Enhancing Malaysian Students’ Learning with Interactive Multimedia and the Web: The MILE Project

Abstract

The current shift from the traditional mode of learning to student-centred learning has created an impact on the content development and the delivery methodology in the instruction-learning process. There is a strong push by the Malaysian Government to develop creativity, communications skills, analytical and critical thinking, and problem-solving skills – skills that were significantly lacking in current graduates. As such, the prevailing research issue is the challenge in finding the most suitable combination of content and technology to enable students to acquire these skills and experiences. The MILE Project (funded by TM R&D) was developed to address this issue. This paper presents a research study that was conducted in the Faculty of Creative Multimedia, Multimedia University, Malaysia, to investigate Malaysian students’ perceptions of using The MILE Project learning platform. Students engaged in problem-solving on design projects, collaborated on blogs and actively engaged in interactive multimedia content. Results showed that students displayed high levels of motivation and understanding, improved problem-solving skills and teamwork abilities, and were able to relate their acquired skills and experiences to the real-world. These results provided strong support for Malaysian educators to use pedagogically sound blended learning strategies in the classrooms to improve the teaching and learning process.