STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF MULTIMEDIA

COMPUTER MEDIATED LEARNING

By

Chong Chin Wei, Kerk Peck Hoon, Mohd Rahimi Yusoff, Nor Aini Naim, Sarinah Suliman

Multimedia Univesrity, Malaysia

INTRODUCTION

As we entered the Information Technology era, there is rapid advancement in information

technology and easy access to the Internet. Many institutions of higher learning are taking
advantage of this phenomena by offering computer based learning, multimedia assisted
learning or distance learning courses to cater for the students’ needs. As a result,
academicians are actively involved in the development of web based teaching materials.
New, vibrant teaching materials are developed with the anticipation that they will
undoubtedly benefit students’ learning. However , numerous studies have suggested no
relative advantage over traditional method in terms of learning performance (Russell,
2000 cited in Karuppan, 2001). Demographic, age and gender are among the factors that
influenced student’s learning choice.

To ensure the success of computer-mediated learning, students’ learning preferences

should be given considerable emphasis. It is undeniable that knowledge of students’
learning preferences can aid faculty in class preparation, designing class delivery
methods, and choosing appropriate technologies. Since education in this information age
places emphasis on students as active participants in the process of finding, organizing,
analyzing, and applying information in novel ways to solve problems, it is of vital
importance to address the students’ perspective on any learning system so that the results
of learning will be optimum.

Hence, the purpose of this paper is to:

i) Evaluate the students’ acceptance of having learning materials delivered via the
Internet using the Multimedia Learning System (MMLS).
ii) To investigate the efficacy of flexible learning compared with conventional
method
iii) To identify students' preference between the two learning deliveries and reasons
behind.
iv) To investigate factors which influence students' learning.

CLASSROOM LECTURE VS COMPUTER MEDIATED LEARNING

The traditional delivery system for higher education has been a classroom setting with a
lecturer giving a lecture and students listening and writing notes. Interaction between the
lecturer and students has been viewed as an essential learning element within this

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arrangement. However innovations in educational delivery mechanism have challenged
this paradigm. Due to new technologies, knowledge delivery modules have also changed
to include on-line (education access through the Internet) and distance education
(interactive learning) (O’Malley, 1999). Advances in information technology are
enabling little use of educational delivery methods such as distance learning to gain new
life. In addition, the advances in IT have ushered in the new paradigm, on-line learning.

Many institutions of higher learning have adopted distance and online education as the
next logical step in educational delivery system. These systems are being promoted as the
educational pedagogy of the future. Some experts have gone as far as to predict that the
“residential based model” that is, students attending classes at prearranged times and
locations will disappear in the near future (Blustain, Goldstein, & Lizier, 1999; Drucker,
1997 cited in O’Malley, 1999). The questions is “how these new educational delivery
approaches that move away from the basic face to face relationship between professor
and students impact students’ learning and students’ perceptions of learning ?”

Clark (1983) argued that the choice of media does not influence learning under any
conditions. In contrast, a decade later, after further studies in the use of media (books,
television, computers and multimedia), Kozma (1991), and Butler and Mauts (1996)
arrived at a different conclusion. Although some students will learn particular tasks
regardless of the delivery device, the authors stipulate that others will be able to take
advantage of a particular medium’s characteristics to help construct knowledge. There
has been a growth in the belief that the use of technology will provide new ways of
delivering and supporting learning and teaching, and discussions of the future of the
virtual university abound (Brown, 1998; Newby, 1999)

It should be noted that, as with face-to-face methods, the particular mix, an emphasis in
the use of different processes mediated by learning technologies will vary. It will differ
from subject to subject according to the demands of the discipline and the resources
available at the institution where the processes are taking place (besides the selection of
appropriate uses of technology) will be such items as the staffs skills, technical support
and technological infrastructure available to support the learning (Hall & White, 1997
cited in W.Su, 2000). It was also found that there is a relationship between demographic
variables (age, gender, non academic, learning style and GPA) and use of Web –base
learning materials (Hingorani,1998; Kolb ,1985).

