bibliographical resources, problems in respect to the students’ accessibility
to the bibliography resulting in poor motivation for the contents of the
subject. For this research, professors on
History of English-Speaking Countries as well as specialists from the ICTs were
consulted. They both evaluated the didactic and technological design of the multimedia
and agreed that it meets the necessary requirements as a valid proposal positively
impacting on the teaching and learning process of the subject. The proposal included
diverse multimedia resources of different historical periods and a set of
activities for students’ assessment.
Keywords: bibliographical
resources; history of english-speaking countries; history of great britain;
information and communication technologies; multimedia
RESUMEN
La competencia
comunicativa en inglés implica la comprensión de la historia de los países de
habla inglesa como un componente intercultural. En este contexto de
investigación, se han evidenciado algunas carencias en la bibliografía de la
asignatura Historia de los países de habla inglesa en el curso académico Idioma
del inglés con una segunda lengua extranjera: el francés en la Universidad
Central "Marta Abreu" de Las Villas. El propósito de esta
investigación fue proponer un Multimedia para enriquecer la bibliografía
existente del tema mencionado anteriormente. El estudio utilizó una metodología
cualitativa y se utilizaron métodos desde el nivel teórico, empírico y
matemático. El análisis de contexto confirmó limitaciones en cuanto a la
cantidad, calidad y variedad de los recursos bibliográficos, problemas con
respecto a la accesibilidad de los estudiantes a la bibliografía, lo que trae
como consecuencia una poca motivación por los contenidos de la materia. Para la
investigación se consultaron especialistas en historia de los países de habla
inglesa, así como de las TIC. Ambos evaluaron el diseño didáctico y tecnológico
de la multimedia y acordaron que cumple con los requisitos necesarios como una
propuesta válida que tiene un impacto positivo en el proceso de enseñanza y
aprendizaje de la materia. La propuesta incluye diversos recursos multimedia de
los diferentes periodos históricos y un conjunto de actividades para la
evaluación de los estudiantes.
Palabras clave: recursos bibliográficos; historia de los países de habla inglesa;
historia de gran bretaña; tecnologías de la información y la comunicación;
multimedia
I.
INTRODUCTION
nglish
has become increasingly dominant as a world language for communication in
higher education. The simultaneous impact of globalization, the spread of
English and technological development have transformed the learning and
teaching methods of English as a lingua franca in an unprecedented way. (Warschauer, 2004). Consequently, being able to speak English has become crucial
in the current professional world. That is why students, whose mother tongue is
not English, often have to develop a high level of competence in this language
to pursue their studies. This requirement is especially imperative for students
majoring in English, who will have to perform as translators and interpreters
in different contexts: tourism, business, commerce, international affairs,
academic programs, and scientific communication, among others.
However, a good command of English also entails the understanding
of history as a parameter of the culture of English speaking countries, in
order to acquire a more complete overview of the Anglophone world. Kramsch said
in her book Language and Culture: “…there is only one way of viewing
culture: one that examines cultures from a historical aspect”. (Kramsch, 2000)
On the other hand, the
increasing development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has
led to the dominance of English as a lingua franca in many contexts. Terms such
as e-learning, mobile learning, blended learning are now emerging in
educational environments. This last modality of learning is conceived as
“learning models that combine traditional classroom practice through
ICTs in and out of classroom contexts with e-learning solutions”. (Ibáñez, 2012). This means that students face both, different styles of instruction.
Traditional face-to-face instruction works together with ICTs tools in order to
foster the acquisition of knowledge through different ways.” (Ibáñez, 2012)
Various are the advantages
of including multimedia materials in the pedagogical scenarios that go from
making the whole process more interesting for students to making it easier for
teachers to keep their attention and improve their ability to retain information.
ICTs can improve the quality of education and bring better outcomes by making
information accessible to students, helping to gain knowledge and skill easily
and making trainings more available for teachers. (Milea, 2013).
Therefore, higher education
institutions should lead in drawing on the advantages and potential of the
ICTs, ensuring quality and maintaining high standards for education practices
and outcomes in a spirit of openness, equity and international co-operation. In
Cuba, universities actively interact with ITCs at a social and institutional
level, which is expressed in a new vision regarding its use, availability and
access in order to fulfill their mission. The Universidad Central “Marta
Abreu” de Las Villas is also engaged in these goals. Professors and
students use Moodle platform to facilitate the access to various sources of
information for different courses.
