Impact of multimedia on academic information literacy instruction in libraries

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of multimedia within academic information literacy in the higher education sector. It considers the recent information and communications technology boom, its effect on academic information literacy preferences, and how it has affected pedagogy. Finally, it discusses the current and future trends of the influence of multimedia on pedagogical instruction. A survey of higher education students in three countries – the UK, Kenya and India – was undertaken to understand the shift towards multimedia in libraries. The aim was to determine if behavioural attributes (academic or artistic, verbalisers or visualisers) and the university’s location impacted multimedia learning. The results of the study do not support the aptitude–treatment interaction theory. In the current context, different learners (academic or artistic) need different kinds of instruction to optimise their learning. However, the survey found that students’ nature did not influence their choice of method of instruction (verbal or video). It also revealed that the university’s location facilitated or hampered students’ learning capabilities.

Keywords

Multimedia learning information behaviour higher education information literacy instruction method

Introduction

A library is at the heart of any institution’ is an old and frequently noted quote in the library sector (Gyure, 2008; Leupp, 1924; Portwood, 1936). So, it is likely that the lifeblood that flows through a library will eventually strengthen the entire institution. Academic libraries have played an integral role in connecting institutions’ learners with global trends, especially in the wake of the information and communications technology (ICT) explosion following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Multimedia learning has become an increasingly popular learning method throughout the education sector. The basic principle of multimedia learning is that people learn better ‘from words and pictures than from words alone’ (Mayer, 2014: 3). ‘Academic information literacy’ in this article refers to the information literacy that equips students with the skills and knowledge for the effective identification of information, and is required to find, evaluate, organise and effectively use information to address problems or issues (Owusu-Ansah, 2003). An information-literate person is ‘someone who knows the techniques and skills for using information tools in moulding solutions to problems’ (Crawford and Irving, 2013: 21). Multimedia instructional teaching designed according to the workings of the human mind is more likely to lead towards meaningful learning than that which is not (Mayer, 2014). So, designing the teaching curricula for academic information literacy with the use of multimedia will lead towards effective and meaningful learning for students.

This research aims to explore the shift from textual to multimedia formats in academic information literacy. It considers the innate human behaviour of visual appeal and discusses behavioural influences in preferring multimedia content over simple text. In order to assess the influence of multimedia through the ICT boom in recent years, its impact on academic information literacy preferences and how this phenomenon has affected pedagogical practices, a survey of higher education students in three countries – the UK, Kenya and India – was designed. These three countries were selected for the survey because the data gathered would cater for a diverse range of participants and an overview of the multimedia preferences of higher education students in three continents could be formed, thereby indicating the general preferences of the higher education sector. The findings from the survey will help to draw comparisons between these three countries, which will help in identifying the key factors and constraints in shaping students' multimedia preferences in learning about the library resources in these regions. They also help highlight the differences between the Global North and the Global South, and the influence of the economic differences in these regions on students’ learning.

This study also supports one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals to provide quality education and reduce inequalities in the higher education sector in these regions. The study attempts to identify the symptoms and causes of inequalities for students and what hampers their ability to reach their full potential in benefitting from the growing number of ICTs. The cross-continental nature of this study makes this research unique compared to other case studies and surveys (some of which are discussed in the literature review), which have been mainly conducted within a particular region. One of the reasons why these three countries were selected for the survey was that the author has worked as an information professional in the higher education sector in these countries, which helped in successfully conducting the survey in the three regions. The author’s background in the higher education sector prompted the investigation of the influence of the economic differences in these regions on students’ learning, that encouraged and shaped and shaped this research. The findings from the survey highlight students’ multimedia preferences in academic information literacy instruction and identify the key barriers affecting students’ capabilities for multimedia learning. The article concludes by discussing current and future trends of the influence of multimedia on pedagogical instruction.

The purpose of the survey was to evaluate the effectiveness of multimedia in teaching academic information literacy, and it sought to answer the following research questions:

Does students’ behaviour affect their multimedia learning of information literacy in higher education?

Does the location of the educational institute impact students’ multimedia preferences and constraints?

What constraints affect students’ ability to benefit from multimedia?

Background and purpose of the study

To understand higher education students’ shift towards the multimedia format, two objectives were identified: to investigate (1) students’ internal preferences – that is, their innate behaviour or academic nature, which was central to the study to test the aptitude–treatment interaction theory – and (2) external influences – that is, the recent ICT boom. However, because such technological advancement (infrastructure, equipment, connectivity, media applications) is not found across the globe, the students’ country of study was considered, in order to understand if the geographic location was linked to constraints affecting their multimedia learning. Similarly, this helped to identify the current pedagogical trends in information literacy among higher education students (methods of instruction, length of instruction, supporting infrastructure), which will help predict the influence of multimedia on pedagogical instruction for information literacy in the future.

Literature review

This review discusses the literature on multimedia’s influence on academic information literacy and its impact on pedagogical instruction.

