| Summary, etc. |
The study aimed to evaluate the Academic Ramp Manual in Math Plus and determine its implication to Mathematics teaching. This study was limited to two hundred fifty-five (255) Fourth Class Midshipmen and thirteen (13) Mathematics Instructors in Math Plus of the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific. It was focused on the evaluation of the utilized Academic Ramp Manual in Math Plus during the Incorporation and Indoctrination Period of the respondents during the Academic Year 2014-2015. Specifically, the variables under study involved the objectives, format, content, organization, language and usability of the said manual. Objectives criteria included sub- criteria such as nature, purpose and procedure. Format involved structure, layout and quality. Content dealt with logical presentation, consistency and quality. Organization covered the coherence, unity and ideas, emphasis and relevance to discipline. Language comprised communicative and language function. Lastly, usability featured effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in the content of use. This study involved encoding and processing of relevant data using statistical methods with the aid of the statistical software called PASW Statistics Version 18.0. To address the specific problems of this study, statistical tool such as weighted mean, with corresponding descriptive equivalent were used to present the evaluative response of the teachers and students on Academic Ramp Manual on Math Plus in terms of Objectives, Format, Content, Organization, Language, and Usability. Further, Mann Whitney U test was used to compare the evaluation ratings of the faculty members and students on the manual. vi The study found out that the objectives of each lesson in the manual were found to be well-written in terms of its nature, purpose and procedure to attain them. The respondents also found the format of the instructional manual to be its weakest area since it gained the lowest overall mean. On the other hand, the respondents were found to be very satisfied with the communicative and language function of the instructional manual. The respondents also found the Academic Ramp Manual in Math Plus to be useful in terms of its effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in the content of use. In general, the evaluation of the Academic Ramp Manual in Math Plus gained an overall rating of 'very satisfactory' in terms of its objectives, format, content, organization, language and usability. It was also found out that there was no significant difference between the evaluation of the faculty members and students on the Academic Ramp Manual in Math Plus. It was therefore highly recommended that the utilization of an instructional manual in Math Plus during the Academic Ramp Program be continued with some adjustments and modifications on the teaching strategies to suit the needs of both the low and high performing students. Moreso, revisions should be made in terms of the manual's format and content by improving its readability, visual appeal and by infusing new set of practice exercises and problems to sustain learning. In addition, list of references at the end of each lesson should be incorporated to the manual to give students additional materials for reading and practice exercises. Further, exposure to another group of samples for validation and evaluation of the instructional manual in Math Plus be done to further enhance its content and usability. Lastly, faculty members should be encouraged to develop similar instructional materials in other disciplines. |
