Designing and Developing a Multimedia to Instruct the Alphabet signs to First-grade Elementary Students (Turkish Language)

 The present study aimed to design and develop a multimedia to instruct the alphabetic signs to first-grade elementary students talking Turkish. The research method was qualitative (multi-method) using an exploratory-developmental approach. The population includes all students (girls and boys) 6 to 7 years old from the first-grade elementary students in Hamedan and the participants were 12 students from Yekaleh village of Qahavand Shera region, selected with purposeful sampling method and categorized based on available criteria. Also, the educational multimedia specialists were selected with the same mechanism. The case study was done by strategies such as interviews, observations, and document-mining (reports about multimedia implementing in the field). The 4 -step method (description, analysis, inference, and explanation) was used to analyze the data.  Findings include 3 main components (graphic-audio elements, multimedia teaching method and finally summarizing the learning) and there were 7 sub-components and 22 design strategies. Also, the instructional design process based on the design and development model of Ivers & Barron: decision-making (planning and setting goals, determining the skills of the advance, organizing, managing brainstorming and research activities), designing (content design, designing flowchart, page layout, storyboard, and developmental measurements), development(managing media production, facilitating multimedia activities and developmental assessment) and evaluating (measuring learners, validation and correcting). The results of the findings demonstrated the acceleration and facilitation of learning alphabetical signs.
Extended Abstract:
Today, instructional technology plays an irreplaceable role in the process of language learning, both in terms of its development beyond geographical boundaries and in light of the quality and pleasure of learning provided that it is well-designed and developed based on the principles of instructional design and learning sciences. This study aimed to design and develop a multimedia (software) to instruct the alphabet signs to first-grade elementary students who speak  Turkish.
The method of research was qualitative with an exploratory-formative approach and multiple case studies (comparative-descriptive method). The target population included all students (boys and girls) aged from 6 to 7 years old in the first grade of the elementary school in Hamadan province. The participants in this study included 12 students in the village of Yekleh, Qahvand Shara region, who were selected by purposive sampling method (based on criterion). Selecting the participants  to participate in this research was done based on the criterion of availability (to groups) and speaking  Turkish. Other participants in the study were instructional multimedia specialists who were selected by the same mechanism. They were specialists such as dissertation supervisors, software engineers, educational leaders of the Qahvand region, master students of educational technology, and first-grade teachers. The case study was done through an interview-based data collection strategy (with a semi-structured, context-dependent, in-depth, cyclical design) that studied the participants' encountering with multimedia in terms of what relates to learners' emotions and multimedia components (including graphical elements, teaching methods, and summarizing). The interview was contextual as a gathering data strategy. For example, during software design of the multimedia software engineers were asked about graphic and aesthetic elements or their functions; they were asked to meet the required standards from a design perspective. Beside interviews, observation and document review were used as other data-gathering strategies. Observation was used for observing students’ performance in homework, students’ behavior when teaching, observation of students' emotional behaviors, recognition of individual characteristics of each student  in the general state of the class, and observing the performance of the groups. Document review was used for reviewing multimedia performance in the field, which were achieved through filming, recording, photography (photos), and detailed daily notes. The four-step method of qualitative data analysis was used to analyze the data. They were description, analysis, inference, and explanation.
What are the research findings for the first question of multimedia components? It consisted of 3 main components (graphical-audio, multimedia teaching method, and finally summarizing the lessons learned),  7 sub-components, and 22 design strategies. The sub-components of multimedia graphical-audio were graphical-audio mediators (image shape, user interface sound, shape, size, and finally the color of each image), multimedia background picture (static-dynamic of background picture, free space in the multimedia background, balance in the multimedia background picture, emphasis on the considered elements in the background of the multimedia software, and finally the integration of the background image); background music (type of music and other music duration); navigating (interacting with multimedia mediators and communicating with teachers and classmates. The sub-components of the multimedia teaching method were the multimedia teaching method (which included 4 sub-components of strategy, educational agent, teaching method, and finally educational exchange); exercises for deeper learning (which included the 3 sub-components of linearity and nonlinearity of the exercises, the level of difficulty of the exercises, and finally the interactions behavioral-cognitive of the user) and finally, providing feedback along with each exercise that caused the learner to be informed of his/her performance (it included 2 sub-components of feedback time and another type of feedback).
Findings of the second research question: What is the instructional design procedure? Based on the design and development model of the 4-step model of Ivers and Barron (2010) these activities were done: decision-making (planning and goal setting, determining prerequisite skills, organizing, brainstorming management, and research activities), design (content design, flowchart building, page design, storyboard construction, and formative assessment), production (media production management, facilitation of multimedia activities, and formative assessment), evaluation (learners assessment, validation, and correction).
The results showed the great role of multimedia educational design in terms of accelerating, facilitating, and enjoying learning during the Persian alphabet learning process to Turkish-speaking children. According to the research findings, when the instructional design approach is in the service of the teaching-learning process in terms of integrating multimedia components with a systematic view, students learn better and are engaged emotionally, cognitively, and even have more social interactions with the subject. It can be more fruitful and effective when the basis of multimedia design is not only from the perspective of media design, but also from the viewpoint  of the teaching-learning process and the effectiveness of the teaching method, and the exercises are presented playfully. To enrich this training, visual, audio and music components, etc. were used. Multimedia design based on interactive approach and situational learning increases learners' cognitive and behavioral interaction to multimedia, and as an assistant to the teacher creates a collaborative learning situation. Based on the findings of this study, the intertwined instructional design of multimedia elements causes more cognitive-motivational engagement of learners and makes the teaching-learning process more attractive.