Multimedia learning

Itally, using different media such as text, audio, video, among others' (Abdulrahaman et al. 2020:1), for instance, state: ‘Multimedia technology is an important aspect of ICT that deals with how information can be represented and presented digitally, using different media such as text, audio, video, among others’. Silk et al. (2015) observe that more online students were successful in finding resources than those in an in-person instructional environment because the online students watched a video on finding empirical research and then instantly applied the skills to their library databases.

Research also suggests that visually appealing presentation results in higher information retention and many individuals learn better through broader media support (Anderson and May, 2010; Azadbakht, 2021; Murphy and Liew, 2016; Ware, 2011) as people can have different preferred sensory channels for learning and multimedia allows for diverse representations. Although the aptitude–treatment interaction hypothesis of verbalisers and visualisers has been extensively researched, the literature suggests that multimedia learning is effective for all kinds of learners and has benefits with respect to content retention and positive emotions (Chen and Sun, 2012; Massa and Mayer, 2006; Ocepek et al., 2013).

Librarians as teachers

The literature shows that the role of the academic librarian has changed significantly in the last few decades (Hamada and Stavridi, 2014). The most frequently mentioned changes are academic librarians’ increased teaching role – teaching information literacy and library skills – and increased liaison with faculty. Therefore, librarians need to know more about teaching theory and techniques to provide high-quality information literacy teaching (Simmons and Corrall, 2011; Wheeler and McKinney, 2015).

However, a central problem in multimedia-based education is that, as Wheeler and McKinney (2015) explain in their article ‘Are librarians teachers?’, librarians have not received adequate training to teach students, and employers require teaching skills from new graduates and expect that they have learned these skills during a postgraduate course. They further discuss that, in 2010, in an investigation of postgraduate librarianship education in the UK at the University of Sheffield, it was found that only three UK library courses offered teaching-related modules. Similarly, one survey found that 15 out of 78 surveyed librarians had gained their formal teaching training and qualifications through other sources, and only one reported having gained their teaching skills through a librarianship diploma (Wheeler and McKinney, 2015). This attitude has changed in recent years as library organisations are making an effort to meet this requirement and provide continuing professional development for librarians to develop new skills and knowledge (Elbert et al., 2012), especially ICT and teaching skills (Suthiprapa and Tuamsuk, 2022).

Methods of instruction

There is also a debate around methods of instruction and modes of delivery. Many case studies and research on pedagogy and library teaching systems aim to find the best medium to engage and educate students. A few examples and case studies will be discussed here.

Scales et al. (2014) discuss their experience of redesigning two of the most central online tutorials at the Washington State University Library by incorporating multimedia, which eventually challenged them to adopt newer pedagogical models in the information literacy curriculum. Similarly, Gorman and Staley’s (2018) study supports the possibility that online instruction may be more effective than in-person instruction for improving performance and is preferred by on-campus students for learning information literacy skills. Milic et al.’s (2016) research concludes that implementing blended learning approaches could be considered an efficient alternative to traditional classroom teaching for medical students.

In a blended course, students complete activities online, watch videos and then attend a workshop. This approach has been widely observed following the COVID-19 pandemic, and many universities in the UK have adopted this method. For example, in the author’s own experience at University College London during the 2021–2022 academic year, the blended learning approach and students’ engagement in library and information studies modules were highly positive. The author observed that when students could understand and revisit pre-class tutor-led lectures, they participated and engaged more in the class workshops.

According to Gorman and Staley (2018), most students who had experienced both instructional formats – face-to-face and online – preferred the online method. The main reason these students gave for this preference was that they were able to engage with and complete the material at their own pace and convenience, and this led to greater comprehension and assimilation of the skills being taught (see also Johnston, 2010; Zhang et al., 2015).

Overall, the majority of findings, in one way or another, reflect the benefits of blended learning and multimedia usage in education. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a change in educators’ perspectives of online teaching. Kelly’s (2021) study shows that due to virtual or hybrid teaching, educators were working longer hours yet instruction was suffering. Hands-on and group work was largely limited or eliminated entirely, and many lessons had to be heavily adapted. Most concerning was the outward deficit in educators’ morale due to their incapability to adapt swiftly.

The shift during the pandemic upended the routines of students, faculty and staff alike. Kelly and Columbus (2020) have speculated about the future of American higher education following the pandemic in light of the fundamental challenge it posed for institutions that were originally designed to bring large groups of people together for teaching, learning, research and socialising. The pivot to remote instruction across higher education was a remarkable accomplishment, but the makeshift models in most places bore little resemblance to state-of-the-art online delivery. Research suggests that socio-economically disadvantaged and less academically prepared students are more likely to struggle in online courses, and that the achievement gaps between low-income students and their more affluent peers are larger in exclusively online courses (Kelly and Columbus, 2020).

