The pedagogical effect of a health education application for deaf and hard of hearing students in elementary schools

BACKGROUND: Deaf or hard-of-hearing children experience difficulties in learning health principles. But technology has significantly improved their ability to learn. The challenge in e-learning is to design attractive applications while having an educational aspect. OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to determine the pedagogical effectiveness of a health education application for deaf and hard of hearing students in elementary schools, and to investigate the student’s perceptions in different educational grades about the educational effectiveness of the text, graphics, video clips, and animation in the application. METHODS: The study design was quasi experimental and was conducted in Mashhad in 2016. Study population were deaf or hard-of-hearing students in elementary schools. The intervention included health application training to deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Mashhad. A questionnaire was used for data gathering. The pedagogical effectiveness was determined by measuring the modified Adapted Pedagogical Index. This index was created based on the characteristics of the application and study population. Statistical analysis was performed using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann–Whitney tests with Bonferroni adjustment by SPSS 22. RESULTS: Eighty-two students participated in the intervention. The value of modified Adapted Pedagogical Index was 0.669, indicating that the application was effective. The results of Kruskal-Wallis H and Mann–Whitney U test showed significant differences in different educational grades. (p<0.008) CONCLUSION: Using information technology can improve the education of deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Modified Adapted Pedagogical Index can be used for evaluation of non-interactive applications for elementary school children who are deaf or hard of hearing.