Education through Multimedia among Agricultural Diploma School Students: An Impact Study

Published in the International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT) (Vol. 2, Issue 1, pp. 4-10), this paper shares details of a study conducted in 2003 in the Gujarat State of India to assess the effectiveness of the use of a multimedia compact disk (CD) about paddy cultivation in the educational system. Developed by the Cyber Extension Cell of Gujarat Agricultural University (GAU) in the Gujarati (vernacular) language, this "multimedia" (as the authors refer to it) was designed to effectively communicate useful agricultural technologies to Agricultural Diploma School students, whom the authors believe will in the future be the key transfer of technology (TOT) agents. An additional aim is to share this updated information with farmers themselves.

In the introductory section of the paper, the authors explain the thinking behind the use of this information and communication technology (ICT)-based educational approach. They cite literature indicating that multimedia instructional material allows the learner actually to see, hear, and use the content, for example by reproducing an experience with its sound and motions simultaneously. It is believed that these qualities make this type of tool both versatile and effective for TOT, particularly among illiterate farmers.

Next, the research methodology is outlined. In short, the agricultural diploma course is run by the GAU through 14 agricultural schools; 66 students studying in the second year of the diploma course who had already studied the paddy crop course - yet without the use of the multimedia CD - were selected from schools in the Anand zone of GAU. To measure the effectiveness of multimedia on paddy cultivation about gain and retention of knowledge, researchers first interviewed the students to assess their knowledge level about paddy seedling raising. Then, students viewed the multimedia CD for 6 hours; knowledge was measured immediately thereafter, as well as 30 days later.

The results indicate that there was a substantial net gain in, as well as retention of, knowledge about the topic by students who viewed the multimedia. For instance, there was no respondent in the group having a high level of knowledge before viewing (more than 50% possessed a low level of knowledge, whereas the remainder possessed a medium level of knowledge). By contrast, after viewing the multimedia, there was not a single student having a low level of knowledge, and almost 33% possessed a high level of knowledge. Further, the level of knowledge after one month indicated that only 3% of the respondents had a low level of knowledge, whereas more than one-fifth had a high level of knowledge. In addition, 53% of respondents had a medium gain in knowledge by viewing the multimedia (a 35.01% to 64.99% increase in knowledge), and almost 20% of respondents gained more than 65% in their level of knowledge by viewing the multimedia.

Furthermore, the results indicated that, before viewing the multimedia, personal characteristics such as the students' caste, type of family, and reading habits influenced the level of knowledge gained; by contrast, none of the personal characteristics was found to be correlated with the level of knowledge of the respondents after viewing the multimedia. Similar results were also observed at the level of retention (30 days later). "It could be concluded not only that the viewing of the multimedia has increased the level of knowledge of the students but also that it helps eliminating the impact of personal characteristics on knowledge gain, thus providing a common learning platform for all the students."