Development of an instructional video on Islamic ethics and its effects on secondary school students’ willingness toward the observance of Islamic ethic, intrinsic motivation and cognitive load

Abstract

This study aims to develop and evaluate an instructional video for teaching Islamic ethics in a selected secondary school in Kano state of Nigeria. This is in response to the necessity to revise instructional strategies for teaching Islamic studies by incorporating technology in the classroom. A video drama on Islamic ethics was designed, developed, implemented and evaluated based on the needs analysis which has been carried out as the preliminary analysis. The needs analysis involved focus group interview with three subject matter experts; and classroom observations. The video production was carried out meticulously based on the framework of (i) modified ADDIE (Analyze, design, develop, implement and evaluate) model by Gustafson and Branch (ii) Mayers’ and Merone’s ways of reducing cognitive overload of multimedia learning, and (iii) Malone’s theory of intrinsic motivation. Five aspects of Islamic ethics were covered in the instructional video; two of them were commandments which were goodness to parents and family, the other three aspects were prohibitions of committing unethical acts such as extravagance, adultery/fornication, and killings, as explained in the Qur’an chapter 17 verses 29 to 39. The video was formatively evaluated by three Subject Matter Experts and three Technical Matter Experts to ensure the validity of the content, presentation style and usability of the video. In the summative evaluation phase, the researcher adopted a survey to 60 students through randomized post-test control group experimental design. The students were randomly assigned into experimental (with video treatment) and control group (without video). The students were assessed in order to measure the influence of the video on students’ willingness toward the observance of Islamic ethics, cognitive overload and intrinsic motivation. To triangulate summative evaluation data, three students were purposely selected and interviewed. The results show strong corroboration between the two data sets (survey and interview). It was revealed that students from the experimental group have a higher agreement toward the observance of Islamic ethics, and a higher intrinsic motivation compared to those in the control group. Similarly, students from the experimental group are experience higher germen load than those in the control group. Conversely, students from the experimental group experience less intrinsic load compared to those in the control group. With regards to extraneous load, both groups experience less extraneous load. Finally, this research will offer salient contributions in reforming the method of teaching Islamic education by making it innovative, dynamic and flexible in such a way that collaborates with the needs of 21st century students.