The Effect of Personality Type on the Usage of a Multimedia Engineering Education System

1 Albert I. Reuther, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, 244 Wood St., Lexington, MA 02420, [email protected]. Dr. Reuther was a graduate student at Purdue University when this research was being conducted. 2 David G. Meyer, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1285, [email protected]. This research and DVJ2 system development was sponsored by Intel Academic Relations, the Ameritech Foundation, and Thomson Consumer Electronics. Abstract  Multimedia education has quickly entered our classrooms and offices providing tutorials and lessons on many different topics. The assumption that most people interact with these multimedia systems in similar ways can easily be made, but are these assumptions valid? What factors determine whether students will embrace computerbased multimedia-augmented learning? One factor may be a student’s personality type. This paper explores the reasons why some students may enjoy learning using computerbased educational delivery systems while others may have absolutely no enthusiasm for this type of learning, and how that enthusiasm may relate to the students’ personality types. The paper first explains the Digital VideoJockey – Version 2 (DVJ2) educational multimedia system in place at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, and then discusses the learning needs and expectations of different personality type characteristics. An analysis of students’ personality types and their DVJ2 system usage follows, and a discussion on possible ways to improve the DVJ2 system in light of this analysis concludes the paper.