The effect of multimedia aided instruction on the performance of experimental psychology students

Abstract

The University of the Cordilleras had been exerting great efforts to cope with the latest approaches in delivering quality education to the students. The use of multimedia seems to be the trend and direction of teaching. The use of graphics, animations, AVPs, e-learning, and PowerPoint presentations are some of the common tools used by many contemporary teachers. PowerPoint is a software program that function most media, like pictures, audios, videos, hypermedia, and e-learning. This is' the result of the notion that learners have evolved into new learning styles that demand adaptation on the side of the educators. With all these hypes; administrators, educators and students alike are divided when it comes to their stand regarding the effectiveness of using multimedia in class. Thus, to shed light regarding its effect on the performance of the students, evaluation and a cause and effect study is necessary. The study sought to investigate the effect of using multimedia on the performance of students in experimental psychology course. Specifically, the study sought to answer following enquiries: 1. What is level of performance of the experimental psychology students? Hypothesis: The experimental psychology students have average performance. 2. Is there a significant relationship between mental ability and performance? Hypothesis: There is a significant relationship between mental ability and performance. 3. Is there a significant effect of multimedia-aided instruction on the performance in experimental psychology? Hypothesis: There is a significant effect of multimedia-aided instruction on the performance in experimental psychology. The study used a quasi-experimental design where the participants were selected, matched according to intelligence and then put in a natural classroom setting. Before the experiment was conducted, two groups were matched according to the result of the mental ability test given to students (experimental and control group). The experiment proper was divided into three parts to validate the consistency of the results. All the lectures were conducted by the same person under a controlled environment. The same topics were discussed with the same time frame, then a quiz was immediately given after the lecture for both experimental and control groups. All data gathered were tallied, classified and subjected to statistical measures. The tool used for the matching variable was the University of the Cordilleras' mental ability test (or BCF-MAT). The statistical tools used in the treatment of data were means and averages, Pearson's r correlation and t-test, using a computer program. Based on the research problems, the following were the findings of the study: 1. Majority of the participants performed average to excellent in quiz 1, average to very good in quiz 2, very good to excellent in quiz 3. 2. There was no significant relationship between the mental ability of the participants and their performance among the control and experimental group. 3. There is no significant difference between the participants' performance in experimental group and control group. Based on the findings, the following are the conclusions of the research study: 1. The participants in experimental psychology class performed average to very good in the three quizzes given to them. 2. Intelligence does not affect the participants' performance in experimental psychology. 3. Multimedia-aided instruction does not affect the performance of participants in experimental psychology. Based on the findings and conclusions of the research, the following are recommended: 1. Experimental psychology involves laboratory works. In order to further enhance the students' performance, it is recommended that the teacher should not be confined in pure lecture. The teacher can utilize other methods that will encourage active participation from the students. Aside from pure lecture, or too much dependence on the tool used in teaching. The teacher should focus on the development of the method or other instructional and teaching approach. Regardless of the tool (e.g. multimedia) used in lecture, different methods can be used integratively and interchangeably (e.g. lecture with interactive discussion, panel of experts and lecturers, and cooperative discussions). Lecture with interactive discussion will encourage active participation from the students and be more involved in the learning process. They can ask questions and clarify some things they don't understand which can stimulate insightful conversation among students. Furthermore, panel of experts can provide a wide range of information from different resource speakers on technical aspects and their insights on experimental psychology. 2. Other than intelligence, there are other matching variables that have an effect on performance. Since the subject uses English as the medium of instruction, English proficiency test can be used to control language barrier as an extraneous variable. Interested researchers can also look at the learning styles or preferences of the students because learners have individual approaches in acquiring information. Furthermore, personality factors should be considered as potential variables that can affect performance. Lastly, attitude towards technology (i.e. multimedia) must be given attention because some learners might not be comfortable with technology; still others prefer a more personal approach of the teacher through the traditional teaching method. 3. The use of multimedia (i.e. PowerPoint presentation) must be re-evaluated in terms of the following: a. Content. A careful analysis on the information must be included in the discussion of the subject. The facilitator must strictly follow the course outline and make sure that all information are accurate. It is important to put appropriate terms, inasmuch as it is essential to remove insignificant and unnecessary information. b. Format. To avoid jeopardizing the content with the design, effects and animations, the following must be considered: 1) Always refer to the topic outline. Avoid jumbling information or to giving too much emphasis on minor topics and omitting important ones. 2) Congested and worded information (especially in one slide) must be avoided. Merely reading on the definition or terms when this can also be done through chalk and board or other media leads to waste of time, effort, and become annoying for others. Instead, one should use title headings and include the most important information only. Add relevant pictures which can be worth a thousand words. Appropriate videos can even drive home the point of the lecture without too much explanation. 3) Maximize the high-end features of PowerPoint program and other software presenters because they can function different kinds of media if not all like pictures, videos, graphics, color and sound effects, animations, transitions, live feeds, and even interactive computer based learning. 4) More than just the advance feature of technology, appropriate training of the user is indispensible. The teacher is the most important factor than the tool used in teaching. The teacher's depth of knowledge and skills can affect the performance of the students even without the use of multimedia. Based in the result of the study, using the traditional chalk-board approach can even have a significant effect on the performance of the participants. It is therefore recommended that the teacher's interactive skills should be given attention more than the skills of using multimedia. 5) Since the school strongly encourages the use of multimedia on class lectures, it is recommended that teachers must be given adequate training on how to prepare and deliver lessons using power point presentations and similar technology used in the facilitation of lessons. The school can form a committee that will focus on the teachers' preparation and delivery of lessons using multimedia. Furthermore, basic technical skills in using multimedia must be given attention to increase efficiency. The committee members can include psychology majors, experts in teaching method, training and public speaking, as well as Information Technology experts (i.e. multimedia) who will focus on the technical aspects.