can prevent confusion and reduce the need for clarification throughout the term.

  If you know the details of the support services available on your campus, include those references in your syllabus.

  Include a statement in your syllabus regarding special provisions for students needing accommodations; encourage those students to see you immediately after the start of the term so that you and the students are aware of the needs and expectations of the other.

• When you prepare handouts, make sure that the support service providers (interpreter, notetaker, tutor, and/or captionist) are provided with access to the handouts – either through a hard copy provided in advance of the class if possible, or through some other source like email or web distribution.

• If you use films or videotapes, try to select media that is captioned. If that is not available, be certain that an interpreter or captionist is available and work with him/her and the students to make certain seating, line of sight, and lighting supports the interpreter and/or captionist. If the film or video is captioned, provide a transcript if available, to the interpreter, captionist, or notetaker; this will allow him/her to annotate the transcript with any comments that are made during the showing of the film or video.

NOTE: The handout at the left provides you with a draft university policy regarding the use of captioned media; you can alter it as needed for your institution.

• Allow ample time for deaf and hard-of-hearing students to read presented media before you begin to speak.

• If you are presenting with a microphone, public address system, or assistive listening device (ALD) such as the loop system, follow this general advice.

  • Position the microphone 3 to 5 inches from your mouth and speak normally.

  • Check with students using this system to ensure it is working properly.

  • If questions or comments are made by individuals in the class who do not speak into a microphone, be certain to repeat their statements into your microphone.