METHOD

The MMLS was administered in a pilot study to two groups of students: Arts stream and
Science stream. The Management students were enrolled in an economics class and the
Science students were enrolled in the Physics class. The pilot study was conducted during
the second trimester of academic year 2001/2002 i.e. during the month of October and
November 2001. A sample of 181 students (88 from Economics class and 93 from
Physics class) was randomly selected from Management and Science courses.
Questionnaires were distributed to these students after the mid term test that covers the
topic for pilot study.

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The questionnaire consists of four sections:
Section A – General Information
Section B – Content
Section C – System
Section D – Your view on the MML

The response rate for both groups of students (Science and Arts) is 100% respectively.
The result of the survey was then captured and statistically analyzed using SPSS for
windows. P-value method was employed to decide whether the correlation between
variables is significant at 5% and 1% level. The results were also qualitatively analyzed
based on the students’ comments.

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FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

Table 1: Background information

Item Classification PPE0025 (Arts stream) PPH0025 (Science stream)
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
Gender Male 23 26.1 68 73.1
Female 65 73.9 24 25.8
Missing value 1 1.1

English Excellent - - 3 3.2

proficiency Good 13 14.8 16 17.2
Average 65 73.9 63 67.7
Poor 9 10.2 9 9.7
Missing value 1 1.1 2 2.2

SPM English A1 23 26.1 24 25.8

A2 19 21.6 15 16.1
C3 11 12.5 21 22.6
C4 14 15.9 14 15.1
C5 6 6.8 6 6.5
C6 6 6.8 2 2.2
Missing value 9 10.2 11 11.8

1119 English A1 1 1.1 6 6.5

A2 3 3.4 6 6.5
C3 16 18.2 10 10.8
C4 7 8.0 7 7.5
C5 7 8.0 7 7.5
C6 7 8.0 6 6.5
P7 8 9.1 20 21.5
P8 5 5.7 6 6.5
F9 2 2.3 1 1.1
Missing value 32 36.4 24 25.8

As shown in Table 1, majority of the respondents from Science stream are male. They
constitute 73.1% of total respondents. As for Arts stream, the distribution of respondents
in terms of gender is exactly the opposite. Only twenty six point one percent of the
respondents are male while 73.9% of them are female. As the respondents are randomly
selected, there is no particular reasons for this distribution pattern. For both groups of
respondent, majority of them rate their English proficiency as average. The percentage
for Science students and Arts students is 67.7% and 73.9% respectively. This is also
evident in their SPM results where 79.6% of the respondents from Science stream and
76.1% of the respondents from Arts stream scored at least a C4 for their SPM English.
In addition, their results for 1119 English also show that their English proficiency level is
average.

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 Table 2: Internet accessibility
Item Classification PPE0025 (Arts stream) PPH0025 (Science stream)
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
PC with Yes 70 79.5 62 66.7
Internet No 18 20.5 29 31.2
Missing value 2 2.2
Internet Home/residence/hostel/rented house 67 76.14 54 58.06
access point Computer lab 44 50.00 53 56.99
Internet café 3 3.41 1 1.08
Others 4 4.55 2 2.15

Accessed Yes 35 39.8 29 31.2

MMLS in No 53 60.2 62 66.7
Trimester 1 Missing value 2 2.2

Access None at all 15 17.0 25 26.9

frequency 1-2 days a week 63 71.6 57 61.3
3-4 days a week 6 6.8 5 5.4
5-6 days a week 2 2.3 1 1.1
everyday 1 1.1 1 1.1
Missing value 1 1.1 4 4.3

Access <1 hour daily 51 58.0 56 60.2

duration 2-3 hours daily 22 25.0 18 19.4
4-6 hours daily 3 3.4 1 1.1
none 12 13.6 13 14.0
Missing value 5 5.4

For both groups of respondents, majority of them possess PC with Internet connection.
With regards to Internet access point, home/residence/hostel/rented house is found to be
the most common access point. Seventy six point one four percent of the respondents
from Arts stream and 58.06% of the respondents from Science stream do access Internet
from home/residence/hostel/rented house. There are also quite a number of respondents
who access Internet from computer lab. The percentage for both respondents from
Science stream and Arts stream is 56.99% and 50.00% respectively. Less than 5% of the
respondents access Internet from Internet café. This perhaps is the result of “one home
one PC” campaign where majority of the students now possess their own PC at home
with Internet connection. The computer lab is found to be another common access point
perhaps due to its convenience. Besides students who are without Internet access at
home or their residence, students who have Internet access may also make use of
computer lab when they are on campus. Due to those reasons, students do not find the
need to visit Internet café.

