Multimedia Instruction in the Nutrition Class

Diet related chronic diseases are epidemic in the United States, and restaurant clients demand nutritious meals. The curriculum of the nutrition class in the culinary school includes the concepts of nutrition that are essential for the aspiring chefs to know in order to meet the needs of the future clients. However, culinary students? performance in the nutrition class was unsatisfactory. Lecture was the main instructional tool in the class, which could be the cause of the students' poor performance because modern students expect expert instructors using educational technology. The action research study examined the effect of the web-based multimedia instruction on the culinary students' learning and academic performance. The results of the study revealed a statistically significant (p < .05) difference in academic performance between mean test scores for the treatment and the control classes. The class that was taught with the web-based multimedia instruction scored significantly higher on the test than the traditionally taught class. Also, culinary students from the web-based multimedia instruction taught class reported having enjoyable learning experiences.