Ronquillo, Mon Carlo L.

A9-GEO

Importance of Multimedia as an Educational Tool in Philippine Education

Before multimedia approach arose as a method of teaching, traditional method of teaching

has been utilized as a worldwide approach since the beginning of time (Guise, Habib, Thiessen, &
Robbins, 2017). Here in the Philippines, our ancestors start as groups that were scattered, thriving,
and uneducated. But it was worth mentioning that our ancestors are self-sufficient which they had
acquired a a level of technological development that can amply provide their needs at that period
of time.
Then since the colonization in the Philippines were started, our ancestors progressively
learned many things through the process of education brought by colonizers. For example, making
metal tools and instruments like gold, copper, bronze and iron. But not only for the industry, in the
onset of Spanish colonization they started establishing schools and research centers. These are the
dawn of the educational system in the Philippines and by time to time, the educational system in
the Philippines rapidly advanced as other colonizers comes in the country. During the American
regime, the American government started to encourage and support for an extensive public
education system; investing in higher education particularly in science and engineering and
introducing secularized public schools.
As the time progressed, education here in the Philippines is still and will always be an
essential factor to make the country better. And by this idea, many approaches of teaching such as
multimedia approach emerged to improve or increase the educational level here in the Philippines.
Multimedia includes the use of texts, animations, pictures and videos. For instance, professors
used PowerPoint presentations to aid them to portray the lesson visually and engagingly (Ercan,
2014). However, through encounter and observation, there are still a big blemish in Philippine
education mainly the public schools are generally underfunded (Nubla, 2018). Lack of classrooms,
teachers, and educational instruments like books and media platforms (e.g. televisions and
computers). According to (Umil, 2003) shortages or lack of budgets greatly affects public school
system and student’s academic achievement.
That is why I believe that the government should focus on investing on the implementation
of multimedia use in schools as an educational tool especially in public schools. There are several
studies (Aloraini, 2012; Yamauchi, 2008; Ercan, 2014; Hadmin, 2009; Hung, Huang & Hwang,
2014) that shows the effectiveness of multimedia as an educational tool. The result of these studies
shows multimedia capability on the mental process of the students and it is also proven that it can
help make the lessons fun and pleasing, thus, increasing the self-efficacy of the students which
will results in higher motivation in acquiring information.
 In this generation Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education is
gaining more and more importance lately due to the growing demand in Science and Technology
jobs (DPE, 2013; U.S. Department of Education, 2013). Another solid evidence to why the
government should focus more on multimedia approach is the study of (Hung, Huang and Hwang,
2014) that justify effects of digital game-based program on acquiring information in learning
mathematics. Based on the results, it was found out that the groups who experienced the
multimedia approach have higher self-efficacy in acquiring information in mathematics. Since,
Mathematics are one of the subjects that students have a hard time to, finding ways to make it more
engaging will not be wrong.
Lastly, as a requirement in our subject Research project (04) in my tenure year in Senior
High School in Mapua University, we conducted a research entitled “ Impact of Multimedia on
Biology Achievement among Grade 12 students of Mapua University” our study shows that there
are a significant difference between the biology achievement of students that were exposed in
multimedia approach to the students that were taught by traditional approach (pen and paper; board
discussion). Through observation, the use of sound, video and picture in the class makes the lesson
engaging and effective. This study contributes to prove that multimedia has the potential to
increase the student cognitive skills towards learning different matter.
These studies are one of the researches that proves that multimedia can didactically
improve the students’ achievement in different category. What a shame that other students do not
have the opportunity to be exposed in this kind of teaching which can lead to betterment of their
academic level. So, I urged the government and school communities to maximize the use of
multimedia. Lend great amounts of funds if possible because education is a powerful tool that can
change this country to a better one. And for it to happen, we need to improve our educational
system, find effective teaching approaches and platforms that can lead betterment of students’
academic achievement.

REFERENCE:
Aloraini, S. (2011). The impact of using multimedia on students’ academic achievement in the
College of Education at King Saud University. Journal of King Saud UniversityLanguages
and translation, 24, 75-82.
Ercan, O. (2014). The effects of multimedia learning material on students’ academic achievement
and attitudes towards science courses. Journal of Baltic Science Education, 13.
Guise, M., Habib, M., Thiessen, K. & Robbins, A. (2017). Continuum of co-teaching
implementation: Moving from traditional student teaching to co-teaching. Teaching and
Teacher Education, 66, 370 -38
Hadmin, D., 2009. The world of Multimedia. Retrieved from: http:// vml.hqadmin.doe.gov
AQMULTI.html.
Hung, C., Huang I. & Hwang, G. (2014). Effects of digital game-based learning on students’
selfefficacy, motivation, anxiety, and achievements in learning mathematics. DOI:
10.1007/s40692-014-0008-8.
Nubla, T. (2018). What's wrong with the education system of the Philippines? Retrieved from:
https://www.quora.com/Whats-wrong-with-the-education-system-of-the-Philippines#
Umil, A. (2013). Shortages, lack of budget still afflict public school system. Retrieved from:
http://bulatlat.com/main/2013/07/19/shortages-lack-of-budget-still-afflict-public-school-
system/
Yamauchi, L. (2008). Effects of multimedia instructional material on students' learning and their
perceptions of the instruction. . Retrospective