UTILIZATION OF ONLINE INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS AND STUDENTS’

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

One of the important dimensions of effective learning process is

related to the use of instructional materials _______. These

materials can be used in both face to face and online classroom

___________. However, some must be modified to be effective for

the online environment___________. The best instructional

materials are aligned with all other elements in the course,

including the learning objectives, assessments and

activities_____________. Instructional materials are those

materials used by a teacher to simplify their teaching, these

provide the core information that students will experience, learn

and apply during course _____________. They hold power to either

engage or demotivate students __________. According to Ibe-Bassey

(2004), instructional materials are objects, devices and things

that are used by teachers to transmit, transfer, and to share

their encoded lessons with their learners (students), who will

decode such lessons_____________. By analyzing and interpreting

them to facilitate effective learning, the teacher being the

leader is a competent figure that must first address the code to

his lessons, to provoke curiosity, capture attention, arouse and

sustain interest, quicken Journal of Educational Media and

Technology, Volume 17, Number 1 2013 106 perception, enhance

retention, create impression in the learner as well as facilitate

recall ______________________. For the teachers to achieve them

need to formulate and initiate such lessons, with visual

instructional media should be systematically designed and

produced _______________. That is, the behavioral objectives, the

learner’s characteristics, the contents, the instructional

strategies and the evaluation techniques of the lessons should be

matched to the media_______________. This actually will

facilitate the integration of the use of visual instructional

media in teaching and learning process__________.

There is the need to make teaching and learning of various school

subjects more interesting, motivating and stimulating to the

learners and one of the ways of doing this is the utilization of

instructional materials____________. The teacher’s ability to

produce and utilize visual instructional media for teaching and

learning depend to a great extent on his continuous interaction

and use of varieties of instructional materials. Instructional

media are information carrier and they are integral components of

classroom teaching and learning __________________. They are

learner-centered, prepared, produced and utilized mainly to

facilitate learning; they are designed to promote learner’s

understanding. Resource materials allow learners to have

practical experiences which help them to develop skills and

concept and to work in a variety of way _______________. The work

of Sampath (1990) graphically explain the people learn more

through the senses of sight and hearing compared to other senses.

Some of the instructional materials necessary for effective

teaching and learning, Walter (1979) used a wide variety of

interrelated resources of picture, phenomena, photographic

(posters, charts, graphs, drawings, diagrams, sketches, slide and

cartoons) flat picture comics and visual instructional materials

to enrich instruction. Walter (1998) proposes that visual

instructional material should be used to clarify teacher’s points

and put the use of verbalization to a minimum. The attention of

the learners could be captured, interest aroused and sustained

using visual instructional materials, the attention span of the

learners could be expanded and retention enhanced because of the

level to which their interest has been aroused. It becomes

necessary to make learning entertaining to effect a desirable

change on the target audience (learner). To make learning

entertaining and to also arouse the learner’s interest and

attention, it could be suggested that the design and application

of visual instructional materials should be incorporated in every

learning situation. Therefore, such materials must be carefully

planned, selected, organized, refined, and used in a course for

maximum effect. Relatively Academic Performances according to

Cambridge University reporter (2003), is frequently defines in

terms of examination and performances. Academic performances

refer to what the students have learned or what skills students

had learned and is usually measured trough assessment, like

standardized test, performance assessment and portfolio

assessment. Academic performance is the extent to which a

students, teacher and institution has performed their long- and

short-term educational goal. Therefore, academic performance is

important because it show the core value attached to teaching and

learning. It also relevant to working people as it aids to tackle

the technologically demanding occupation of the future.

Research Gap

Purpose of the Study

Theoretical Framework

This study hinges on the theory of learning as described by

cognitive psychologists. Cognitive psychologists posit that in

attempt to learn anything a child must pay attention to it. It

also involves exploration of the visual field, fixing the eyes

successively on different parts of rating and these parts are

anticipating phenomenon that are not yet clearly perceived

(Akanbi, 1989). Ertmer and Newby (6, 8) nicely explained the

importance of linking instructional strategies or techniques to

the theories of human learning. They indicated that learning

theories are considered a source of verifying instructional

strategies as well as a foundation for the selection of specific

strategies. The theories provide information about the

relationships among strategies, context, and learner

characteristics for better integration, and, most importantly,

learning theories allow for reliable prediction of the

effectiveness of the selected instructional strategies.

Behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism are the three

primary learning theories. The three theories differ in how

learning is defined, which subsequently leads to different roles

for the learners, and dictates that different teaching methods

and assessment strategies are used. This study largely inspired

by the seminal work of lev Vygotsky this theory assumed that

human minds do not develop by virtue of some predetermined

cognitive structures that unfold as one matures. Rather, this

theory posits that human mind develop as a result of constant

interaction with the social material world.

According to Vygotsky, human mind develops through interaction

with materials in the learning process where people learn from

each other and use their experiences to successfully make sense

of the materials they interact with. These experiences are

crystalized in culture tools, and the learners have to maters

such tools in order to develop specific knowledge and skills in

solving specific problem and in the process become competent in

specific profession. In the classroom, these tools can be a

picture, a model or a pattern of solving a problem. However, such

tool is combination of elements of different orders, and human

language is the multi-level tool par excellence, combining

culturally evolved arrangements of meaning, sounds, melody, rules

of communication and so forth.

 Conceptual Framework

Instructional materials play an important role in teaching and

learning process the availabilities of text book, appropriate

chalkboard, mathematics kits and sciences kit, teaching guide,

audio visual aids, overhead projectors among others are the

important instructional materials. According to Merrill’s

Instructional Design theory relies on the different ways learning

can be facilitated. Each phase in the learning process has an

important role to play. There are four core phases of learning:

demonstration, activation of previous knowledge, application,

integration into real-world challenges. The approach is task-

centered. In addition, this theory involves "scaffolding,"

whereby learners are gradually introduced to more complex ideas

and concepts as the lesson progresses.

Schematic Diagram

This schematic diagram is developed for the purpose of the study.

Development
Academic
performances Utilization
outcomes

Instructional
materials/strategies

Application
Participations

Scope and Delimitation

This study is conducted to find out the importance of utilization

of online instructional materials and its impact to the academic

performances of students. The researcher aims to conduct the

study in primary school teachers and students in each level. Data

will be collected during the school year 2021-2022.

This study uses a descriptive design. The instrument is adopted

in the survey through the use of google docs and paper pencil

questionnaire. The factor will be the demo-graphic information of

the primary students and teachers in terms of age and sex. It has
4-point Likert scale to determine the impact of instructional

materials in the learning process.

Significance of the Study

Any investigation made is done for some reason. The result of

this study significantly benefits the following group of people.

Students: This result will influence learners to stay in school

and stimulates learning.

Teacher: This study of instructional materials along with other

reform movement, allow educators to plan for appropriate

materials for teaching and learning so as to provide quality

education.

School and Administrator: This study enables education planner to

think the range of service the school can provide, and find a

creative way of improving facilities that would be effectively

utilized.

Parents: This study result will help parents to send and trust

their child to the particular school.

Future Researcher: This study will be helpful as a reference and

a guide to those who are interested to conduct in this particular

topic. This will provide meaningful information and understanding

the utilization of online instructional materials.

 Statement of the problem

This study will focus on the primary grade teachers and

elementary level, specifically this study is to examine the

influence and utilization of online instructional materials on

academic performances of students.

This study seeks to answer the following question:

1. what is the socio-demographic profile of the respondents in

group according to?

a. Sex

b. Age

c. Civil Status

d. Year level

2. To what extent does teachers’ ability to utilize

instructional material relate to students’ academic

performance?

3. How does the gender affect the use of instructional

materials?

4. What are the strategies that teachers use to minimize the

challenges attaining and using quality instructional

materials?

Hypothesis
The key purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which

the utilization of online instructional materials deeper from

different schools, and how this has promoted the academic

performances of the students. The fining of this study has

implications for quality practice regarding the planning and

finding of schools for quality provision of education.

1. Teacher ability to utilize instructional materials does not

significantly affect the academic performances of students.