In terms of the experience in accessing MML, 66.7% of Science respondents and 60.2%
of Arts respondents had not accessed MMLS in trimester 1. Since the students are new to
university life in first trimester, they need to adapt themselves to almost everything in the
university. Therefore it is not surprise that they didn’t take the effort to try out MML. In
relation to the access frequency, for both groups of respondents, majority of them (61.3%
from Science stream and 71.6% from Arts stream) access 1-2 days a week. Only 1.1% of
the respondents access to MML for their respective subjects (PPH0025-Physics or

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PPE0025-Economics) everyday. For those who do access the MML for PPH0025,
60.2% of them spend less than one hour daily on accessing it. As for PPE0025, 58% of
them spend less than 1 hour daily on accessing it. It is obvious that both the access
frequency and access duration are found to be lower than expected. There are two
possible reasons that contribute to this situation. From the positive point of view, the use
of animation and appropriate font type help to improve students’ understanding and
therefore reduce the access duration. As from the negative point of view, this is probably
due to the frustration they face when accessing MML as evident in the findings where
server always down being responded as one of the limitations they face.

Table 3: Mean and standard deviation for content

Content PPE0025 (Arts stream) PPH0025 (Science stream)

Mean Standard Mean Standard
Deviation Deviation
Presented Attractively 2.95 0.90 2.40 0.96
Instructions are clear 3.07 0.96 2.73 1.06
Language used is easy to 3.42 0.97 2.92 1.06
understand
Appropriate font size 3.57 0.88 3.16 0.96
Appropriate font type 3.69 0.78 3.31 1.05
Screen color distract readings 2.89 0.93 2.93 1.27
Images enhance understanding 3.02 1.02 2.62 1.08
Explanation in voice over 2.25 0.96 2.06 1.01
improved understanding
Sufficient illustration enhance 2.74 0.92 2.32 0.9
understanding
Sufficient elaboration for each 2.58 0.88 2.30 0.94
topic
Animation enhance presentation 3.11 0.96 2.79 1.09
Allows for interactive learning 2.57 1.09 2.27 1.01
Well organized content 3.14 0.92 2.46 0.91
Exercises / quizzes re-enforced 3.13 1.15 2.19 0.98
understanding
Sufficient exercises and quizzes 2.56 1.08 1.99 0.87
Helped in mid term examination 2.53 1.08 1.83 1.09
Average of total scores 2.95 0.97 2.52 1.02

In terms of MML content, the highest mean score for Arts Students is 3.69 (appropriate
font type) whereas the lowest mean score is 2.25 (voice over). On the other hand, the
highest mean score for Science students is 3.31 (appropriate font type) while the lowest
mean score is 1.83 (mid term test).

The Arts students agree that the instruction given to use the icons are clear, language used
is easy to understand, font size and font type is appropriate. In addition, they also agree
that animation enhance the presentation of content, content is well organized and the
exercise/quizzes reinforced their understanding of topic.

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For the Science students, all the mean scores obtained for MML content are lower than
that of the Arts students’. The mean for the questions pertaining to font size and font type
is 3.16 and 3.31 respectively. This indicates that they agree that the font size and font
type used is appropriate.

The average of total score is 2.95 for Arts students and 2.52 for Science students. This
suggests that there is still rooms for improvement with regards to content.

