Abstract:

In higher education settings, syllabi have played significant roles in teaching and learning activities even though the effects on learning have not been investigated enough. Traditionally, a syllabus was recognized as a tool to communicate with students, a written contract between faculty members and students, or guideline for better learning in and out of classroom. This study was intended to offer the possibility of syllabi used more effectively in multimedia learning environment, especially in web2.0 learning platform.

The multimedia syllabi in this study were conceived to provide detailed but succinct guidelines of each course for the students belonging to the College of Nanobio technology at a university located in Seoul. It was necessary because the College of Nanobio technology delivered entire courses through the web2.0 learning platform, which afforded a lot of digital resources with various forms.

The roles of multimedia syllabus were to pinpoint the essential course materials that students should access and study, as well as to extend links to additional learning materials. There roles could be critical to overcome the barriers of learning in web2.0 environment, which provided affluent learning resources and made learners get lost from time to time.
In the aspect of outlook, the multimedia syllabus was design not only to provide a clear overview of a course in single page, but also to present detailed information about a course with icons to access to digital learning content. It was constructed by two dimensions - course components and course flow (from intro stage to final synthesis). The course components included schedule, topic for each week, core concepts, essential readings, movie clips, and notes on lab activity as well as group collaboration. With this syllabus, the students could explore and understand course structure, as well as read and download learning materials with just direct clicking on icons.

After using multimedia syllabi for one semester, a survey was conducted and the students were asked whether it was helpful in terms of understanding course structure, accessing learning resources, studying course materials, doing group activities, etc. They were also asked to compare multimedia syllabi with traditional form of syllabi in terms of usefulness and convenience.
The results of analyzing the students’ responses indicated that they preferred multimedia syllabi over traditional ones because of usefulness in understanding course structure, accessibility to resources, and convenience in getting course materials. In addition, the students recognized the value of multimedia syllabus as a systematic way of organizing their learning activities and making their minds ready for new learning topics with actual learning resources.
However, the students who were not familiar with the web 2.0 learning platform did not consider their experience with the multimedia syllabus in positive ways. Therefore, for better learning outcomes, instructors and web-platform designers have to consider the prior experience of students regarding the web 2.0 learning environment before they implemented the multimedia syllabus.

Keywords:

Web 2.0, learning platform, multimedia syllabus.