Influence of university location on multimedia learning

A common challenge for the online instruction method is an inadequate infrastructure, especially in regions with low Internet penetration or bandwidth where multimedia tools cannot be easily accessed (Ndemo and Weiss, 2017). The reason for this could be either the location of the teaching (e.g. in a developing nation or underdeveloped region) or the cost of obtaining high-speed Internet facilities. Bramann discusses the critical barriers for early ICT ecosystems in resource-scarce countries, such as Kenya, and identifies that rural areas in such countries lack structure and have connectivity issues that may affect students’ learning (Ndemo and Weiss, 2017). Similarly, Pavel et al. (2015) discuss the effect of the social and economic development of a country on its ICT growth, especially in the higher education sector, and assert that they are co-dependent and influence each other. The more advanced the socio-economic position of a country, the more active the role of technology in society and the greater the emphasis on the need to familiarise students with ICT. For instance, since early 2000, the UK government has been developing new ways of teaching and learning using ICT and created awareness to achieve pedagogical change (Yang, 2012).

On the contrary, research in India manifests that even though the country has seen great progression in the educational technology (Edtech), due to its vast population and differences between urban and rural regions, there is uneven growth of ICT in the country, and to the government needs a systemic approach to successfully implement and integrate ICT in schools and colleges (Dangwal, 2017). Similarly, in Kenya, research suggests that the ICT infrastructure needs a lot of development, and the government should put in place policies that allow its strategic development without copying generic policy prescriptions that have worked in the West (Ndemo and Weiss, 2017).

Methodology

For the quantitative research, 300 undergraduate and graduate students studying arts and humanities and social sciences subjects from universities in three countries – the UK, India and Kenya – were selected. The aim was to survey 100 students from each country to obtain varied responses in an attempt to represent the student body to represent the student body by surveying a considerable number of students from each region and 100 respondents is an effective sample size (Delice, 2010). Students from various universities in each country were invited to participate in the survey to ensure a wide range of responses, including academic and arts students in each region. In the UK, students from the Department of Information Studies at University College London and arts students at the University of the Arts London – in the colleges of Central Saint Martins, Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon – were invited to participate in the survey during September 2022. In Kenya, students at Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah (Nairobi campus), the Catholic University of Eastern Africa and Tangaza University College were invited to participate, and, in India, students from the Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah campuses at Surat and Mumbai. The survey was conducted by the library staff at the selected universities. Students from across the universities were invited to complete the survey. The survey link was sent to the students through the library or librarians’ email or other library media platforms. This provided responses from different categories of students (regular and non-regular library users, academic and artistic students), which were then compared and contrasted across the geographical regions.

In line with University College London’s data protection policy, this project was registered with the Data Protection Office at University College London on 22 August 2022. The survey was conducted using the Opinio software – access was provided by University College London. The findings – frequency tables, ratios, percentages and figures (charts) – were autogenerated through its web-based version. The research data is stored in a public data repository under the title ‘Multimedia effects on AIL’ (Ramgadwala, 2023). Also a chi-square test was conducted to compare the main practices and findings across the three countries.

Bloom’s taxonomy partially informed the survey questions (Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001). The questions were devised in such a way that some of the lower-order thinking skills (remember, understand, apply) and some of the higher-order thinking skills (analyse, evaluate, create) of Bloom’s taxonomy were assessed. The survey was also flexible in integrating this taxonomy as it was essential to consider that the students were situated in different regions of the world and there were contextual variables associated with each region (see Dorner and Gorman, 2006). It was also considered that a student does not need to pass through all these stages, which may differ at an individual level (see Wright, 2012). Wright (2012) proposes that the pyramid structure implies a ‘scarcity of creativity’, and only those who can transverse the lower levels can reach the summit and be creative. For example, a question was asked regarding the students’ preference for learning about a database, where a library instructor and a short video were provided as options. This question was asked to gather insights about students understanding, how they best learn about a library database. The above question assessed students' higher-level skills of catered for the higher-level skills of ‘analyse’ and ‘evaluate’ in Bloom’s taxonomy (Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001).

The survey comprised four parts: demographic information (age, region); nature of the student (academic or artistic); preference for library instruction (in person, online, blended); and significant constraints affecting multimedia learning.

A survey, according to Balnaves and Caputi (2001), is a method of collecting data from people about who they are (education, finances), how they think (motivations, beliefs) and what they do (behaviour). Surveys usually take the form of a questionnaire, which a person fills out alone or by interview schedule in person or over the telephone, and result in a variable-by-case data matrix (Balnaves and Caputi, 2001). A descriptive statistical analysis approach was taken to analyse the data, which is appropriate for reporting patterns in these kinds of surveys because it can identify development patterns and differences and help summarise them constructively, so meaningful patterns might emerge that produce significant results. The above-mentioned approach is suitable for conducting descriptive statistical data analysis in quantitative research (Balnaves and Caputi, 2001; Chen and Cheng, 2022; Sandelowski, 2010). The survey findings point to the effect of multimedia on students’ information literacy learning and may help in creating reformed pedagogical practices in academic libraries that incorporate multimedia as an integral part of the information literacy curriculum.