2. The gender does not significantly affect the use of

instructional materials.

Definition of Terms

the following term are defined for the purpose of clarifying and

understanding on the concept present in the study.

Instructional Materials are facilities given to students, so that

they can use every opportunity to develop full potential.

Instructional materials include fixtures, equipment and buildings

necessary for the effective and efficient operation of the

program. (uslegal.com.2015)
Academic performance refers to the level at which a students,

teacher or institution has managed to reach their educational

goal.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Instructional Material Theories

Instructional material theories assume that there is a direct

link between the materials that the teachers use, and the

students’ learning outcomes. These outcomes include higher

abilities to learn, quality strategies to learn and perform

classroom activities and positive attitude towards learning.

Further, these theories assume that instructional materials have

the capacity to develop into students the highest order of

intellectual skills as they illustrate clearly, step by step how

to follow the rules/principles and elaborate on the concepts, all

of which have positive impact on 16 solving new problems by

analyzing the situation and formulating a plan (Gagné et al.

2005). According to Gagne et al, instructional material can be

used to develop higher learning abilities to the learners through

self-teaching or guided learning. This implies that the

instructional materials mainly comprise “eliciting performance”

and “providing feedback on performance correctness,” in addition

to “providing learning guidance” for guided discovery learning.

Many of these ideas have capacity building undertones with themes

of students’ acquisition of critical thinking and problem-solving

skills. However, the theory does not relate to whether or not

students can think critically in what aspects or how they can

solve a particular problem by themselves. However, I have the

opinion that the purpose of instructional materials or technology

in education is to stretch students’ imagination and to encourage

them to solve problems in their lives. Similar ideas are held by

Lev Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist who held a view that tools

and signs, which are in a form of instructional materials, have

the capacity to develop in students’ higher level of thinking,

which is important in problem-solving activities. However, since

they are considered to be domain-specific, the ways instructional

materials can start cognitive development is yet to be studied

with respect to classroom teaching. Thus, this study stretches

these views.

Classroom Applications of Vygotsky’s Theory

Vygotsky’s concept of the zone of proximal development is based

on the idea that development is defined both by what a child can

do independently and by what the child can do when assisted by an

adult or more competent peer (Daniels, 1995; Wertsch, 1991).

Knowing both levels of Vygotsky’s zone is useful for teachers,

for these levels indicate where the child is at a given moment as

well as where the child is going. The zone of proximal

development has several implications for teaching in the

classroom.

According to Vygotsky, for the curriculum to be developmentally

appropriate, the teacher must plan activities that encompass not

only what children are capable of doing on their own but what

they can learn with the help of others (Karpov & Haywood, 1998).

Vygotsky’s theory does not mean that anything can be taught to

any child. Only instruction and activities that fall within the

zone promote development. For example, if a child cannot identify

the sounds in a word even after many prompts, the child may not

benefit immediately from instruction in this skill. Practice of

previously known skills and introduction of concepts that are too

difficult and complex have little positive impact. Teachers can

use information about both levels of Vygotsky’s zone of proximal

development in organizing classroom activities in the following

ways:

 Instruction can be planned to provide practice in the zone

of proximal development for individual children or for

groups of children. For example, hints and prompts that

 helped children during the assessment could form the basis

of instructional activities.

 Cooperative learning activities can be planned with groups

of children at different levels who can help each other

learn.

 Scaffolding (Wood, Bruner, & Ross, 1976) is a tactic for

helping the child in his or her zone of proximal development

in which the adult provides hints and prompts at different

levels. In scaffolding, the adult does not simplify the

task, but the role of the learner is simplified “through the

graduated intervention of the teacher” (Greenfield, 1984, p.

119).

According to Vygotsky, human mind develops through interaction

with materials in the learning process where people learn from

each other and use their experiences to successfully make sense

of the materials they interact with. These experiences are

crystallized in 'cultural tools', and the learners have to master

such tools in order to develop specific knowledge and skills in

solving specific problems and, in the process, become competent

in specific profession. In the classroom, these tools can be a

picture, a model, or pattern of solving a problem. Most often

however, such tools are combinations of elements of different

orders, and human language is the multi-level tool par

excellence, combining culturally evolved arrangements of

meanings, sounds, melody, rules of communication, and so forth.

