CHAPTER ONE
1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The main aim of this study is to examine the effective use of multimedia in the teaching and learning of political science education. Specifically, the sub objectives of this study include:
- To determine the availability of instructional multimedia in the department of Political Science for teaching and learning.
- To determine the pattern and frequency of use of multimedia by in the department of Political Science for teaching and learning.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 INTRODUCTION
The role of technology in teaching and learning is rapidly becoming one of the most important and widely discussed issues in contemporary education policy (Rosen and Well, 1995; and Thierer, 2000). Most experts in the field of education agreed that, when properly used, information and communication technology hold great promise to improve teaching and learning in addition to shaping workforce opportunities. Poole (1996) has indicated that computer illiteracy is now regarded as the new illiteracy. This has actually gingered a new and strong desire to equip schools with computer facilities and qualified personal necessary to produce technologically proficient and efficient students in developed countries of the world. There is no doubt that computer can aid the instructional process and facilitate students’ learning. Many studies have found positive effect associated with technology aided instruction (Burnett, 1994, and Fitzgerald and Warner, 1996).
The advent of multimedia and multimedia technologies has changed the way educators teach and students learn. With multimedia, the communication of the information can be done in a more effective manner and it can be an effective instructional medium for delivering information. Multimedia application design offers new insights into the learning process of the designer and forces him or her to represent information and knowledge in a new and innovative way (Neo & Neo, 2000). The use of multimedia as a platform for teaching is made even more possible with the availability of the MPCs (Multimedia PCs) that are powerful, fast, and able to process all media elements effortlessly and quickly, and multimedia software packages that are user‐friendly yet power‐packed. Multimedia “provides a means to supplement a presenter’s efforts to garner attention, increase retention, improve comprehension, and to bring an audience into agreement”, which consequently results in people remembering 20% of what they see, 40% of what they see and hear, but about 75% of what they see and hear and do simultaneously (Lindstrom, 2004). The use of multimedia in teaching and learning enabled teachers to stimulate final outcomes and assist students in applying knowledge learned from textbooks, thereby compensating for the deficiency of traditional teaching methods. Multimedia is now permeating the educational system as a tool for effective teaching and learning. With multimedia, the communication of information can be done in a more effective manner and it can be an effective instructional medium for delivering information. Multimedia access to knowledge is one of the possibilities of information and communication technology that has tremendous impact on learning. The instructional media have emerged in a variety of resources, and equipment, which can be used to supplement or complement the teachers’ efforts in ensuring effective learning by students. It is recognized that conventional media technologies can no longer meet the needs of our teaching and learning processes; as a result they are being replaced by multimedia technology. This technology provides a learning environment that is self‐paced, learner‐ controlled and individualized. Multimedia in Education has been extremely effective in teaching individuals a wide range of subjects. Multimedia is changing the way we communicate with each other. The way we send and receive messages is more effectively done and better comprehended. While a lecture can be extremely informative, a lecture that integrates pictures or video images can help an individual learn and retain information much more effectively. Using interactive CD‐ROMs can be extremely effective in teaching students a wide variety of disciplines, most notably languages and music A multi‐sensory experience can be created for the audience, which in turn, elicits positive attitudes towards its application (Neo & Neo, 2001). Multimedia has also been shown to elicit the highest rate of information retention and result in shorter learning time (Ng & Komiya, 2000). On the part of the creator, designing a multimedia application that is interactive and multi‐ sensory can be both a challenge and thrill. Multimedia application design offers new insights into the learning process of the designer and forces him or her to represent information and knowledge in a new and innovative way. However, information technology application serves different purposes, such as knowledge sharing‐portal, search engines, public administration, social service and business solution. Oshodi (2000) posits that awareness created towards the use of information and communication technology over the years is increasing in the classroom learning environment in the third world such that mere verbalization of words alone in the classroom to communicate ideas, skills and attitude to educate learner is futile. Omagbemi (2004) supporting this view expressed that access to multimedia information could stimulate changes and creates conductive learning environment and make learning more meaningful and responsive to the localized and specific needs of learners. The emphasis of multimedia design and development has been on the presentation of information in multiple formats (Hede & Hede, 2002). There are a number of overlapping definitions of multimedia. According to Doolittle (2001), “web‐based multimedia represents the presentation of instruction that involves more than one delivery media, presentation mode, and/or sensory modality. Multimedia has also been defined as “the use of multiple forms of media presentation” (Schwartz & Beichner, 2000) and “text with at least one of the following: audio or sophisticated sound, music, video, graphics” (Maddux, Johnson & Willis, 2001). Although numerous definitions exist to capture the essence and meaning of multimedia, “one commonality among all multimedia definitions involves the integration of more than one media” (Jonassen, 2000). Examples of multimedia includes but are not limited to text in combination with graphics, audio, music, video, and or animation. The teaching and learning of political science over the years has been delivered mechanically or by rote learning, which makes instruction teacher‐centered. Hardly can vital abstract contents in Political Science be effectively communicated to the learners theoretically. They need to be taught using relevant materials. The teacher in his/her method of teaching may have being a major source of students’ poor academic performance in Political Science. Most teachers still prefer using the ‘chalk and talk’ method in instructing learners. Although Multimedia could facilitate meaningful learning of Political Science, it is rarely used, whereas this method is considered as a good strategy for improving cognition. A good deal of expected learning outcomes is not realized in Political Science in our university as a result of non‐availability of instructional materials as well as lack of effective utilization of appropriate teaching materials (Nwagbo, 2008).