The survey also explored the connection of multimedia learning to other variables – for example, does the geographic location affect the preference for multimedia learning among students or does a student’s age influence their choices? Therefore, the first section was regarding the students’ demographics and behaviour preferences because discovering correlations between factors and behaviours would lead to the ability to predict the areas affecting students’ learning, given the specific user attributes and backgrounds. For example, it was helpful to know if students with an artistic nature were more likely to learn through a video tutorial or a library instructor. This considers the innate behaviour of students in their preferences and the impact of ICT and influence of multimedia on their choices.

Findings

General overview

The survey received 306 responses, of which 81 were not allowed to proceed to the second stage or did not complete and submit their response. In total, 225 participants completed the survey, including the second section, but did not answer all the questions from Section 2, and 190 participants answered all of the questions in both sections. The survey comprised 10 questions – four on the students’ demographics (Section 1) and six on their learning experience with multimedia tools at a university library (Section 2). The aim was to understand their preferences and choices when learning about their library’s resources.

The first question asked if the participant was a current university student or a recent graduate; 249 responded positively, 16 answered ‘no’ and 41 did not answer the question. The next question in the first section was regarding the participants’ age. Of the total number of respondents, 256 were aged between 19 and 29, six were between the ages of 30 and 40, two were between the ages of 41 and 50, one preferred not to disclose their age and the remaining did not answer this question (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Current university student or recent graduate, age of participants and country of the university.

With regard to the students’ geographical location, 43 participants were from the UK, 55 from Kenya and 143 from India (this includes the responses from the participants who were not students or recent graduates). Twenty-three of the participants answered that they were not from the three mentioned countries and 42 did not answer or left this question blank, giving a total of 306 respondents (Figure 1).

The survey sought responses only from current university students or recent graduates from the countries mentioned above. Therefore, if the participant selected that they were not a current university student or recent graduate, or not from the countries mentioned above, they were no longer required to proceed with the survey. So, out of the 243 respondents from the three countries, only 225 were allowed to proceed to the next stage. Of these 225 respondents, 190 answered all of the questions, which was the final sample for the study in the second stage.

The final question inquired about the students’ academic nature. Were they academic and preferred reading books? Or were they more interested in the visual depiction of data and artistic? Or did they identify as both? The majority of the students (41, 43%) identified themselves as both academic and artistic, whereas 31% (83) and 24% (64) identified themselves as academic and artistic, respectively (Figure 2).

Figure 2.

Students’ academic nature.

The second section of the survey comprised six questions relating to the students’ learning choices in libraries and the constraints they faced in using multimedia. These questions can be divided into three categories in accordance with the three research questions discussed in the methodology section above.

Interval variable questions

Four questions were asked in this category. These were the questions where the distances between the intervals were supposed to be clearly known by the participants (Balnaves and Caputi, 2001). The interval variable questions were of two kinds: the first inquired into how strongly the students agreed or disagreed with a statement and the second asked about the length of instruction – how long the students would prefer a specific type of instruction (live instruction versus online on-demand videos) to be. The intervals between the choices in both questions were distinctly mentioned.

For the first kind of interval variable question, two questions were asked (Figure 3). Overall, for both questions, more than 90% of the students believed (strongly agreed or agreed) that multimedia was a helpful learning tool and helped them retain and remember more information in the long term.

Figure 3.

The usefulness of multimedia for learning about library resources.

With regard to the length of instruction, the two questions asked about how long the students would prefer to spend on a particular type of instruction that taught them about authoritative resources using multimedia tools. There were four choices for both questions: 15–20 minutes, 30–40 minutes, 1 hour and more than 1 hour. The first question asked how long they would prefer a live instruction class on finding authoritative resources to last, where the majority of the students (113, 59%) chose 15–20 minutes, 63 students (33%) chose 30–40 minutes, 13 students (7%) chose 1 hour, and one student chose more than 1 hour (Figure 4). The second question inquired how long the students would prefer to spend watching a video explaining authoritative resources. The responses were similar to those to the first question, but here 81% of the students (154) chose 15–20 minutes, compared to 59% for the first question, and only 14% (27) preferred watching a 30–40 minute video, compared to 33% for the first question (Figure 4).

Figure 4.

Preferred length of instruction.

Method of instruction

Following Anderson and May (2010), this category inquired about the students’ learning preferences and how they would choose to learn about a database: via face-to-face, online, blended or no instruction. Question 8 asked the students about their preferences for learning about a database such as JSTOR, ProQuest or the Web of Science. The majority of the students (74, 39%) preferred to learn about a database through a short self-explanatory video, 28% (54) preferred a live explanation by a library instructor, and 24% (46) preferred to view a video in the presence of a library instructor, whereas 8% (16) preferred to learn about a database without any instruction (Figure 5).

Figure 5.

Preferred method of instruction.

Limitations

The last question inquired about the constraints that the students considered were affecting their use of multimedia in their learning. In this question, the students were allowed to choose multiple options (Figure 6).

Figure 6.

Major constraints affecting the use of multimedia.

