A multimedia-based course to learn basic acoustics through the Internet: description and evaluation

A course on Basic Acoustics has been implemented as an Internet site with multimedia resources such as Flash animations, video clips, etc. Multimedia resources are particularly suitable for acoustics, due to the special role played by sound. The constructivistic model of learning within the EHEA framework was taken as the most suitable approach. The students’ overall evaluation has been positive, especially as regards the embedded multimedia resources. Furthermore, many comments taken from their evaluations and assignments have helped to correct deficiencies and to improve the course.Postprint (published version

A comparison of the effectiveness of two educational interventions developed to teach early infant hunger cues to junior level nursing students.

Due to multiple learning styles, it can be difficult to teach to large groups of students. The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of two different educational interventions designed to teach infant hunger cues to undergraduate nursing students to increase the knowledge and confidence levels needed for the future teaching of infant hunger cues to new parents. Flemings VARK theory was used to guide this quasi-experimental study. A pretest posttest two-group design was used to evaluate both knowledge and confidence levels in the participants (N= 86). Data was analyzed utilizing a paired t-test. The results noted significant improvements in confidence levels when comparing pre and post test scores, resulting in a difference in the mean between video and handout of 1.47 (t = 3.128, p = .002). The results of the knowledge data shows an improvement with both interventions, however the t-test results failed to show significance, with a mean difference of 1.365 (t = 1.63, p = 0.107). Therefore it can be said that multimodal teaching can improve confidence levels, but the knowledge results revealed there is no evidence to support or reject the hypothesis that the video would significantly increase knowledge

Why do we digitize books instead of knowledge?

Besides text and images, contemporary e-books can include multimedia, interactivity, pronunciation information and text-to-speech ready content. The current EPUB 3 standard provides all the technical solutions necessary for designing and displaying highly functional and content rich e-books, but the implementation is impaired by the e-reader industry, publishers and distributors. Local and global book digitization has been an ongoing process for years, encompassing publications ranging from classical literature to current technical textbooks. Textual expression of knowledge is a remnant of the past but it is still dominant today, even though interactivity and video content are known to significantly enhance the learning process. However, multimedia and interactive content for e-books is not produced because it requires time, technical knowledge and specific tools. Within the current publishing system, authors are expected to produce and design all the content for books on their own, but because of the extreme content diversity, it is unrealistic to expect that they really possess such knowledge and skills. Better collaboration among authors, publishers, distributors, the professional community and the related industry is necessary for knowledge digitization to function

Use of social media to enhance personal learning environment in learning of statistics

A Personal Learning Environment (PLE) has been discussed from the past few years as PLE empowers students to take charge of their own learning to match their personal learning style and pace. Many students in tertiary education face difficulties in learning statistics and mathematical skills because of its complexity, lack of self motivations and learning supports. The objective of this study is to verify on how online learning tools such as social media can serve as platforms for PLE integrating both formal and informal learning and fostering self-regulated learning for statistics learners. A survey questionnaire was tested among students from a private university. Likert-scale type format and open-ended question were used. Findings from this study show that most learners are accessing internet. However, its use for learning was still low and required further improvement. Spending more time in social network was found correlated with receiving a stronger intrinsic motivation. Instructors should use social media integrated in the LMS with interesting course content. Results from this pilot study have contributed to the questionnaire for future full implementation

Transformació d’uns apunts tradicionals en un web hipertextual d’acústica

Peer Reviewe

İlköğretim Öğrencilerinin Okuduğunu Anlama Performansı ile Bellek Modellemesi ile Oluşturulan Öğrenme Tipleri Arasındaki İlişki

A review of literature on learning styles suggest that they are often focused on determining learning styles on the basis of learning preferences, while the number of studies there are fewer studies which determine learning styles on the basis of memory modeling. In addition, the number of studies on the correlation between reading comprehension skills and learning styles remains limited. Designed to determine the correlation between the former and the latter, the present study seeks an answer to whether reading comprehension skills is correlated with learning styles. The population of the study was comprised of 71 4th grade students. It employed “Reading Comprehension Test (RCT)” and “Test on Learning Styles (TLS). The study concluded that there is a slight correlation between reading comprehension skills and learning styles and that no learning style is a significant predictor of reading comprehension skills. The results suggested that learning styles do not have a significant effect on reading comprehension skills.Öğrenme tipleri alanında yapılan çalışmalar incelendiğinde, öğrenme tiplerini öğrenme tercihlerinden yola çıkarak belirlemeye odaklanan çalışmalara sıklıkla rastlanırken, öğrenme tiplerini bellek modellemesiyle belirlemeye odaklanan çalışmalara daha az sıklıkta rastlanmaktadır. Buna ek olarak, okuduğunu anlama ile öğrenme tipleri ilişkisini belirlemeye yönelik çalışmalar ise sınırlı sayıda kalmaktadır. Okuduğunu anlama becerileri ile öğrenme tipleri arasındaki ilişkilerin incelenmesi yönelik olarak desenlenen bu çalışmada, öğrencilerin okuduğunu anlama becerileri ile öğrenme tipleri arasında bir ilişki olup olmadığı sorusuna yanıt aranmıştır. Çalışma grubunu 71 ilköğretim dördüncü sınıf öğrencisi oluşturmaktadır. Çalışmada “Okuduğunu Anlama Testi (OAT) ve “Öğrenme Tipleri Testi (ÖTT) kullanılmıştır. Sonuç olarak öğrencilerin okuduğunu anlama becerileri ile öğrenme tipleri arasında çok düşük bir ilişki olduğu, hiç bir öğrenme tipinin okuduğunu anlama becerisi üzerinde önemli bir yordayıcı olmadığı görülmüştür. Çalışmanın sonuçlarına göre, öğrenme tipleri okuduğunu anlama becerisi üzerinde önemli bir etkiye sahip değildir