Learning by using such tools is not something that simply helps

the mind to develop. Rather, this kind of learning leads to new,

more elaborated forms of mental functioning. For example, when

children master such a complex cultural tool as human language,

this results not only in their ability to talk but leads to

completely new levels of thinking, self-regulation and mentality

in general. It is the specific organization of this tool (e.g.,

the semantic, pragmatic and syntactic structures of language)

that calls into being and in effect shapes and forms new facets

of the child's mind. Importantly, cultural tools are not merely

static 'things' but embodiments of certain ways of acting in

human communities. In other words, they represent the functions

and meanings of things, as discovered in cultural practices: 18

they are "objects-that-can-be used- for-certain-purposes" in

human societies. As such, they can be appropriated by a child

only through acting upon and with them, that is, only in the

course of actively reconstructing their meaning and function. And

such reconstruction of cultural tools is initially possible only

in the process of cooperating and interacting with other people

who already possess the knowledge (i.e. the meaning) of a given

cultural tool
Instructional resources as a concept

According to Talabi (2003) instructional resources include a wide

range of resource materials and devices designed to enhance

realistic imagery and substitute experience to enrich curricular

experiences of many kinds. Instructional resources are materials

used to improve learners’ knowledge, abilities and skills, to

monitor their assimilation of information, and to contribute to

their overall development and upbringing (Soviet encyclopedia,

1979). As pointed out by Tamakloe, Amedale, and Atta (2005)

instructional resources are any resource which the teacher uses

to enhance learning, understanding or the acquisition of

concepts, principles and skills by students. Instructional

resource is, therefore, any material which is employed in the

teaching and learning process, either by the teachers or the

students to promote understanding, and the internalization and

application of lesson content. Odumah (2002) describes

instructional resources in teaching and learning as those various

resources available in and outside the school environment which

he uses to make the teaching and learning interesting, meaningful

and effective for students. Ericson and Curl (1972) upheld the

view above when they asserted that instructional resources are

equipment that may be used to convey meaning without complete

dependence on verbal symbols. This view point was corroborated by

Awoyemi, (2003) when he said; instructional materials are those

materials available to a teacher in educational setting, which he

uses to make his teaching very meaningful and effective for

students understanding. This was further corroborated by Okunloye

(2011) when he asserted that instructional resources are people,

events, places or materials that are used to enhance learning,

usually by simplifying a difficult situation or making

uninteresting learning attractive for learning. Instructional

resources abound in both human and non-human materials for the

use of the teacher, and social studies is the subject that has

the monopoly of achieving the cognitive, affective and

psychomotor domains of knowledge through the reliance of the use

of different types of instructional resources. The above

definitions imply that, the professional social studies teacher

can no longer depend on the mere theories and principles of the

traditional method of teaching. An up-to-date teacher, versed in

educational conventional resources is needed in this fast growing

and technologically advanced society.

The impact of online instructional materials on student learning

outcome

According to Chou (Chou, Peng, & Chang, 2010), defined active

interaction in online learning activities including the types of

interaction: the learner -self, learner- learner, learner -

instructor, learner -content, and learner interface. The learning

activities in the course is a combination of forms of interaction

between the subjects involved in the teaching and learning

activities include: student-content, student-instructor, and

student-student interaction (Gradel & Edson, 2010). Popular LMS

systems currently provide essential tools that allow interactive

activities in the course, such as forums, message, online forms

of assignments, exercises in wiki format, virtual classroom, etc.

These tools also assist teachers in tracking and monitoring the

student learning process, such as status submitted assignments

reports, the frequency of access statistics, activity logs on the

system. There have been many studies propose solutions to make

interactive activities effectively support the learning process

of students. Evans and colleagues (Evans & Sabry, 2003)

implemented three interactive activities: the pace control, self-

assessment, interactive simulation of his research and time of

using the system is a factor affecting student results. The

results of their study showed that students with better results

and need less time learning when interacting more with the

system. However, the research no conducted with other interactive

forms. Similarly, according to research results (Damianov,

Kupczynski, & Calafiore, 2009), there is a positive influence in

the direction of time spent online and the results calculated by

the scores of students, especially students in the group above

average. Contrary to the judgment of Eom (Eom, Wen, & Ashill,

2006) showed that there was no relationship between other forms

of interaction to the learning outcomes of students. Early

research found out interactive activities online in the blended

learning course have an impact on student learning outcomes.