However, in the context of
the teaching and learning process of the subject History of English- Speaking
Countries I, devoted to the study of British History, taught in the degree
course English Language with French as a second foreign language, some
difficulties in respect to the bibliography have been evidenced. The contents
are mainly taken from British History, a book written by Harold Shultz and some
other complementary materials in digital format. Yet, those materials are still
not enough and accessible in a way that, both teachers and students can manage
the information of the subject successfully. Thus, teachers and learners demand
more bibliographical resources and interactive environments to meet students’
needs and eventually enable life-long learning.
In
the light of this problem, this paper seeks to find out:
-How
can the bibliography of the subject History of English- Speaking Countries I of
the degree course English Language with French as a second foreign language be improved?
The overall aim of this term paper is:
ü
To propose Multimedia
including more and varied bibliographical materials, as well as a set of
self-assessment tasks, to support the teaching and learning process of the
subject History of English- Speaking Countries I in the degree course English
Language with French as a second foreign language.
II.
Theoretical Considerations about ICT´s and their Implementation in the Teaching
and Learning Process
2.1.
Defining
Information and Communication Technologies
According to Megha Gokhe (2012), ICT´s is the
technology that supports activities involving information. Such activities
include gathering, processing, storing and presenting data. Increasingly these
activities also involve collaboration and communication. (Gokhe, 2012).
ICT´s are often associated only to computers; however,
it actually involves a wider variety of technological means. The UNESCO
referred to ICT´s as: “… forms of technology that are used to transmit,
process, store, create, display, share or exchange information by electronic
means, which include radio, television, video, DVD, telephone, satellite
systems, and computer and network hardware and software, as well as the
equipment and services associated with these technologies, such as
videoconferencing, e-mail and blogs.” (United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 2007)
These definitions deal with two major assumptions
underlie the role of ICT´s:
“…the first assumption is that the proliferation of
these technologies is causing rapid transformations in all areas of life; the
second is that ICT´s function to unify and standardize culture.” (Robins, 1999)
According to the report given in United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (2003), ICT´s offer generic advantages of
efficiency gains, information-sharing, communication and faster knowledge
accumulation, dissemination and application, in support for which they are
used. (Biggs, 2003). This is reason ICT´s have become, within a very short
time, one of the basic building blocks of modern society.
ICT´s are used, applied, and integrated in activities
of working and learning on the basis of conceptual understanding and methods of
informatics. (Robins, 1999)). They can reshape, reorganize and fundamentally
restructure working methods, and ultimately the sectors in which they are
assimilated. (Biggs, 2003)
In this sense, there is no doubt that ICT´s are deemed
an essential tool of the 21st Century, whose major aims entail the improvement
of efficiency and a more sufficient access to knowledge.
2.2 Integrating ICT´s into the teaching and
learning process through Multimedia. Features and principles
Multimedia is a digital, organized and comprehensive
collection of information, which may include texts, images, audios, videos,
graphics, and animations in a variety of application environments, with
interactivity between the user and the software.
Each new development of each passing year is absorbed
into next year's technology, making the multimedia experience, better, faster,
and more interesting.
In the book Multimedia Learning (2001), Richard E.
Mayer discusses twelve principles that shape the design and organization of
multimedia presentations that facilitate the process of learning:
- Coherence: people learn better when
extraneous words, pictures and sounds are excluded rather than included.
- Signaling: people learn better when cues
that highlight the organization of the essential material are added.
- Redundancy: people learn better from
graphics and narration than from graphics, narration and on-screen text.
- Spatial Contiguity: people learn better
when corresponding words and pictures are presented near rather than far from
each other on the page or screen.
- Temporal Contiguity: people learn better
when corresponding words and pictures are presented simultaneously rather than
successively.
- Segmenting: people learn better from a
multimedia lesson is presented in user-paced segments rather than as a
continuous unit.
- Pre-training: people learn better from a
multimedia lesson when they know the names and characteristics of the main
concepts.