Kesan interaksi atribut persembahan multimedia, gaya kognitif, peringkat pengajian dan bidang pengajian ke atas daya ingatan visual pelajar IPT

Various multimedia presentation attributes contribute different positive effect on the visual recall memory due to factors such as different cognitive style, field of study and level of study. The positive effects could not be optimised if the most effective combination of the factors is not identified. This study aimed to identify the main effects and interaction effects of multimedia presentation format or attribute (line drawing pictures, black and white pictures, colour pictures, animation, animationaudio), cognitive styles (field dependence (FD), field independence (FI), level of study (year one, year three) and field of study (art-based, non-art-based) on the visual recall among students in higher education institutions (HEIs) in Malaysia. The sample consisted of 400 year one and three university students. This experimental study used 5 x 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design. The findings showed that the main effects of format of multimedia presentation, cognitive style, level of education and field of study on visual recall were significant. The results showed that students who viewed animated presentation obtained better mean scores on visual recall than students who viewed other presentation formats. Students with FI cognitive styles were found to recall better than the FD students, while students from non-art-based field obtained better scores than students from the art-based field. Year one students were found to have better visual recall than year three students. The interaction effect of format of multimedia presentation and level of education on visual recall was significant. The three-way interaction effect between cognitive styles, level of education and field of study as well as the interaction effect between format of multimedia presentation, level of education and field of study on visual recall were significant. Findings of the study support the effectiveness of multimedia presentation in enhancing the visual recall memory. However, the most effective attribute should be aligned with the students’ cognitive style, field of study and level of study so as to achieve the intended learning outcomes

The effects of online courses with multimedia in learners\u27 perceived satisfaction and effectiveness of e-learning.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine how the use of multimedia components, such as graphics, audio and video, in online courses was related to perceived learner satisfaction and learning effectiveness. The use of retrospective data provided self reported perceived satisfaction measures and total score representing objective performance in an online course. Data represented employees of a large multinational, publicly traded healthcare company (N = 2401) during the 2012 calendar year. The independent variables were: (a) learner perceived satisfaction with the use of graphics, (b) learner perceived satisfaction with the use of audio, (c) learner perceived satisfaction with the use of narration properly synchronized with text animation, (d) learner perceived satisfaction with the use of video, and (e) reason for enrolling in the online course. The dependent variable was leamer\u27s objective performance score. Correlations and hierarchical logistic regression were performed on the data. Major findings include (a) a low relation between learners\u27 perceived satisfaction with the use of graphics and objective performance, (b) a relation between combined learners\u27 perceived satisfaction with the use of audio, learners\u27 perceived satisfaction with the use of narration properly synchronized with text animation, and learners\u27 perceived satisfaction with the use of video and learners\u27 objective performance (r2 = .001,p \u3c .05), and (c) reason for enrolling in the online course did not predict learners\u27 objective performance. The study presented additional conclusions and implications for theory, research, and practice

Exploration of concise redundancy in online multimedia learning

With the rapid growth of multimedia in education, the importance of investigating the effect of redundancy, repeating instructional messages to enhance conceptualization in instructional material design, is becoming more important. Various studies have been conducted recently regarding the effects of different forms of redundancy. A multimedia lesson presenting concurrent on-screen text, still graphics or animations, and narration is a typical setting in redundancy research. Concise redundancy is the revision of the on-screen text into a concise form which is presented to the learners concurrently with visualizations and narration. The purpose of this study was to investigate, while controlling for spatial ability, the effects of concise redundancy on students\u27 retention and confidence when learning with highly complex multimedia materials. In addition, the effects of animation or still graphics along with text redundancy were examined. No significant differences were found between the graphic presentations (animation or series of stills) and text redundancy groups (full, concise, or none) on retention or levels of confidence. When examining the results taking into account high and low spatial abilities, no significant differences were found in terms of different graphic presentation (animation or series of stills) and different text redundancy groups (full, concise, or none). However, in one condition, low spatial ability learners exhibited significantly higher levels of confidence than high spatial ability learners when learning with narrated static graphics and concise redundancy. The current study should provide further guidance for researchers who are interested in examining narrated multimedia lessons containing concise redundancy when comparing static graphics to animated graphics