In this study, we examine the influence of interactive forms of

student - teacher interaction, student - student interaction,

student - content interaction, and student - technology

interaction to learning outcomes. There are some reasons: i)

there is a variety of interactive activities but can classify

into four groups of above mention interaction, based on the

participants. ii) LMS systems support tools and mean to implement

the relevant operation effects mentioned above. iii) Clarifying

the impact of interactive form to student performance based on

previous studies have shown these types of interactions mentioned

above can affect the student learning outcomes.

The student-teacher interaction

Student - teacher interaction is a key activity in the

traditional teaching method when the teachers play a central

role. With blended learning environment, learners play the

central role, interaction between teacher and students become

more flexible in many different forms. Kang and colleagues (Kang

& Im, 2013), said that the interactive activities between

teachers and students have an impact on learning outcomes of

students when implementing learning activities such as learning

assistance, and social intimacy, communication and instructional

Q & A, instructor presence, Instructional support. Liu (Liu,

2016) suggested using video blogging class to assist students in

achieving good results for some kind of special courses for the

oral training course.

The student - student interaction

Blended learning environment allows students to have more

favorable conditions of time, space to perform the interactive

operation. With the supported technology, the forms of

interaction between the students in the course are increasingly

diverse and more efficient. The previous studies have shown that

this kind of interaction student - student that affect learning

outcomes. The online learning activities different to be tested

to determine whether the effects of this interaction. Dawson and

colleagues (Dawson, E, & Tan, 2008) indicate that interaction via

discussion forums is 80% of interaction in online learning

environments. However, studies have not mentioned the influence

of activities through the forum on learning outcomes. Schrire

(Schrire, 2006) suggests that students obtain better academic

results when participating in discussions with each other rather

than proceed with the teacher. Song (Song & SW, 2011) examined

the interaction through discussion measured by the number of

postings and log-in with academic results and showed no

correlation between the number of scores posted to results.

Besides, in this study, the authors implemented only in the

asynchronous interactive type.

Similarly, Macfadyen (Macfadyen & Dawson, 2010) constructed

regression model that results showed a tight correlation between

the study results to the number of forum posts, the number of

completed assignments. Kent (Kent et al., 2016) analyzed the

quantitative data based on the number of post and view of the 231

students in online discussion activities. Considering the role of

teamwork, Mitchell (Mitchell & Honore, 2007) noted that working

groups have a positive impact on learning outcomes of students.

Consider factors influenced by social networks, Sparrowe

(Sparrowe, Liden, Wayne, & Kraimer, 2001) suggests that social

networks have a direct impact on the final learning outcomes of

learners. However, Kayode (Kayode & Teng, 2014) review the impact

of the interaction on learning outcomes, with interactive

activities including reading the contents of the blog,

interacting with other learners, and engaging in the blog context

with 342 students participated in the experiment. The results

showed that this form of interaction between the students

together no significantimpact on student learning outcomes.

The student - content interaction

With the support tools, learning content design is increasingly

diverse in forms and ways to communicate the sense of excitement

generated for learners to learn. Moallem (Moallem, 2003) stated

that “it became clear that developing an online course that

encourages student exploration and reflection required much more

thinking, time, and effort than had been predicted.” (p.99).

Anderson (Anderson, 2003) also stated that “Content, having only

volition ascribed to it by humans, is the most flexible of

actors, “willing” to undertake any combination and quantity of

interaction” (p. 3). Lee (Lee & Bonk, 2016; Sim & Hew, 2010)

shows that the impact of experience using blogs to the learning

outcomes of students. Yang (Yang, Quadir, Chen, & Miao, 2016)

developed Col framework model proposed by Garrison and colleagues

(Garrison & Vaughan, 2008) develop blog content course, and

online presence shows their impact on academic performance.