Table 4: Mean and standard deviation for system

Content PPE0025 (Arts stream) PPH0025 (Science stream)

Mean Standard Mean Standard
Deviation Deviation
User friendly 2.72 0.96 2.22 0.99
No training is required 3.33 0.94 2.84 1.12
Convenient 1.94 1.13 2.08 1.22
Not lost 2.81 1.03 2.5 1.11
Able to choose the route 2.99 0.93 2.71 1.12
Understand basic 3.37 0.73 3.00 1.02
commands and navigation
options
Well structured 3.08 0.82 2.41 1.03
No problems after 3.48 0.95 2.92 1.12
inactivity
Errors notification 2.93 1.10 2.74 1.06
Always hang 3.51 1.18 3.98 1.39
Disruption is distracting 3.64 0.88 3.87 1.24
Satisfactory response time 2.34 1.19 1.92 1.20
Average of total scores 3.01 0.99 2.77 1.14

With regards to MML system, the highest mean obtained from Arts students is 3.64
(disruption is distracting) while the lowest mean is 1.94 (convenient). As for Science
students, the highest mean obtained is 3.98 (system always hangs) while the lowest is
1.92 (satisfactory response time). Both the Arts and Science students do not agree that
the system is convenient where they can access it anywhere and at any time. This is
probably because of the limited computers available and the network problems. On the
other hand, the Science students are not satisfied with the response time of the system.

The average of total score for both Arts students and Science students is 3.01 and 2.77
respectively. This shows that both Arts students and Science students do not deny the
existence of limitation in the system. However, the limitation is still within the
acceptable range.

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Hypothesis testing

H0 : Students’ perception of the MML content, MML system and MML limitations are
not significantly correlated with English proficiency, possession of personal
computer, MML access point, previous experiences in accessing MMLS, MML
access frequency and MML access duration.

H1 : Students’ perception of the MML content, MML system and MML limitations are
significantly correlated with English proficiency, possession of personal
computer, MML access point, previous experiences in accessing MMLS, MML
access frequency and MML access duration.

With regards to Science respondents, correlation analysis shows that none of the content
elements is significantly correlated with English proficiency. This means that English
proficiency might not be an important factor to influence the content of MML. On the
other hand, for Arts students, it is found that four elements of MML content have
negative significant correlation with English proficiency. These elements are: contents
are presented attractively, font type used is appropriate, sufficient illustration to enhance
understanding and MMLS allows for interactive learning.

This means that those with better English proficiency level do not agree that the
presentation is attractive and the font type used is appropriate. Besides, they also
disagree that there is sufficient illustration to enhance the understanding of content and
they don’t think that MML allows for interactive learning.

In terms of system, the correlation analysis conducted on Science students indicates that
three elements in the system have positive significant correlation with English
proficiency. They are: not lost in the system, understand the basic commands and
navigation options, and disruption of the system is distracting. This means that those with
better English proficiency find that they are not lost in the system and they can
understand better the instruction or explanation given by the MML. Therefore, they can
work more independently in the system. They also agree that any disruption of the system
might distract their learning.

On the other hand, for Arts students, user friendliness of the system is found to have
negative significant correlation with English proficiency. In contrast with Science
students, this means that those with better English proficiency do not appreciate the
MML and found that MML is not user friendly.

With regards to the limitations of accessing MML, ‘server always down’ is found to have
positive significant correlation with ‘possession of PC with Internet’ among the Science
students. Based on the response given by Arts students, ‘convenience’ is found to have
negative significant correlation with possession of PC with internet. Even though 80% of
Arts students possess PC with internet, they don’t find that the system is convenient
where they can access MML anywhere and at any time. This perhaps is due to the server
which is always down.

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Correlation between Internet access point and MML content and system will be discussed
based on the following:
i) Internet access point (home/residence/hostel/rented house) with MML content
ii) Internet access point (home /residence/hostel/rented house) with MML system
iii) Internet access point (computer lab) with MML content
iv) Internet access point (computer lab) with MML system
v) Internet access point (Internet café) with MML content
vi) Internet access point (Internet café) with MML system

With regards to the correlation between ‘Internet access point

(home/residence/hostel/rented house)’ and MML content among the Science students,
three elements of the MML content are found to have positive significant correlation with
those who access the MML from home/residence/hostel/rented house. These elements are
‘explanation given in voice over enhance understanding of content, sufficient illustration
enhance understanding of content and there are sufficient exercises and quizzes’. These
findings may be attributed to the well equipped PC which smooth out their access of
MML. On the other hand, for the Arts students, it is found that two elements of the
MML content have negative significant correlation with those who access MML from
their home/residence/hostel/rented house. These elements are ‘language used is easy to
understand’ and ‘the content help them in the preparation of mid term test’. Even though
the Arts students have easy access to Internet from home/residence/hostel/rented house,
they do not find that the language used is easy to understand and neither they find that
MML helped them in mid tem test preparation.

