Effect of the Suggested Multimedia Program, Used in the Educational Technology Class, on the Cognitive Levels of Both the Field-Independent and Field-Dependent Student Teachers

Research Summary, Recommendation and Suggestions Introduction Computer is considered one of the most important technologies used in the educational arena. Many computer programs have developed to keep pace with educational process by creating positive environment where learners interact with these programs in a way that cultivates their skills, develops their experience, and changes their attitudes towards the educational process. Of these various and enormous computer programs, there are multimedia, hypermedia, hypertext, and artificial intelligence programs. As to multimedia, simply, it means a hybrid of many elements of clarifying and transmitting the message, e.g., sound, image, and text. Paying attention to the use of multimedia in educational settings, with its modern concept, resulted from the noticeable change in the educational though, that changes from group-learning situations to individualized ones, and from learner-evaluation that is based on learning the content by heart to the evaluation that is based on what the learner actually performs and what he/she accomplishes from the educational goals. Also, the interest in using multimedia came as a result of the change in teachers' roles; teachers now are not only transmitting the scientific and educational heritage to their students, but also they are required to deal with modern technological equipment, tools, and resources, and they are required also to design and make use of its functions and capabilities to better increase the efficiency of educational situations. In spite of what is mentioned above, there is still some shortage and lack in the use of such modern technology in the Faculty of Education (FoE), Cairo University at Beni Suef. Therefore, the current research if an attempt to identify the effect of a multimedia program on the cognitive levels in the student teachers at FoE in Beni Suef. Statement of the Problem In the light of the above, the research problem can be clearly defined and delimited in the importance of integrating educational technology in the educational class itself. Therefore, this research tries to practically incorporate it, and then finds out the effect of the multimedia program, proposed to be used in the educational technology class, on the cognitive levels of both the field-independent and field-dependent student teachers. The study main question can be stated as follows: What is the effect of the suggested multimedia program, used in the educational technology class, on the cognitive levels of both the field-independent and field-dependent student teachers? From this main question, the following sub-questions were derived: * What is the effect of the suggested multimedia program on the cognitive levels of the student teachers at FoE? * What is the effect of the suggested multimedia program on the cognitive levels of both the field-independent and field-dependent student teachers? Research Objectives The current research aims at finding out the following: 1. The effect of the suggested multimedia program on the cognitive levels of the student teachers taking the educational technology class. 2. The effect of the suggested multimedia program on the cognitive levels of both the field-independent and field-dependent student teachers. Significance of the Research This research may help: 1. Present a multimedia program; a pattern that could be followed to develop more equivalent programs in other specializations at the FoE at Beni Suef. 2. Identify the efficiency of multimedia in affecting the cognitive levels in FoE student teachers. 3. Provide educational technology instructors at FoEs with some multimedia concepts that FoE students should acquire before their graduation. Study Design The current research uses the experimental design to verify the effect of the suggested program on the cognitive levels of the student teachers through verifying the formulated hypotheses. The research uses the two- experimental group design; one for the field-independent student teachers and the other for field-dependent students. Study Hypotheses The study attempts to verify the following hypotheses: 1. There are significant statistical differences between the mean scores obtained in the pretest and those obtained in the posttest of the field-independent experimental group 2. . There are significant statistical differences between the mean scores obtained in the pretest and those obtained in the posttest of the field-dependent experimental group 3. There are significant statistical differences between the two experimental groups in the posttest. Research Results The research results were as follow: 1. There are significant statistical differences between the mean scores obtained by the field-independent in the pretest and those obtained in the posttest (Recall, comprehension, application & total score) in favor of the posttest in which the mean scores were higher than those of the pretest in all aspects of the achievement test and total score. Therefore, the third hypothesis is supported and accepted. 2. There are significant statistical differences between the mean scores obtained by the field-dependent in the pretest and those obtained in the posttest (Recall, comprehension, application & total score) in favor of the posttest in which the mean scores were higher than those of the pretest in all aspects of the achievement test and total score. Therefore, the third hypothesis is supported and accepted. 3. There are no significant statistical differences between the mean scores obtained by the field-independent experimental group and those obtained by the field-dependent experimental group in the posttest (Recall, comprehension, application & total score). Therefore, the first hypothesis is not supported and refuted. Recommendations in Relation to Making Use of Multimedia Technology In the light of her results, the researcher recommends the following: 1. To make it possible for all educational technology instructors to integrate this program in the educational technology class and use it with all learners to make the utmost use of it. 2. To pay extra attention to computer labs in FoEs and to provide it with the most recent and up-to-date equipments and a variety of software to achieve its desired outcomes. 3. To pay more attention to the development of various multimedia programs for different cognitive style of the learners to simplify and individualize the learning process. 4. To put a plan for exchanging multimedia programs between different FoEs to make use of modern technologies. Research Suggestions 1. Proposing a multimedia program for teaching educational technology syllabus. 2. Proposing a multimedia program in different specializations and subject matters.