Similarly, video blog in the course content is also used to

improve the efficiency of learning (Liu, 2016). Asterhan

(Asterhan & Hever, 2015) showed a positive effect on the content

reads to the learning outcomes, which are also shown in the study

by Ramos (Ramos & Yudko, 2008) when they analyzed correlation

keep the number of pages viewed, discussion posts, discussion

reads to the learning outcomes of students. Nandi (Nandi,

Hamilton, Harland, & Warburton, 2011) also showed that the number

of posts increases in the time students have to submit

assignments or take exams, students have better academic results

time more online during the course.

The student – technology interaction

LMS systems to help design and develop the course in the form of

blended or online learning easier and more convenient. Through

providing learning activities such as lessons, forum, quiz,

wikis, surveys help students easily interact with the learning

environment. Steel and colleagues (Steel, Keppell, Gerbic, &

Housego, 2010) showed that the relationship between the frequency

of the LMS system access (via counting the number of clicks)

affect student scores. Wei and colleagues (Wei et al., 2015) have

examined the impact of the interaction via the LMS tools. Data of

381 undergraduate students through analysis of the results of

assignments form (online discussion, exam, group project) and the

data access (access time, the number of posts, the time to read

the document), the research results show that the relative

activity this can affect their academic performance. Notice that

the LMS system or technological factors play a major role in

promoting the interactive learning activities. Nick Z. Zacharis

(Zacharis, 2015) have demonstrated the Wiki edit learning

activities, content creation contribution, mail messages read,

and assignments submitted quiz engagement affect 10% to 27% of

the learning outcomes of students in the blended learning courses

when considering 29 o

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
 These research chapter presents the research design, the

respondents of the study, sampling procedure on data collection

instrument, validity, reliability, data collection procedure, and

data statistical analysis.

RESEARCH DESIGN

This study is a descriptive survey design. This method allows the

researcher to have a vivid description concerning the current

status of the teaching with regard to instructional methods and

materials and attitudes of teachers towards instructional methods

and materials for teaching the topic.

RESPONDENTS OF THE STUDY

The respondent of the study will be randomizing selected

consists of students and teachers of different school in

Kabankalan City Negros Occidental.

DATA GATHERING INSTRUMENT

 The instrument is adopted in a survey, questionnaire, test

scale, rating or tool designed to measure the variables and

information of interest. In this research, the factor will be the

socio-demographic information of the students in terms of sex and

age. It has a 4 – point Likert scale to determine the extent of

challenges.

If revision will be suggested the questionnaire will be

subjected to face and content validated by the experts in

distance learning and education to ensure that items are

scientifically correct and relevant. The suggestions and

corrections will be incorporated in the final format of the

instrument before disseminating it online.

DATA GATHERING PROCEDURE

After establishing the correction and suggestions during the

pre-oral defense, the researchers will write a letter requesting

approval of the school for the formal conduct of the study. Upon

approval for the conduct of the study, the researchers ask

permission from the district supervisor to survey the

respondents.

During the conduct, the researcher will be holding a short

briefing in the nature and purpose of the study. After the

briefing, the researchers will disseminate a paper pencil

questionnaire, and or upload the questionnaire in the google form

to identify the qualified respondents which will be utilized as

the actual participant of the study using the prepared

instrument. The respondents will be given enough time to finish

answering the questionnaire. After they have finished answering

the instrument, they were assured utmost confidentiality and

professionalism. Any disclosure of raw information was not within

the context of the research process.

Encoding of raw data subject for data analyses and

treatment followed immediately after the retrieval of the

instrument with the responses of the participants.

DATA TREATMENT AND ANALYSIS

Appropriate statistical tools were employed for data

analyses to derive into correct conclusions based from the

findings of the study.

To answer problem 1, What is the socio-demographic profile

of the respondents in when group according to sex and age?

Frequency count and percentage distribution will be used.

To answer problems 2, What is the level difficulties in the

modular learning in the Fellowship Baptist College? weighted mean

will be used.