In relation to the correlation between Internet access point (home/residence/hostel/rented

house) and system, ‘convenience’ is found to have negative significant correlation with
those access MML from home/residence/hostel/rented house. This perhaps is due to the
unsatisfactory download time and the server which is frequently down as these two
limitations are found significantly correlated with those who access MMLS at
home/residence/hostel/rented house. These may also explain why Arts students disagree
that MML is a useful system.

Compared to Arts students, Science students have a better command in MML. ‘User
friendliness, no training is required and error notification’ are found to have positive
significant correlation with those who access MML from home/residence/hostel/rented
house while ‘disruption of the system is distracting’ is found to have negative significant
correlation with those who access the MML from home/residence/hostel/rented house.
Perhaps because of their possession of well equipped PC, they agree that MML is user
friendly and doesn’t require any training. Therefore, less disruption occurs and they do
not find the disruption to be distracting. For both Science and Arts students, ‘slow
download time’ and ‘server down’ (both outside the campus) are found to have positive
significant correlation with those who access MMLS from home/residence/hostel/rented
house. This means that these limitations are prevalent for those who access MML outside
the campus.

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As for the correlation between MML content and Internet access point (computer lab),
correlation analysis conducted on Science students indicates that ‘clear instruction for
icon usage, voice over and illustration improved the understanding’ are found to have
negative significant correlation with Internet access point (computer lab). This perhaps is
due to the unsatisfactory lab condition where it is not well equipped with speakers and
updated PC.

Although only 3 Arts students access the MML from internet café, the study shows that
Internet access point (Internet café) has negative significant correlation with a lot of
elements under the content and system. It is negatively correlated with content elements
such as ‘the language used is easy to understand, font type used is appropriate, voice over
improved understanding and illustration enhance understanding of content, sufficient
elaboration, MML allows interactive learning, content is well organized and contents
helped in the preparation of mid term test’. On top of that, Internet access point (Internet
café) is negatively correlated with system elements such as ‘system is user friendly,
system doesn’t required training, system is convenient, not lost in the system, understand
basic commands and navigation options, no problems to recall after inactivity, errors
notification by system’. Positive significant correlation is displayed between Internet
access point (Internet café) and ‘limited real player and the need to download other
software to access MML’. For Science students, there isn’t any correlation between
Internet access point (Internet café) and the system elements. The negative correlation
obtained for the Arts students indicates that Arts students are not satisfied with MML.

‘The number of exercises is sufficient’ is found to have positive significant correlation

with experience in accessing MML in previous trimester among the Science students.
However, for the Arts students, there is a positive significant correlation between
‘previous experience in accessing MML and ‘well organized content and limited real
player’. This means that for those who have accessed MML in previous trimester, they
find that the number of exercises is sufficient and the content is much more organized .
Nevertheless, limited real player is still a limitation for students to access MML.

Next, the use of animation enhances the presentation of the content is found to have
positive significant correlation with access frequency among the Science students. This
means that the animation serves as a motivating factor for students to access MML more
frequently. As for the Arts students, there is positive significant correlation between
‘MML allows for interactive learning’ and access frequency. This means that those who
access MML more frequently agree MML allows for interactive learning. Besides,
‘limited computer’ has positive significant correlation with access frequency. This means
that due to the limited computer, students have to access MML more frequently. It is also
found that ‘slow download time’ has negative significant correlation with access
frequency. This means that the slow download time discourage students to access MML
longer.

Lastly, it is found that ‘the use of animation’ has negative significant correlation with
access duration among the Science students. On the other hand, there is a negative
significant correlation between ‘appropriate font type and the use of animation’ and

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access duration among the Arts students. This means that the use of animation and
appropriate font type help to improve students’ understanding and thus reduce their
access duration. Hence, they access MML for short duration each time but more
frequently.