2.2 CONCEPT OF MULTIMEDIA
The term multimedia by definition means “more than one media”. According to Hofstetter (2001), multimedia is the use of computer to present and combine text, graphics, audio and video with links and tools that let the user navigate, interact, create and communicate. In other words, multimedia is the combination of various digital media, into an integrated multi-sensory interactive application or presentation to convey information to an audience (Damodharan and Rengarajan, 2007; ButcherPowell, 2005). Other than that, interactivity is also part of the elements that are required in order to complete interactive communication process through the use of multimedia (Jamalludin and Zaidatun, 2005). Originally, a multimedia presentation did not have to be digital. For example, multimedia might have incorporated a slide show for visuals, a tape recorder for audio, and an overhead projector for text. But as software and hardware became capable of and adept at handling more than one media, the term multimedia was coined to define computer software applications and presentations that utilized more than one media (Shelly, Cashman, Gunter and Gunter, 2006).
2.2.1 HISTORY OF MULTIMEDIA USE IN TEACHING AND LEARNING
As classroom technology continued to improve, the 1980s saw the introduction of overhead transparencies and videotapes, while the 1990s gave us first videodiscs and then CD-ROMs, the World Wide Web, and eventually digital projectors with the mixed blessings (see Atkinson, 2004b) of Microsoft PowerPoint. Technological innovation has accelerated in the first decade of the new century, with digital projectors as standard features in most classrooms, and CD-ROMs or DVDs accompanying many textbooks.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to examine the effective use of multimedia in the teaching and learning of political science education.
SOURCES OF DATA COLLECTION
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
- Primary source and
- Secondary source
Primary source: Personal interview was conducted with selected staffs and students of the institution in Cross Rivers State metropolis.
Secondary source: The secondary formed the major theoretical part that was derived through critical review of library and also other related literature (material written by others researchers).
POPULATION OF THE STUDY
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information on the study the effective use of multimedia in the teaching and learning of political science education. 200 staffs and students of University Of Calabar, In Cross River State was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
SAMPLE AND SAMPLING PROCEDURE
Sample is the set people or items which constitute part of a given population sampling. Due to large size of the target population, the researcher used the Taro Yamani formula to arrive at the sample population of the study.
n= N
1+N(e)2
n= 200
1+200(0.05)2
= 200
1+200(0.0025)
= 200 200
1+0.5 = 1.5 = 133.
3.5 INSTRUMENT FOR DATA COLLECTION
The major research instrument used is the questionnaires. This was appropriately moderated. The head of department was administered with the questionnaires to complete, with or without disclosing their identities. The questionnaire was designed to obtain sufficient and relevant information from the respondents. The primary data contained information extracted from the questionnaires in which the respondents were required to give specific answer to a question by ticking in front of an appropriate answer and administered the same on staffs of the institution: The questionnaires contained about 16 structured questions which was divided into sections A and B.
VALIDATION OF THE RESEARCH INSTRUMENT
The questionnaire used as the research instrument was subjected to face its validation. This research instrument (questionnaire) adopted was adequately checked and validated by the supervisor his contributions and corrections were included into the final draft of the research instrument used.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
4.1 INTRODUCTION
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
DATA ANALYSIS
The data collected from the respondents were analyzed in tabular form with simple percentage for easy understanding.