The majority of the students (88, 46%) believed that ‘lack of training for students’ was the primary constraint that hampered their ability to maximise the use of multimedia for their learning. Thirty-eight percent (73) believed that connectivity issues had an impact on their learning. Only 23% (45) identified staff training as an issue, whereas 16% believed that they had no significant issues affecting their learning and 13% (25) said that their concern was not listed in the options (Figure 6).

The chi-square statistic is 11.2057 and the p-value is .24347, so the result is significant at p < .05. The p-value from the chi-square test is less than .05, indicating that the result is statistically significant and the data provides sufficient evidence to warrant the rejection of a null hypothesis (Table 1). A chi-square test of independence was performed to assess the relationship between the university’s country and the mode or length of instruction the students received. The relationship between these variables is significant, X ² (1, N = 190) = 11.2, p = .243. This indicates that there is a significant relationship between the two variables – the country of the university and the choices of the university students in terms of preferred mode or length of instruction.

Table 1.

Chi-square statistic.

Country	Mode of instruction – short tutorial video	Length of live instruction – 15–20 minutes	Length of video instruction – 15–20 minutes	Total
UK	47 (35.87) [3.46]	36 (49.83) [3.84]	63 (60.30) [0.12]	146
India	33 (40.78) [1.48]	66 (56.66) [1.54]	67 (68.57) [0.04]	166
Kenya	33 (36.36) [0.31]	55 (50.51) [0.40]	60 (61.13) [0.02]	148
Total	113	157	190	460

Comparative overview

This section discusses the results from the data collected through the following steps: (1) a comparison between the responses from students who identified themselves as artistic, academic or both and (2) a comparison between the student responses from the UK, Kenya and India.

Comparison between responses from students who identified themselves as artistic, academic or both

The reason the question ‘How do you identify yourself academically?’ was asked in the first section of the survey was to understand if the nature of the student (academically) affected their multimedia choices for learning about library resources. Overall, it was found that the nature of the student (as identified by the students themselves) did not have a major impact on their choices. Only in two instances was there a significant difference in the responses according to the nature of the students. Students who identified as ‘both’ (academic and artistic) chose live instruction as their preferred method of instruction, whereas the popular choice for other students was video tutorials. Similarly, with regard to the constraints that affected multimedia use for student learning, most of the students chose ‘connectivity issues’, whereas the popular choice for academic and artistic students was ‘lack of training for students’ (see Figure 7).

Figure 7.

Preferred method of instruction according to nature of students.

In response to the interval variable questions, the majority of the students, despite their nature:

Agreed that multimedia helped them learn about library resources;

Agreed that multimedia helped them retain and remember more information in the long term;

Chose the 15–20-minutes option for the preferred length of a live instruction class to find authoritative resources;

Chose the 15–20-minutes option for the preferred length of a video explaining how to find authoritative resources.

This is similar to the findings in the previous section.

With regard to the preferred method of instruction, the students were asked how they would prefer to learn about an online database. The ‘short self-explanatory video’ option was a popular choice among the academic (44%) and artistic (48%) students, and the second option for students who identified themselves as ‘both’ (31%). The majority of the students who identified themselves as ‘both’ (academic and artistic) preferred a live instruction class (38%) over all the other options, which was not a popular choice for both the academic (21%) and artistic (18%) students. Similarly, viewing a short video in the presence of an instructor was the second choice among the academic (27%) and artistic (33%) students, but not popular among students who identified themselves as ‘both’ (19%) (Figure 7).

Considering the major constraints or problems faced during the use of multimedia, overall, the ‘lack of training for students’ was chosen by a significant number of the students. It was the top choice for academic (49%) and artistic (54%) students, and second for students who identified as ‘both’ (41%). Another similarity in the responses to this question was that more than a third of the students, irrespective of their nature, chose ‘lack of proper equipment or infrastructure’ as a constraint hampering their ability to maximise the use of multimedia: academic (37%), artistic (37%) and both (35%) (Figure 8).

Figure 8.

Major constraints affecting the use of multimedia according to nature of students.

Comparison between student responses from the UK, Kenya and India

In the UK, the majority of the students (54.5%) identified themselves as ‘academic’ and interested in reading and textual media, whereas in Kenya and India, most students (44.6% and 47.5%, respectively) identified as ‘both’ academic and artistic, and interested in both textual and visual media. In both Kenya and India, there were more students who identified as academic (28.5% and 26%, respectively) than artistic (25% and 24%, respectively) (Figure 9).

Figure 9.

Nature of students in the UK, Kenya and India.

The interval variable questions were of two types: the first inquired into how strongly the students agreed or disagreed with a statement and the second asked about the length of instruction – how long the students would prefer a particular type of instruction to be. There were two questions asked in the first type. The first asked how strongly the students agreed or disagreed that multimedia is a helpful learning tool for learning about library resources. The second asked how strongly the students agreed or disagreed that multimedia helped them to retain and remember more information. In all three countries, the students’ responses were similar for both questions, with slight differences in Kenya. Almost 97% of the students in the UK and India and 100% in Kenya either agreed or strongly agreed that multimedia helped them learn about library resources.

