Effect of Multimedia Instructional Materials in Open and Distance Learning

Academic Paper from the year 2019 in the subject Didactics - Common Didactics, Educational Objectives, Methods, grade: 3, , course: Psychology Department, language: English, abstract: The study assessed the effectiveness of multimedia instructional materials on students' academic performance. Between groups experimental design was used where three treatment groups were given a variety of multimedia enriched instructional materials; 54 students were exposed to audio visual materials, 53 used printed multicolour, and 54 printed plain as a control group. Pre and post tests were used to assess students' knowledge of the given set of materials before and after the experimental treatments. Post test result scores and multimedia enrichment were used as dependent and independent variables respectively. The audio visual group was found to perform significantly superior (56.76%) than the printed plain (p= 0.001); audio aided group performance was significantly higher (52.31%) than the printed plain (p=0.05); printed multicolour group performed higher (49.57%) than the printed plain group (45.54%). The study recommends the use of multimedia technology in the preparation and use of ODL instructional materials. The study further recommends studies on teachers' competence in developing, embedding and using multimedia enriched instructional materials.

Dr. Hyasinta Kessy works with The Open University of Tanzania, Faculty of Education, Department of Psychology and Special Education. She has been trained in several professions including: Diploma in Agriculture, Diploma in Education, Diploma in Educational Management & Administration (ADEM), Bachelor of Education (Psychology & Geography), Masters in Psychology as well as PhD in Learning and Multimedia. Dr Hyasinta Kessy has been a teacher in Secondary Schools, Teacher Training Colleges, and several Universities. She has also undertaken trainings in Agriculture, Agro Forestry, Educational Management, ICDL, Online Facilitation, and many others Her projects include: integration of HIV/AIDS in Secondary Schools Curriculum, Integration of ICT in teaching and learning, OER, Teacher's Facilitation in Preparation of Multimedia Instructional Materials and EPICA Project. She has published several papers in Psychology, ICT, ODL, & ICT for students with disabilities and learning in Multimedia. Dr Hyasinta Kessy has supervised many students in undergraduate, Masters, and PhD levels in Tanzania, Africa, and Overseas. Dr Hyasinta Kessy has written several books including Social Psychology, Language & Literacy in Early Childhood Education, Managing Special Needs in Special and Inclusive Settings as well as Competence Based Curriculum & E-Portfolio