| Computer software parallels hardware improvements which are becoming more powerful and difficult to grasp. An example would be the recent development of sophisticated Computer-Based Multimedia (CBM) courses which combine various software. There are many varieties of software packages to choose from with constant and continuous updates that challenge teachers wanting to utilize these materials. In addition, every student brings an individual background, different level of computer knowledge, personality, and different learning style to the classroom. All of these provide a great challenge for computer teachers who studied mostly theoretical computer science courses in graduate schools and may not be experts in computer application such as multimedia courses. With several years of multimedia teaching experience in a technological college, the researcher engaged in this study to find a better method of teaching multimedia courses.; The researcher developed a theory about teaching styles that fit the students' learning styles in a Taiwanese technological college setting based on his computer teaching experience and many computer teaching seminars held in the school. The 13 variables in the questionnaire included extraversion, neuroticism, multimedia experience, multimedia reinforcement, multimedia attitude, multimedia expectation, personal persistence, multimedia mastery, interactive learning, teacher-centered solo lecture teaching, teacher-centered lecture and discussion teaching, student-centered independent study teaching, and student-centered team-work teaching. The subjects of this study were 352 college students that included 113 sophomores, 142 juniors, and 97 seniors of which 159 were male and 193 female.; Data collection and analysis utilized the software Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) as the main research tool. The statistical tests using multiple regression analysis revealed that multimedia experiences and positive reinforcement can enhance students' computer self-efficacy and multimedia attitude. Positive multimedia attitude together with students' personal persistence made them more capable of mastering the techniques of multimedia. Students' multimedia mastery along with their extraversion and non-neurotic personality traits made them interactive learners who prefer team-work and discussion teaching styles. In contrast, personality traits of introversion and neuroticism revealed a non-interactive learner who was more likely to prefer independent study or solo lecture teaching styles.; In addition, students with multimedia mastery were found to prefer independent study teaching. Students with the extraversion trait may prefer team-work teaching while students with neurotic traits may prefer solo lecture teaching. Most students preferred interactive learning to non-interactive learning. Male students revealed a slightly more positive multimedia attitude than their female counterparts. The researcher hopes that future studies would address multimedia teaching experimentation to verify or contradict the findings in this study. |