However, most students in all three countries were inclined towards agreeing rather than strongly agreeing that multimedia helped them remember more information in the long term: in the UK, 78% agreed and 16% strongly agreed; in Kenya, 56% agreed and 38% strongly agreed; and in India, 67% agreed and 25% strongly agreed (Figure 10).

Figure 10.

The usefulness of multimedia for learning about library resources by country.

The students were asked about their preferred method of instruction. For example, Question 8 asked how they would prefer to learn about a database such as JSTOR or ProQuest. The choices they were given were as follows: live explanation by a library instructor, a short self-explanatory video, a short video in the presence of a library instructor or no instruction. Although the ‘short self-explanatory video’ option was a popular choice overall, when comparing the results across the countries, it was found that this choice was popular in the UK (57%) and Kenya (42%), whereas in India the majority of the students (34%) preferred to learn about a database through a live explanation by a library instructor.

Another significant finding was that, in the UK, there was a considerable difference in the preferences. A large majority of the students preferred the ‘self-explanatory video’ option (57%), which was more than the three other options combined – live explanation (16%), video in the presence of an instructor (19%) and no instruction (8%). In Kenya, although the ‘self-explanatory video’ option was the students’ top choice (42%), there were only notable differences between this option and the other two library-instructor options – live explanation (27%) and video in the presence of an instructor (27%). However, in India, although the majority of the students (34%) chose the ‘live explanation by a library instructor’ option, there were no significant differences between this choice and the other two options: a self-explanatory video was the next most popular option (31%), followed by viewing a short video in the presence of a library instructor (25%). The percentage of students who preferred the ‘view a video in the presence of an instructor’ option was very similar when comparing the results from Kenya (27%) and India (25%) (Figure 11).

Figure 11.

Preferred method of instruction by country.

Lastly, the students were asked about the constraints they believed affected their use of multimedia. Overall, the students identified ‘lack of training for students’ as a significant issue that hampered their ability to maximise the use of multimedia for their learning, as in all three countries, 40%–50% of the students chose this option. The majority of the students in the UK and India (41% and 49%, respectively) chose the ‘lack of training for students’ option as the main problem affecting their learning (in the UK, however, ‘lack of proper equipment/infrastructure’ and ‘inadequate media applications’ had the same score, with 41% each). In Kenya, connectivity issues were found to be the main constraint (47%), followed by lack of training for students (44%). Although connectivity issues were a major constraint in Kenya, surprisingly, in the UK and India, it was also a popular choice, where 35% in both countries said that this was a substantial problem. Similarly, ‘lack of proper equipment/infrastructure’ was a popular choice in both the UK (41%) and India (39%). The least selected constraint in all three countries was ‘undertrained staff’. Less than a quarter of the students chose this option – the UK (24%), Kenya (24%) and India (23%) (Figure 12).

Figure 12.

Major constraints affecting the use of multimedia by country.

Discussion

This section discusses the meanings to be derived from the comparative data discussed in the previous section through observations of the survey findings in an attempt to answer the three research questions.

The students’ age, country and nature were the focal points for this survey to determine if these demographics directly influenced their multimedia learning choices. As 96% of the students were between the ages of 19 and 29, and only seven were in the other age brackets, this aspect will not be studied in detail. The reason why the country and nature of the students were considered is linked to the research aims – namely, to consider the effect of human behaviour and geographic region in the shift from textual formats to multimedia formats in learning academic information literacy for students in the higher education sector.

Comparison between the responses from students who identified themselves as artistic, academic or both

Academic and artistic individuals showed many similarities when choosing the method of instruction (self-explanatory videos), which strengthens the fact that irrespective of how students identify themselves, multimedia instruction is popular among all types of learners. This finding is supported by Massa and Mayer (2006), who conducted an experiment with college students to determine if visual learners (in this survey, artistic students) learned better from multimedia instruction that offered more pictures or illustrations and verbal learners (in this survey, academic students) learned better from printed text. They concluded that there was not strong support for the hypothesis that different kinds of multimedia instruction should be given to the different groups (the text group and the pictorial group). Their study also aligns with the findings for the three different groups in this survey because, first, all students, irrespective of their nature, agreed that multimedia was helpful in their learning. Second, most students (44%) from the academic group chose the video method of instruction, although, according to the aptitude–treatment interaction hypothesis discussed earlier, they identified as verbal learners and should have preferred live instruction. Similarly, students who identified as ‘both’ (academic and artistic or verbal and visual) chose the live instruction method. So, to conclude, the result from this survey and the supporting literature is that no one method can be recommended based on the academic nature or behaviour of a student, but a blend of both approaches (verbal and visual) should be implemented. For example, for teaching about an online database, the best way for an instructor could be to use the visual aids from a tutorial (screencast, animations) while providing students with the opportunity to individually practise and navigate through a database because this is the best way students will learn about databases (Gorman and Staley, 2018; Silk et al., 2015). As concluded by in-depth, multifaceted research, ‘no matter what students’ preferences of cognitive styles are (verbalizers/visualizers), designing learning materials as video-based multimedia material may be a better approach because video-based multimedia material can facilitate students’ positive emotion and learning performance (Chen and Sun, 2012; Ocepek et al., 2013).

