Android-Based Courseware as an Educational Technology Innovation for Electrical Circuit Course: An Effectiveness Study

Abstract

This study investigates the effectiveness of Android-Based Courseware (AC) in teaching electrical circuits to vocational students in higher education. The courseware was developed using Android Studio and was implemented in the Electrical Circuit Course (ECC) at the Industrial Electrical Engineering study program, Universitas Negeri Padang, Indonesia. The AC consists of four primary menus designed to facilitate learning implementation: learning materials, simulations, animations, and interactive quizzes for evaluations. The study utilized a pre-experimental design with a one-group pre-test-post-test design involving a group of students who used the AC in the learning process. The cluster random sampling technique was employed to select the research subjects. This study involved 68 students as research subjects. Data was collected through a written test, utilizing a multiple-choice test as the research instrument. The effectiveness of the AC was evaluated based on the differential analysis of pre-test and post-test scores using the paired-sample t-test. Furthermore, the effect size of the AC on the learning process was determined using Cohen’s d effect size analysis. The results showed a significant difference (alpha significance value is 0.000 and less than 0.05) between the post-test and pre-test scores, with the post-test scores (x̄ = 85.00) being higher than the pre-test scores (x̄ = 60.00). This indicates that the courseware effectively improves the learning process of the ECC. Additionally, the effect size analysis results show that the effect of using the courseware falls within the large category. These findings suggest that the AC can be an effective tool in the learning process of the ECC and can improve student learning outcomes. Specifically, the AC has a significant impact on enhancing students’ cognitive and practical abilities concerning electrical circuit concepts.