- Modality: people better learn from graphics
and narrations than from animation and on-screen text.
- Multimedia: people learn better from words
and pictures than from words alone.
- Personalization: people learn better from
multimedia lessons when words are in conversational style rather than formal
style.
- Voice: people learn better when the
narration in multimedia lessons is spoken in a friendly human voice rather than
a machine voice.
- Image: people do not necessarily learn
better from a multimedia lesson when the speaker’s image is added to the
screen. (Mayer, 2001).
On the other hand, there are some features that should
be taken into consideration when designing a multimedia, among them Nemetz and Mactavish point out the fact that:
- It is multi
sensorial: it uses a lot of the user’s senses while making use of Multimedia,
for example hearing, seeing and talking.
- It is integrated:
all the different mediums are integrated through the digitization process.
- It is flexible:
being digital, this media can easily be changed to fit different situations and
audiences.
- It can be used
for a wide variety of audiences, ranging from one person to a whole group.
- Naturalness:
it has the potential to make more appropriate and efficient use of human
perceptual and cognitive capabilities, by making the interaction more natural. (F. Nemetz, 1998).
- Multiple media:
it combines types of information that traditionally have been considered
different media. This is made possible on the computer through digitization.
The computer stores all information, whatever its original form, as binary
digital data so it is possible to combine media into multimedia. To be more
specific, Multimedia works tend to bring together media that are incompatible
in other means of distribution, especially synchronous and asynchronous types
of information like audio (which is time-dependent) and text (which is not.)
- Interactivity:
one of the properties of Multimedia is the interactivity or the programming
that structures for the viewer’s experience. Some level of interactivity is
assumed in any computer-based work, but by this definition interactivity
becomes a defining feature that helps weave the multiplicity into a whole. (Mactavish, 2004).
Finally,
Bartlett and Strough state that, “…besides potential advantages to
students, multimedia formats may offer benefits to instructors teaching
multi-section courses because this type of format ensures uniformity in the
lecture content across the sections”. (Bartlett, 2003).
In
fact, students who are given access to multimedia courseware, whether as
individuals or in groups, can take control of their own learning, constructing
knowledge at a pace and in a direction that suits their needs and interests.
2.3 The teaching and learning process of the subject History of
English-Speaking Countries I
This
research work focus the attention on the contents of Great Britain’s history and
the fundamental role they play in universities all over the world and the
possibility of learning them from a more attractive environment using ICTs for
improving the bibliography of the subject History of English-Speaking Countries
I.
British
History has become a crucial part of the educational program in the UK, and in
both English-speakers and non-speakers countries. According to the National
Curriculum of this subject in England, the aim of the subject that is named History
of Great Britain and the English Commonwealth is to ensure that all pupils:
-
know and understand the history of these islands
as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present
day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced
and been influenced by the wider world.
-
know and understand significant aspects of the
history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilizations; the expansion
and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European
societies; achievements and follies of mankind.
-
gain and deploy a historically grounded
understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilization’, ‘parliament’
and ‘peasantry’.
-
understand historical concepts such as
continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and
significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyze trends,
frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts,
including written narratives and analyses.
-
gain historical perspective by placing their
growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections
between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural,
economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short-
and long-term timescales. (Department for education, 2013)
In
the research context similar goals are established to ensure the knowledge of
the contents. It is considered that with the implementation of Multimedia as a particular
ICTs application in the teaching and learning of History of English-Speaking
Countries I, the subject will become more attractive, learner-centered and
personalized, fostering long lasting knowledge. The solution to the challenge
of giving a quality education and motivate students on the study of history
relies in an extensive and appropriate selection of didactic materials to be included
there.
III.
Methodology
Considering
the real situation related to the bibliography of the subject, and the
participants of the research, the use of a qualitative methodology was deemed
to be the most apt in the accomplishment of the research purposes. Some methods
from empirical level were used among them observation, document analysis,
surveys to students and interviews to professors as well as specialists’
criteria for the evaluation of the proposal.