For the Science students, ‘the user friendliness of the system, not lost in the system’ are
found to have negative significant correlation with access duration. As for the Arts
students, there is negative significant correlation between ‘understand basic commands’
and access duration. This is true especially when students found that the system is user
friendly, they are not lost in the system and they can understand the basic command, they
can access the MML for a shorter duration. It is undeniable that some elements in the
system will actually determine the access duration. This is further supported by the
findings for the Arts students. It is found that ‘no speaker and earphone’ is positively
correlated with access duration. This means that if they face any problems like no
speakers, they have to spend more time to understand the content of MML. However,
limited real player (Science students) together with limited computer (Science and Arts
students) have negative significant correlation with access duration. The above results
indicate that there are two groups of students with different attitude. The first group who
have positive attitude will access longer if they face problems in accessing. Their
concern is to understand the content. Another group of students who have negative
attitude will shorten their access duration when they face problems such as limited
computer and real players as those problems actually discourage them to learn via
MMLS.

In conclusion, Science students are more inclined towards the usage of MML as
compared to Arts students. Perhaps the Science students are more familiar with computer
and thus feel more comfortable with the computer-mediated learning. Anyway, the
analysis shows that the major factor that form as deterrence is the limitation of the MML
especially in terms of system such as limited computers and real players, no speakers and
unsatisfactory download time. Therefore, in order to ensure the success of multimedia
computer-mediated learning, MMU should ensure that the server’s performance is of top
quality. Moreover, the availability of well-equipped computers is undoubtedly also
another determinant of success.
Table 5: Opinion on source of materials

Item Classification PPE0025 (Arts stream) PPH0025 (Science stream)

Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
Source of Text book 25 28.4 33 35.5
materials MMLS 7 8.0 2 2.2
Seniors’ notes 28 31.8 27 29.0
Consultation 27 30.7 17 18.3
Missing value 1 1.1 14 15.1

With regards to the helpfulness of the source of material in the preparation for mid
trimester test, majority (35.5%) of Science respondents responded that textbook was most
helpful. The response given by Arts respondents was somewhat different. Thirty one
point eight percent of them responded that seniors’ notes was most helpful while 30.7%

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of them found that consultation was most helpful in their preparation for mid trimester
test. On the other hand, it should be noted that only a minority of the respondents found
MML to be helpful in their preparation for mid trimester test. The percentage for Science
and Arts respondents is 2.2% and 8.0% respectively. In view of this, it is of vital
importance to identify factors that cause students to opt for traditional learning tool.

Table 6: Opinion on MML

Item Classification PPH0025 (Science stream)

Frequency Percentage
Most appropriate course to be PEN0025 55 59.1
delivered through MML PMC0025 4 4.3
PPH0025 23 24.7
None 3 3.2
Missing value 8 8.6

More topics should be made Yes 12 12.9

available in MML No 80 86.0
Missing 1 1.1

Looking forward to learn through Yes 9 9.7

MML No 83 89.2
Missing 1 1.1

Among the Engineering subjects, which are offered in second trimester, PEN0025
(English) got the highest vote in terms of the appropriateness to be delivered through
MMLS. Fifty nine point one percent of the respondents responded PEN0025 as the most
appropriate course to be delivered through MML. Only 12.9% of the respondents
responded that more topics should be made available in MML. This is also in line with
their interest to learn through MMLS. Only 9.7% of the respondents look forward to
learn from the MMLS.
Table 7: Opinion on MML

Item Classification PPE0025

Frequency Percentage
Most appropriate course to be PCA0025 20 22.7
delivered through MML PEN0025 51 58.0
PPE0025 9 10.2
None 7 8.0
Missing value 1 1.1

More topics should be made Yes 22 25.0

available in MML No 66 75.0

Looking forward to learn through Yes 17 19.3

MML No 71 80.7

Among the Management subjects which are offered in second trimester, PEN0025
(English) got the highest vote in terms of the appropriateness to be delivered through
MML. Fifty eight percent of the respondents responded PEN0025 as the most

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appropriate course to be delivered through MMLS. One quarter of the respondents
responded that more topics should be made available in MML while the other three
quarter are not keen with this idea. This is also in line with their interest to learn through
MMLS. Only 19.3% of the respondents look forward to learn from the MML while the
remainder 80.7% do not.

