Identifying Students’ Preference in Learning Through ODL (Open Distance Learning) for Multimedia Course

A Teaching and learning computer course for non-computer background novice learners using online mode in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic is very challenging. For students in higher education, computer courses like Interactive Multimedia are a crucial addition to their skill set, regardless of subject area. Students who complete this course will receive both practical resources on multimedia applications and theoretical concepts. This enables students to enhance their knowledge on such applications and apply it in their studies. This makes it possible for students to learn more about these applications and use it in their academic work. This study was carried out in order to determine the technical problems and challenges, the best methods for lectures, exercises, and reference materials, as well as the ideal platform for lectures delivered via Open Distance Learning (ODL). This study was conducted by the Department of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Pulau Pinang. An online survey via google form was created to collect data from 109 third semester Diploma in Tourism students from the Faculty of Hotel and Tourism Management. The findings will be used to enhance the online lectures teaching technique for CSC253 course in the upcoming semesters, increase students’ understanding and interest in this subject along with improving students’ grade. Results show that most of the students prefer live hands-on class by the lecturer as they can see clearly all the features and functions shown by the lecturer during the live class.