3.1 Description of the sample and research methods used
The
research was carried in the context of the course English Language with French
as a second foreign language at the Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las
Villas. This course is intended for students to deal with real
communicative situations by means of interpreting and translation of texts, as
well as the teaching and learning process of English and French languages. The
course is studied for six years and provides an extensive professional profile
for students: as translators, interpreters and professors.
The
subject History of English-Speaking Countries I was the context chosen for this
study, and the participants’ selection was carefully considered through an
intentional and reasoned sampling criterion. The sample was composed by 17
students of fourth year, since they are currently involved in the aforesaid
subject. Moreover, 5 professors also participated, which included the main
professor of the subject, the department authorities and others who had taught
the subject or had interdisciplinary relationships with History of
English-Speaking Countries I. Hence, the total number of participants was 22. In this research work, two dimensions were
identified:
-The systematization of the subject bibliography History of
English-Speaking Countries I
-The selection of the contents to be included in the Multimedia
for the subject History of English-Speaking Countries I
IV. Results
derived from the needs analysis of the research context
The
results are described following the information obtained from the different
research methods using triangulation of sources and methods.
4.1.
Results derived from
the information provided by the research methods
- Document Analysis
During this research five documents were examined. The
analysis included Curriculum “D”, the Syllabus of History of English-Speaking
Countries discipline, the Syllabus of the subject History of English-Speaking
Countries I, the Scientific and Technological Information Curricular Strategy,
and the Computer Curricular Strategy of the degree course English Language with
French as a second foreign language for the year 2019.
The curriculum “D” consists of 11 disciplines, from which
two are basic: English Language and French; two are considered profession-related
disciplines: Translation-Interpreting and Didactics of Foreign Languages; three
are of general education: Marxism-Leninism, Defense Preparation and Physical
Education; and four are deemed basic-specific disciplines: National Culture,
Linguistic Studies, Literature of English-Speaking Countries and History of
English-Speaking Countries.
The general objective of this curriculum states that the
graduates must be able to develop as competent translators and interpreters of
English Language and French, as well as professors of both foreign languages in
higher education, contributing to the professional and cultural development of
their society.
The Syllabus of the discipline has been conceived to
provide a social, historical and cultural characterization of English-Speaking
countries. It lays the foundations for specialized subjects, which are crucial
in the intercultural and socio-linguistic students’ training. Therefore, it is
essential to determine the implication of the subject History of
English-Speaking Countries I (as part of the discipline) in graduates’
educational training.
On the other hand, the subject is deemed one of the
basic subjects of the Discipline, and it is the ground of this research work.
This subject is taught to fourth year students in the second semester. It
includes the History of Great Britain and the British Commonwealth, which is
delivered in 48 hours of both lectures and seminars.
According to the Syllabus, the main objectives of this
subject are the development of students’ capacity to consolidate their
scientific view of the world, through a Marxist dialectic approach of the most
relevant economic, political and cultural events in the British history.
Students must be able to enrich their linguistic and socio-cultural competence
on the Anglo-Saxon World, and understand the significance of Great Britain and
the British Commonwealth from a historical point of view.
The methodological guidelines state that it is advisable
for the professor to use videos, movies, books, recordings, pictures, maps and
other visual and multimedia resources as a way of stimulating students’
learning process. Some of these resources can be found in the digital folder of
the subject in the Moodle platform.
The basic bibliography in the Syllabus is the book “British
History” written by Harold Shultz, and the complementary bibliography includes
“A People’s History of England” by A.L Morton, “The Oxford Illustrated History
of Britain” by Kenneth Morgan, “La Revolución Inglesa de 1640” by
Christopher Hills and “A Short History of Britain” by D. Morgan.
After the analysis of the curriculum and syllabus of the
subject the curricular strategies related with the research context were
explored to find out about the feasibility of the multimedia proposal, students
capabilities to deal with it.
In respect to the objectives of Scientific and
Technological Information curricular Strategy students should be able to
integrate knowledge, abilities and professional performance, as well as to
participate in a more demanding methodological work; the use of ICTs and a
proper training in computing skills is undoubtedly essential.
For fourth year students the specific objectives are: to
develop research works; to process data and results obtained during the
professional practice; to access information from reliable electronic sources,
etc. This document also underscores the importance of consulting complementary
bibliography and materials, in addition to publications and information that
are accessible when surfing on Internet or accessing to the Local Network.