A total of 133 (one hundred and thirty three) questionnaires were distributed and 133 questionnaires were returned.
Question 1
Gender distribution of the respondents.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 INTRODUCTION
It is pertinent to note that this research was aimed at examining the contribution of instructional materials to teaching and learning of political science in tertiary institutions, thus the topic “the effective use of multimedia in the teaching and learning of political science education”.
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges associated with teaching and learning of political science education in Nigeria.
5.2 SUMMARY
The study tends to determine the adequacy of Instructional Multimedia facilities for teaching and learning of Political Science, the study revealed that computer sets, sound systems, and use of simulation and projectors are not adequate in the department. This implies that small number of instructional multimedia facilities in the department has little or no effect on students’ participation in class activities and their academic performances as indicated by the majority of the respondents in the study area.
The findings of the study revealed that Cds, projector, computer and sound system are available Instructional Multimedia in their respective faculties. This implies that the majority of the students indicated that there are Cds, projectors, computer and sound system in their department for use by the lecturers for teaching.
The study also revealed that the majority of the students do not know the exact number of computer sets available in the department. It was also revealed that between one to five sound systems are available in their department. And the use of computer for teaching in the department is “not very often”, same with projector as indicated by the majority of the respondents. The researcher discovered that the factors that limit the use of multimedia by lecturers in political science include none supportive, inadequate knowledge on the use of multimedia in teaching and learning of political science and lack of understanding on the benefits of multimedia facilities limit the use of multimedia in teaching and learning of political science.
5.3 CONCLUSION
There is little doubt that the changing role of education is currently being reinforced with the integration of multimedia technologies. This has led to a new paradigm in education and the evolution of new concepts in content development and a number of innovative methods in which information can be communicated to the learners. This new learning environment will undoubtedly influence the way teachers teach and students learn. This research has presented and discussed the use of multimedia in a learning environment to equip students with high‐order thinking and problem‐solving skills and to enable them to experience an ICT‐oriented learning situation. From the results, we are able to conclude that by integrating multimedia into the teaching and learning process, the conventional traditional method is reinforced and strengthened and a multimedia‐oriented method can be instituted. The multimedia project in this course enabled the students to exercise their creative and critical thinking skills in solving their design and development problems, work collaboratively to gain team‐based experience, and to face the real‐life situation of problem‐solving. This is a student‐centered learning approach which allows them to construct their own knowledge and understanding, and determine their own learning goals. The role of the teacher, on the other hand, changes from the “sage on the stage” to a “guide on the side,” assisting the students in the construction of their knowledge. As such, the use of multimedia technology and project are an innovative and effective teaching and learning strategy because they motivate the students in their learning process and help them to acquire good problem‐solving skills. As evidenced by this project, students became very active participants in their learning process instead being passive learners, and were able to use various digital media elements to accomplish their project.
5.4 RECOMMENDATIONS
The following recommendations were suggested by the researcher from the findings of the study:
- The Nigerian (Federal) government should see Information and Communication Technology (ICT) integration effort at the university as an embracing project to development in education and should support by allocating and releasing adequate funds to invest in massive Internet connectivity, as well as purchase and installation of ICT infrastructures. Also, the university must aim to ensure accessibility, availability and reliability of ICT facilities such that every lecture room and staff offices have computers linked to Internet and have equipment appropriate for accessing a range of electronic resources.
- If the Federal Government is not forthcoming, the university management can solicit for both internal and external funds and support from willing individuals, philanthropists and international organizations. They can also embark on networking and partnership programs for funds, technical support etc but should ensure that funds or support realized are geared toward sustainability of ICT integration and application efforts.
- The Federal Government can also help by subsiding or reducing the tariffs on importation of ICT facilities so that lecturers and others can afford the purchase of these ICT facilities and accessories since the price will be lower.
- It is also recommended that the University lecturers be exposed to a series of training and development skills in the use of these high technology facilities. Integrating the use of technology into curriculum in a purposeful and meaningful way is one of the many problems facing lecturers today. ICT training should be given to lecturers and other members of staff in the university on integration of technology in instruction.
- Adequate, competent and experienced ICT technical staff must be made available should problems arise.
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