Interactive Multimedia Courseware Developed by Instructors

This report documents an evaluation of interactive multimedia courseware ICW developed by instructors using Experimental Advanced Instruction Design Advisor XAIDA as a authoring tool. The ICW developed by the instructors was implemented in classrooms for evaluation. Instructional effectiveness of the courseware was evaluated on three fronts - how much students learned, efficiency with which they learned, and how they reacted to the learning experience. One hundred seventeen students and staff participated in the evaluation of eight ICW modules developed by their respective instructors. Overall, the courseware produced 8 to 125 increases in scores on factual knowledge tests. Students took from 15 to 36 minutes on average to complete the various courseware modules. The modules presented a nominal class period of 50 minutes. The majority of students had a positive learning experience. Notable is the increase in the percentage of students who prefer self-paced computer-based instruction CBI over instructor-based computer-assisted instruction CAI and group-paced classroom lectures. Before students participated in the evaluation, 40 preferred self-paced CBI and 35 preferred traditional classroom lectures. After participating in the evaluation, 55 of the students preferred self-paced CBI, 27 preferred classroom lectures, and 18 preferred CAI.