Table 8: Opinion on the mode of study

Item Classification PPE0025 PPH0025
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
Consultation Most preferred 30 34.1 44 47.3
Preferred 21 23.9 16 17.2
Less preferred 22 25.0 16 17.2
Least preferred 11 12.5 2 2.2
Missing value 4 4.5 15 16.1

MMLS Most preferred 2 2.3 2 2.2

Preferred 5 5.7 2 2.2
Less preferred 23 26.1 8 8.6
Least preferred 54 61.4 67 72.0
Missing value 4 4.5 14 15.1

Textbooks Most preferred 31 35.2 25 26.9

Preferred 30 34.1 26 28.0
Less preferred 14 15.9 21 22.6
Least preferred 9 10.2 6 6.5
Missing value 4 4.5 15 16.1

Supplementary Most preferred 21 23.9 13 14.0

material Preferred 28 31.8 33 35.5
Less preferred 25 28.4 28 30.1
Least preferred 10 11.4 4 4.3
Missing value 4 4.5 15 16.1

Based on frequency analysis, the most preferred mode of study is textbooks and
consultation with lecturers. Majority of the respondents do not like to study via MMLS
where 72.0% of Science respondents and 61.4% of Arts respondents responded MMLS to
be the least preferred mode of study. This is in line with the findings on the source of
materials that helped in their mid term test where only minority of them found that MML
is helpful in their preparation for mid term test. This further highlights the need to
identify factors that cause students to opt for traditional learning tool.

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 Table 9: Overall rating

Item Classification PPE0025 PPH0025

Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
Overall ranking 10% 4 4.5 14 15.1
20% 5 5.7 10 10.8
30% 9 10.2 19 20.4
40% 26 29.5 14 15.1
50% 20 22.7 17 18.3
60% 12 13.6 4 4.3
70% 6 6.8 5 5.4
80% 6 6.8 1 1.1
90% 1 1.1
Missing 8 8.6

The overall rating for the presentation of the topic presented in PPH0025 (Physics) falls
below 50%. As for PPE0025 (Economics), the overall rating falls in the range of 40% to
50%. Since this is the first trial run, there is still plenty of rooms for improvement in
terms of the presentation of each topic in MML. So it is hoped that this research will
provide insights to the MML development team to improve further so that MMU are fully
prepared for information age.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, this study found that the overall rating for MML for both Science and Arts
students fall in the range of 40% to 50%. The average mean scores for MML content and
MML system for both stream students is below 3. This indicates that students generally
still prefer conventional learning styles which covers face to face lectures, text book and
senior notes. The major problems faced by students in MML is the slow download time
and server always down. With regards to the MML evaluation, Science students show
more appreciation towards computer-mediated learning as they are more familiar with
computer and thus feel more comfortable with the computer-mediated learning. Since
majority of the Science respondents are male, this findings is also supported by
researches conducted by Karuppan, ( 2001) and Sove et al. (1999) who reported that male
are more likely to use web site than females.

Since Multimedia University (MMU) is in its rapid advancement in the information

technology era, it is of vital importance to address the students’ perspective on this
computer mediated learning system so that the results of learning will be optimum.
Therefore, in order to make this MML a success, MMU should upgrade its server and
improve the download time. This is very important as most of the students have their own
PC at home but they are discouraged to use MML due to these reasons that make MML
not a convenient tool to learn at anywhere and at anytime. As to cater for the needs of
students who access MML in computer labs, MMU should ensure that all the computer
labs are advanced and well equipped with speakers, earphone and relevant software.

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If the system problem can be solved, together with some improvement in the MML
content, MML could be a success and it will undoubtedly bring greater benefits to
students in their learning process.

Acknowledgement
The authors would like to acknowledge the following contributors:
Madhubala Bava Harji, Nurhayati Yusoff, Fadzilah Salim, Tan Choo Kim

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