Then again, the Computer Curricular Strategy is also crucial
for university students master computing skills such as: the use of Microsoft
Office, databases and text tabs, the plotting of graphs and Power Point
presentations, the access to information through Internet or a Local Network.
The Strategy also highlights the importance of using terminological tools and
other auxiliary programs, materials, electronic sources of information and
professional software related with the specialty.
In the case of History of English-Speaking Countries I, the
document states that students have at their disposal a digital folder with some
bibliography, videos, documents and pictures of the different historical
periods in the Local Network. Most of the complementary materials and
bibliography of this subject are in digital format, but yet they are still insufficient.
So, the proposal of the Multimedia is in a great extent
contributing to both strategies goals and could be a feasible solution to
improve the bibliography of the subject History of English-Speaking Countries
I.
-
Participant Observation
Some observation units were also outlined for the analysis
of the feasibility of the proposal as the infrastructure of computer labs in
the faculty for the students to run the multimedia as well as the availability
of technological resources by the students: personal computers, tablets, Wi-Fi
connection, and internet access.
The results from the observation showed that there are three
computer labs for English Language students in the faculty, the first one for
all the faculty is equipped with 26 computers. The other is the French lab that
is mainly used for lessons with 8 computers, the third one is CAELTIC that used
to be an access center, but now is used for lessons in undergraduate and
postgraduate courses with 10 computers, but not all of them are in optimal
conditions.
Due to the limitations in the lab schedule, students cannot
access to the information at any time, besides there are few network cables for
those students who have personal computers. Alternatively, the connection can
be achieved through the WIFI. Currently in the faculty, there are five WIFI
zones where students can access to the local network, as well as Internet
without connecting in the labs.
It is important to highlight that there is a folder in the
local network of the faculty for the bibliography of the subject History of
English-Speaking Countries I, but, it has been noticed that it does not contain
textbooks mentioned in its syllabus. There is only one hard copy of the textbook
“British History” by Harold Shultz, and students only have access to it during
the lessons in the classroom. The bibliography in the local network folder contains
two complementary books, and some complementary materials and PDF files related
to specific contents. There are also some videos and pictures related to
specific contents.
-
Survey to the students
A survey was applied to 17 students in order to determine
the situation regarding the bibliography of the subject History of
English-Speaking Countries I.
The questionnaire used in the survey consisted of 4
questions. Most of them were (Yes or No responses or Sufficient and
Insufficient) and multiple choice questions-delimited answers decided in
advance, in order to facilitate the calculation in respect to the frequency
analysis of the given information and demand less effort from the respondents.
There were also included open-ended questions with the purpose to get a deep
comprehension of the respondents’ opinions and suggestions.
The results revealed that most of the students (13
students), who represented 76 % of the total recognized that there is
complementary bibliography in the subject´s folder, however, 3 students (24%)
seemed to believe that the subject’s folder included its basic bibliography. 82%
of the respondents considered that the bibliography is not enough and only 18% confirmed
that it is in fact sufficient for the development of the teaching and learning
process.(graph. 1)
When asked about the possible solutions to this problem, most
of the students (52%) agreed to include more instructional materials from
different sources over other solutions like the inclusion of interactive
activities for self-assessment and conscious learning for each content studied
in the subject (29%). Some students commented on the fact that it might include
videos and films fragments that recreate the historical background of each of
the periods
Graph. 1. Solutions given by the
students in respect to the bibliography limitations
- Interview to
professors
A semi-structured interview was applied to the department
authorities, the former professor of the subject History of English-Speaking
Countries I, as well as to the current professor of both: the aforementioned
subject and the interdisciplinary subject English Literature- closely related
to the setting chosen for this study.
The purpose of this interview was to find the professor’s
insights with respect to the importance of History of English-Speaking
Countries I in students’ professional development. Professors were also asked
to offer suggestions concerning the inclusion of instructional and auxiliary
materials in the subject. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed
for a detailed analysis of the information.
