Md. Habibul Ahasan
[email protected], [email protected]
A B S T R A C T
Social Work (SW) educators are increasingly using a number of visual aids in their lessons to make the learning process more effective. To teach the dominant SW courses, educators in this discipline are likely to use relevant photographs, videos, posters, graphs and other visual contents in addition to textbooks. The goal of this study is to explore the current beliefs and challenges of educators by using multimedia for teaching visuals in SW courses at the tertiary level. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that this study took place at a government institution, only educators were chosen based on their availability, experience, and willingness to take part in this research. The data was gathered through qualitative methodology. A semi-structured interview schedule was used to collect information, and finally, using the thematic approach, the data was analyzed. The findings show that incorporating visual aids with multimedia in the classroom provides a number of benefits. It enhances student comprehension, boosts participation, and keeps students’ attention focused on the substance of the lesson. The research findings also reveal that educators encounter certain obstacles, such as inadequate proficiency in utilizing multimedia with visual aids, insufficient availability of multimedia classrooms and equipment, a lack of proper training and low internet speed, the absence of backup power sources, and a lack of additional financial incentives for their supplementary efforts. The results of this study indicate that the integration of visual multimedia can augment the attractiveness and comprehensibility of instructional sessions. The participation of students in a multimedia-based classroom environment has the potential to function as a catalyst for their academic motivation.