Multimedia Instruction and Students Learning at Basic Schools for the Deaf in Eastern Region, Ghana

Abstract

Impact of multimedia instruction in various educational settings has been documented globally. However, very little has been done within the context of special education in the developing countries, precisely Ghana. This research presents findings on multimedia instruction and its effects on students learning at Basic Schools for the Deaf in Eastern Region, Ghana. Three Basic schools for the deaf were analyzed in a descriptive design through a questionnaire with 104 participants from the schools sampled from a population of 142 teachers. Finding from the research revealed that teachers have positive attitude toward multimedia instruction and the use of multimedia increases the quality of students learning. However, 91.2% of the respondents do not integrate multimedia instruction in their teaching and that availability of Computer Laboratories has no significant influence on multimedia instruction because the labs were not well resourced hence, teachers prefer to have multimedia instruction in their classrooms although the classrooms do not have sufficient multimedia technologies to support multimedia instruction. Other barriers identified were a lack of school policy on use of IT, and lack of training showed that the basic school for the deaf were under resourced and thus teachers face challenges integrating multimedia instruction into their teaching. The study recommends an IT Policy in the schools for the Deaf and in general for the Special Needs Schools in Ghana with focus towards equipping each classroom with multimedia technologies with a vision of one classroom one computer, projector or smartboard and training of teachers in multimedia instruction.