The following verbalizations illustrate professors’
opinions on the significance of the subject and the limitations related to
bibliography they considered that are affecting the teaching and learning process
of the subject:
Table 1. English professors’
opinions concerning the significance of the
subject and the bibliography of the subject
|
|
Categories
|
Verbalizations
|
|
1
|
Importance
of History of English-Speaking Countries I for students’ professional
development.
|
“The subject History of
English-Speaking Countries I contributes to the enlargement of students’
knowledge, which is vital for their further development in the different
professional profiles of the academic course”
“This subject allows
students to acquire a more specialized vocabulary related directly to
historical events, while enriching the socio-cultural competence of each
pupil.”
|
|
2
|
Knowledge about the existing
bibliography in the subject History of English-Speaking Countries I
|
“The
bibliography is only digital, the text books are out-of-date.”
“The number of textbooks
in a printed version is quite limited in comparison to the number of
students.”
|
|
2.1
|
Suggestions for improvement
|
“It is essential to
include recent studies, documentaries, and scholar findings.”
“A chronological
arrangement through documentaries and maps could be a suitable way to
systematize students’ general comprehension of the subject.”
|
As it is shown in table 1, there is a growing need to deliver a wide variety of bibliography in
different formats for the subject History of English-Speaking Countries I in
order to meet the objectives of the subject and the students learning needs.
Hence, the implementation of Multimedia is deemed to be crucial to improve the whole
teaching and learning process. Even when didactic materials and information
from Internet is widely used, the advantages of having a more controlled
environment have proven to be more effective.
Summing up, all this analysis evidenced that there are also
deficiencies concerning the access and quality of the existing bibliography of
the subject. There is no textbook in digital version and only one in printed
version, while the rest of existing materials is rather scarce. Both, students
and professors agreed that the bibliography needs to be improved and
complemented with some new instructional materials, and activities that
reinforce students’ learning and self-assessment.
Professors stated the importance of History of English-Speaking
Countries I as an interdisciplinary subject, and in relation with some other
disciplines such as the English Literature Discipline.
All in all, the information obtained from the research
methods confirmed the limitations of the current bibliography in History of
English-Speaking Countries I, resulting in the proposal of Multimedia for
attaining the research overall aim.
In
fact, Multimedia in History of English-Speaking Countries I as an integrator
tool may facilitate students’ access to a considerable amount of information
and resources. As many authors state multimedia allows lecturers to integrate
text, graphics, animation, and other media into one package to present
comprehensive information for their students to achieve better course outcomes.
(Berber M. Tolsman, 2000) (Bartlett, 2003). It permits the demonstration of
complicated processes in a highly interactive, animated fashion and that
instructional material can be interconnected with other related topics in a
more natural and intuitive way. (Coorough, 2001)
4.2.
Building HistoMedia, the Multimedia for
History of English-Speaking
Countries I
From the needs
analysis presented above, it was decided to design the Multimedia in order to
improve the bibliography of the subject History of English-Speaking Countries
I, in an attempt to meet students’ needs and enhance the teaching and learning
process. Therefore, the HistoMedia, Multimedia for History of English-Speaking
Countries I, was elaborated considering the theoretical framework presented, in
addition to the results of the needs analysis.
The Multimedia includes a basic bibliography for the
contents planned in the syllabus of the subject, as well as complementary
bibliography, materials (videos, pictures, maps), designed to enhance students’
comprehension of the Anglophone world. The incorporation and organization of
the materials followed the syllabus organization into units and some other
well-structured books related to the subject in question, such as: The
Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, by Kenneth O. Morgan. Thus, the
integrated materials cover the most relevant events and personalities of the History
of Britain from the Roman Britain period to England of the Twentieth Century. All the information and didactic materials included in the
Multimedia were taken from reliable sources: An illustrated History of Britain
2006. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. McDowall, National
Geographic in the case of some videos, United Nations Publications, British
History Encyclopedia, and some others.
In respect to the layout, features such as color,
structure, interactivity and search and retrieval were taken into account to
create an attractive interface easy to navigate through. The Multimedia is
portable so it can be accessed from any computer without being connected to the
network.
