Increasingly, multimedia technology is permeating the educational arena worldwide, and many colleges and universities are moving towards the use of digital technology to enhance the teaching and learning process of both the students and educational practitioners (Kachian & Wieser, 1999:[online]; Mat, 2000:[online]). South Africa is a developing country that is undergoing radical social, political, economic and cultural changes and advances in computer technology have also dramatically changed the learning and teaching process and provided new learning opportunities and access to educational resources beyond those traditionally available. This research study describes a design experiment in which a multimedia learning environment (MMLE) was crafted for nursing students in neonatology at a university in Johannesburg, South Africa. At the outset, the integrated design principles derived from the constructivist perspectives on learning, multimedia learning design principles generated from Instructional Design Theory and the learning styles according to Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory, are established as a theoretical point of departure. This theoretical position led to the generation of a design framework that exploits the congruencies between constructivist perspectives on learning, the individual attributes of learners as defined by learning styles and multimedia design principles. The design experiment is conducted in five phases: the establishment of the design framework after an extensive literature review, the development of the MMLE, a pilot study, the final implementation and data analysis. Both quantitative and qualitative data are collected. The preliminary results of the study show that the students had an overwhelmingly positive experience of the MMLE, and that their preferred learning style had some influence on their experience. Little evidence has been found in the literature about the interaction between learning styles and constructivist learning principles for the design of multimedia learning and it is in this area that the study makes a contribution. The study also makes a contribution to the field of Nursing Science education, as it designs and develops multimedia learning materials, and assesses the value of those learning materials for learners which may be adopted in similar contexts within the broader South African context. / Prof. D. Van Der Westhuizen
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:7794 |
| Date | 15 August 2008 |
| Creators | Diseko, Rabaitse |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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