Interestingly, a report was generated for all of the students who selected the live instruction method. It was found that the majority of the students who chose this option over the other choices that had a video tutorial option in the ‘method of instruction question’ selected ‘connectivity issues’ as their primary constraint (48%), which could imply that students chose the live instruction option because they had connectivity issues (Figure 13).

Figure 13.

Main constraints faced by students who chose the live instruction method.

Comparison between student responses from the UK, Kenya and India

The results in Kenya and India were very similar concerning students’ nature. The majority identified as ‘both’ academic and artistic, which supports Islam and Ahmed’s (2012) assessment that the information needs of communities in developing countries are similar. The least number of students identified as artistic, which could support the theory that most students do not consider themselves to be artistic due to parent or teacher evaluations during their early years, and constantly compare themselves and are afraid to call themselves artists because of social validation (Langer, 2007). On the other hand, with reference to textual media or reading, the social norm is that students of all kinds are required to read and understand text because success in reading is believed to be crucial for students, both for their academic and psychological well-being (Carnine et al., 2009).

The findings clearly show that regardless of the region where the university was located, the majority of the students (97%) believed that multimedia was a useful learning tool and helped them retain more information. This supports the studies by Abdulrahaman et al. (2020), Guan et al. (2018), Mayer (2014) and Shah and Khan (2015), which found that multimedia helped in presenting information and complex processes in a rich way, and portrayed different levels of abstraction vividly, which helped with meaningful and authentic learning that students would retain over the long term.

It was also evident from the responses that a self-explanatory database video was a popular choice in the UK and Kenya, compared to listening to a live instructor, whereas in India, listening to a live lecture was the most popular choice and a self-explanatory video came second. This supports the literature and findings that in today’s age students have a greater preference for listening to a recorded rather than live lecture (Bradbury, 2016). One reason for the live instruction option being popular in India compared to the other countries could be the culture of the country. As research has shown, India might still have a traditional approach to teaching. As discussed by Sarangapani (2014), the idea of learning from a ‘guru’ may still be the most legitimate form of learning today within many Indian schools, and so a revised curriculum encompassing the widespread use of multimedia may still not be the norm for many students. So, as there is more focus on the instructor and lectures rather than student-centred learning, the majority of the students in India chose the live instruction class over the other options. Conversely, in the UK, where the government has actively enforced ICT developments in higher education, students preferred self-paced videos, as they may have already been acquainted with such a learning method in their classrooms (Pavel et al., 2015).

Overall, most of the students chose the ‘self-explanatory video’ option, which could be because in an online tutorial, students are presented with several visual aids (screencasts, animations, images and texts) that may assist them in finding research articles more easily compared to a live instruction class (Scales et al., 2014). Similarly, Brettle and Raynor (2013) and Gorman and Staley (2018) suggest that the availability of an online tutorial can reinforce new skills and aid students in practising using online databases. It was also observed that the 15–20-minutes option was popular for both instruction methods – live and video – but this choice was preferred for video instruction, where the 30–40 minutes option was also widely chosen, which supports the 15-minute attention span theory (Svinicki and McKeachie, 2011). This theory asserts that, during lectures, students experience a waning of attention after about 10 minutes (Wilson and Korn, 2007). A similar observation has been made with regard to informative videos such as TED talks, where a rule dictates that the presentation should last 18 minutes, based on the conception that 18 minutes is long enough to make a ‘serious’ presentation but short enough to hold a person’s attention (Bradbury, 2016). Also, a chi-square test was conducted to assess the relationship between the most selected options – short tutorials as the method of instruction and 15–20 minutes as the length of any kind of instruction. The results indicate that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that a relationship exists between the categories’ variables (Table 1).

However, these findings do not form a conclusive result that students prefer videos over live lectures because the very same students who chose a short video tutorial as their preferred method of instruction also opted for a 30–40-minute live instruction class. So, if the ‘Sun had set on the Day of lecture’, as Bradbury (2016:512) refers to in his statement, then, the majority of students would have selected for a shorter lecture period. Similarly, this choice – viewing a self-explanatory video – does not imply that students are well equipped to learn about library resources and conduct research with the help of multimedia on their own. If this were the case, most students would not have identified the option ‘lack of training for students’ as a limitation that hampered their ability to use multimedia for their learning. This barrier – a lack of effective training – was identified as one of the most significant constraints that affected the integration of ICT in teaching and learning by Bingimlas (2009), who extensively reviewed the barriers to successful ICT integration, and Ndenje-Sichalwe and Elia (2021), who studied the research methodology practices of information studies students in Tanzania. So, it could be concluded that the literature from diverse areas points to this significant constraint faced by students across the globe.

