The quality of multimedia based pedagogy and students’ professional development: the case of selected higher education institutions

Abstract

This work was inspired by Law No. 005 of April 16, 2001, to guide higher education in Cameroon. In Section III, Articles 32 and 33, the issue of evaluation for quality in the higher education sector is addressed, which correlates with the strong desire of the researcher to enable higher institutions and partners to understand the role quality multimedia based pedagogy plays in enhancing students’ professional development in this digital age and the urge to propose a model to enhance the evaluation of multimedia based pedagogy qualities. The study seeks to give students, lecturers, school administrators, parents, the educational community, policymakers, and the government information on evaluating the quality of multimedia based pedagogy in relation to professional development. This information will contribute significantly to the achievement of the fourth Sustainable Development Goal of Quality Education by ensuring equitable quality education, promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all, and resolving the difficulties faced in evaluating multimedia-based pedagogy and graduate employability. We therefore ask to what extent the quality of multimedia based pedagogy influences students’ professional development. This study is focused on investigating the extent to which the quality of some multimedia based pedagogy variables influences students’ professional development in selected higher education institutions in Cameroon. A main hypothesis was stated to guide the investigation as follows: The quality of multimedia-based pedagogy has a significant influence on students’ professional development. To this end, a study was carried out using quantitative and qualitative research methodological approaches, with a questionnaire and focus group discussion questions, respectively, used as tools for data collection. The study consisted of four institutions with professional orientation and 439 students as the sample, all in their third (or last) year of their degree programme. These students were administered the questionnaire, and eight (8) of them also participated in the focus group discussions. Data collected from the field were descriptively and inferentially analysed using the mean, standard deviation, and Pearson correlation. Therefore, the results obtained from the analysis of the questionnaire show that the academic, pedagogical, didactic, and technical qualities of multimedia based pedagogy significantly influence students’ professional development at a significant level of 0.01, respectively. These results, which correlate with those obtained from the focus group discussions, indicate that the quality of multimedia based pedagogy significantly influences students’ professional development. Therefore, recommendations have been made to all the stakeholders. A proposed model for evaluating the qualities of multimedia based pedagogy was inspired by these findings. The work is thematically confined to the evaluation of multimedia based pedagogy qualities (academic, pedagogic, didactic, and technical) and professional development variables (addressing students’ needs, digital learning support, and classroom assessment); geographically limited to four regions of the Republic of Cameroon; the study took place from 2018 to 2019; The focus of this study is on 439 third-year students in the Departments ofµ Curriculum Studies and Teaching, Journalism, Engineering Economics, and the Universities of Buea, Bamenda, and Maroua, respectively; and ICT University, Yaounde Campus.