Multimedia and student-centred learning
“One way to bring about a change of emphasis in teaching, from the teacher directed approach to a facilitated
approach, is to change the medium of instruction” (Kearsley, 2000). Interactive multimedia offers an alternative
medium of instruction to the current learning process. The nature of interactivity and discovery in multimedia
learning bears a beneficial boost to the monotony of passive learning. Rather than be bounded by the pace of the
teacher, learners are individually paced according to his or her own ability. One way, multimedia can give low
ability students extensive learning time before moving forward. Alternatively, high ability students can branch
out to random sequencing through the module and not be confined by linearity or a much slower pace. This
aspect of multimedia learning supports student-centred strategy whereby learners take responsibility in their own
learning process. The liberty to proceed or recede allows self-pacing, an important facet to enable learners to
learn according to their individual pace.
Akin to hypermedia, multimedia presents an immeasurable interconnectivity to information in a variety of
possible combinations, sequences and mixture of resources which shapes the higher-order thinking in students.
“Students learn to sift the relevant from the irrelevant information and can relate new information to real world situations” (Stoney & Oliver, 1999, p.9). With technology, the process of learning germinates interactive and
active responses; students will demonstrate both cognitive and emotional intelligences in accordance to the
multimedia stimuli.