A further constraint is the lack of proper equipment or infrastructure – the UK (41%) and India (39%) – which supports the research by Gann (2019), who identifies ‘lack of access’ as a significant barrier to digital inclusion in the UK. This finding also supports the studies by Ndemo and Weiss (2017) and Siyao et al. (2017), who discuss the limitations of ICT in Kenya. They explain that although, through ICTs, it is possible today for open access material, lecture videos and presentations to be available, there are still constraints that need to be overcome. For example, in rural areas online courses are of little help without proper Internet connection. So, it is necessary for less developed countries to develop infrastructures, such as reliable electricity supplies and stable Internet connections, and move towards a more decentralised environment to benefit from the availability of digital tools (Ndemo and Weiss, 2017). This is recent research, so it can be concluded from the findings and literature that, in developing nations, an unstable Internet connection is still a major constraint, which could severely impact students’ learning. A university’s location, therefore, does have a significant impact on students’ multimedia learning.

According to the findings, the students believed that staff were well trained because less than a quarter identified ‘undertrained staff’ being an issue for their learning. This means that students still require assistance and help with multimedia learning from an expert and trained library professionals, who are competent to train them and facilitate the appropriate infrastructure to provide them with access to learn from multimedia resources. Another notable aspect is that students may learn about navigating through a database successfully through online platforms or video tutorials (Brettle and Raynor, 2013; Gorman and Staley, 2018; Silk et al., 2015). However, when teaching students about a library’s physical resources or the current trends of technology in education, the library instructor may play an important role that cannot be replaced by a generic video tutorial. This is because the instructor’s expertise can help provide students with material tailored according to their research needs and level of understanding. This concept is discussed by Booth (2011) when she explains how to actively engage students by simply demonstrating an immersive activity – for instance, in the ‘visualisation’ category, when she wanted to engage a group of undergraduates in thinking of alternative search keywords and topical narrowing, she introduced the dynamic Visual Thesaurus website (www.visualthesaurus.com). She further elaborates that students frequently cited the Visual Thesaurus as valuable, saying: ‘I loved the Visual Thesaurus website’ (Booth, 2011: 77).

Similarly, the fourth option in inquiring about the method of instruction (i.e. would prefer to explore the database without instruction) was not popular in any of the three countries – the UK (8%), Kenya (4%) and India (10%) – which could imply that in all three countries, students prefer a method of instruction. So, according to the literature and the students’ responses, it could be inferred that librarians and library instruction are still a significant aspect of student learning.

Recommendations

One aim of this research was to discuss the future trends of the influence of multimedia on pedagogical instruction, especially in teaching information literacy in libraries. Therefore, the findings from this survey could help structure or restructure the information literacy instruction framework, enabling and equipping students with better multimedia solutions to help them in their research. The findings are as follows:

In all three countries, a lack of training for students was mentioned as the first or second major constraint that affected their multimedia learning in university libraries (it was first in the UK and India and second in Kenya, followed by connectivity issues). So, incorporating student training as an integral part of the library’s instruction programme or curriculum could be helpful.

The training and teaching of students could be live or virtual, synchronous or asynchronous, but preferably should last between 20 and 30 minutes, especially during online or virtual instructional videos, as the findings suggest that the students usually preferred sessions of 15–20 minutes’ duration.

It would be useful to provide access to or create short self-explanatory tutorials that could help students navigate through online databases, in addition to or substituting a live instruction class for the same.

It is essential to plan for adequate equipment and infrastructure, develop strategies to integrate useful media applications, and facilitate current multimedia solutions for learning in libraries that align with the ICT growth trends to cater for higher education students’ current and future research needs.

It would be useful to interview teachers from the universities selected for the student survey with the aim of understanding whether the students and teachers were following the same multimedia trends for learning and pedagogical practices. This mixed-method approach of interviewing the universities selected for survey could add value to the current discussion and findings of quantitative research.

Conclusion

This study aimed to understand students’ multimedia preferences in libraries; the factors that influenced their choices; their academic behavioural impact on their choices; and the effect of uneven ICT advancements on their preferences. The research found that the academic nature of a student – artistic, academic or both (i.e. visualisers or verbalisers) – did not influence their choice of method of instruction – live (verbal) instruction or video (visual) – and thus did not support the aptitude–treatment interaction hypothesis. ‘Lack of training’ was the most significant constraint affecting students’ potential for multimedia learning in libraries. The majority of the students believed that multimedia was a useful learning tool and helped them retain more information in the long term, but the major reason why they could not maximise its usage was their lack of training.

It was significant from the responses that most students chose at least one kind of instruction (online, in person or blended) for learning about library resources – information literacy or online databases – rather than learning without instruction. Moreover, the university’s country impacted the students’ multimedia learning in some aspects but not all. For example, most students from Kenya chose ‘connectivity issues’ as their primary constraint. Finally, the research found that most students preferred the length of instruction to be 15–20 minutes in a face-to-face class or watching an online video, but their attention span would be longer in a live instruction class than for viewing a video.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Hozefa Ramgadwala

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