For
the design and the process of building the Multimedia, several software were
taken into consideration such as: Picasa, Media Monkey, Inkscape and Creator. The
chosen software in the design of the Multimedia was the last one since its
integration of different types of media along with its dynamic processing of
digitalized information and interactive interface make it highly suitable for
the enhancement of the teaching. Also, for designing the HistoMedia, the principles described by
A.M Eskicioglu and D. Kopec were used. Here, there is an explanation of
how they were applied for the proposal:
-
Ensure equitable and total
access
The Multimedia was designed with a clear and broad view so
it provides students and professors with the basic and complementary
bibliography of the subject History of English-Speaking Countries I. Thus, the
materials comprised in this program are available to all users with a viable
and rapid access. Furthermore, the Multimedia homepage offers a search option,
which allows the users to look for specific data instead of navigating
throughout the whole software to find them.
-
Facilitate the presentation,
organization of data
Taking into account the bibliography shortages, the
Syllabus structure of the subject and the users’ needs and suggestions made in
the needs, the contents were incorporated in the program in a way that access
to the resources would be easy. Users can effortlessly find and have access to
all the information, which is divided in ten historical periods (Roman Britain,
The Anglo-Saxon Period, The Early Middle Ages, The Later Middle Ages, The Tudor
Age, The Stuarts, The Eighteenth Century, Revolution and the Rule of Law, The
Liberal Age and The Twentieth Century). Each period is comprised in a folder
that contains a series of documents, pictures, videos, and maps of the most
important events and personalities of the given historical moment.
-
Alternation of data
According to experts, students retain 20% of what they see,
30% of what they hear, 50% of what they see and hear and 80% of what they see,
hear and interact with. Due to these integrating principle of Multimedia- which
claims that students learn best when alternating different types of
information- the program includes maps, videos, text, and pictures so the users
can manage the information successfully alternating different sources.
-
Information search
Instructional materials are accessible from any webpage in
the Multimedia. The software offers many options for searching through title,
author or even through the keywords that appears in each document.
In
respect to the main characteristics of Multimedia, previously described
in the theoretical framework, the following were applied for the HistoMedia: (See fig. 1)
-
Color
Since
Green color creates a relaxed learning environment and provides a sense of well-being
and tranquility, it was used as a background color. This color-considered the
intellectual one- prompts enhance learning and improve comprehension, which it
is essential in history study spaces. Contrast colors like black and white were
used for readability since they are
easier to read in papers and computer screens.
-
Home Page
The
home page of the Multimedia is the first web page displayed in the program. It
has the name and a menu with the different historical periods included in the
subject Syllabus, as well as maps, pictures and videos of all periods. These
period sections display inner information, which include maps, videos,
pictures, texts, web quest activities and links to web pages related to the
period in question. Thus, the user would have two options: going directly to
the option maps, for example, and then access to the period or event of
interest related to this media, or selecting one of the historical periods and
choose the information he or she prefers in a particular form. This page also
provides a section up to the right, where users may search for specific information,
and a section for bibliography to consult and web links. (See fig. 1).
Fig. 1. Home Page of the HistoMedia
Currently,
the HistoMedia proposal is in the stage of piloting implementation for further
improvement of the contents before being given to the specialists for their
evaluation and then proceed to the application in the degree course.
V.
CONCLUSIONS
1. Multimedia is a digital, organized and comprehensive collection of
information represented in human-computer interactions that facilitate the
teaching and learning process. They have been used in
higher education as an ICTs tool due to its flexible nature, which allows the
designer to adjust the media and use it for a wide variety of audiences.
2. From the needs analysis concerning the
bibliography of the subject History of English-Speaking Countries I, the
results showed that there are some limitations regarding the amount, variety and
availability of the existing materials in the Local Network. Students and
professors agreed that the collection should be improved and complemented with new
materials in order to enhance
students’ comprehension of the Anglophone world. Multimedia
was proved to be essential from an interdisciplinary approach with Literature
of English speaking countries
3. The HistoMedia contents were selected
using a comprehensive approach with the syllabus of the subject and the
suggestions given by the students and professors. All the information and
materials included in the Multimedia were taken from reliable sources. The
multimedia was designed using the Creator Software and the principles and
characteristics suggested in the theoretical framework.
4. Although the HistoMedia is about to be
put into practice the professors of the subject considered the proposal as a
valid contribution for the improvement of the teaching and learning process of
the subject.
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