When defining the appropriate medium to use it is vital to ‘know’ the audience and the technical specification of users’ machines. There may be technical reasons for choosing which multimedia element will best communicate certain concepts. Whatever medium is chosen, to apply a principle mentioned above to all digital media elements, visuals must be congruent, relevant, and consistent with other information presented in order to be effective. Whatever the latest technological advance, instructional design principles apply. For example, care needs to be taken when using visuals for aesthetic reasons. The misuse of a single visual element can cause misrepresentation of information and become a barrier to content and impede learning, even if the program overall may, in all other aspects, follow the principles of instructional design. It is important to bear in mind the nature of the audience, especially their age group and culture mix.
Human – Computer Interface
Multimedia applications like any other application, appliance or tool, benefit from being easy to use, with minimal training or self-learning. The need for a well designed human – computer interface, which may be screen or audio based is well accepted. The standards for computer- based publications are set by the publishers of books, music, Walt Disney cartoons and television producers. With the development of High Definition TV and beyond, it is likely that there will be a continual increase in the demands placed on computer based multimedia systems.
Access, Delivery, Scheduling and Recording
On demand access times to computer information need to be below one second to be usable in real time. Alternatively the delivery of information at a later time is acceptable if it can be scheduled, as in a TV broadcast schedule. Scheduling can have advantages for users over on demand delivery. In open learning situations learners can control their program by requesting a multimedia unit at a convenient time. Computer users will wish to record a film, session, or learning experience for future reference.
Interactivity
Computer based multimedia needs the same degree of interactivity that a school exercise book, or a laboratory experiment has in order to remain credible as a learning medium. Educationists have shown that certain forms of learning becomes easier, and is retained more permanently if the learner participates in some way with the learning material. The generation of computer based virtual reality is an extension of this process. The incorporation of interactivity is really the job of the application designer. The incorporation of interactivity is assisted if the network is capable of two-way communication, and for some applications the sense of interactivity is aided by the ability to deliver a moving picture, or a sound very quickly, so that a sense of two-way human participation can be generated. Real time video conferencing is an example.
Classroom Architecture and Resources
The technology needed to support classroom teaching has increased in complexity. Until only a few years ago all that a lecture room needed were some seats for the students, and a blackboard and a lectern or table for the teacher. Then came the overhead projector, slide projector and the return of TV with video player. Now there is the computer, networks and related display tools. From having a next to zero maintenance cost, the teaching room is becoming not only costly to equip, but costly to run and maintain, including the escalating costs of security. Figure 2 shows a typical multimedia based educational environment. The main teaching spaces are equipped with a standard set of presentation equipment, and full details of what is, and is not, available in each room.
The live lecture in the digital theater is concurrently broadcast to the remote distance-learning site. Even home-based students may join the live session. The ways in which users or participants in multimedia sessions access multimedia or connect with others have important consequences for the storage and transmission systems. For instance multimedia learning material can be accessed directly from a server during a class or downloaded to student machines prior to a session. The demands on a connecting network are very different in each access mode. Students learn to make use of multimedia as an aid to retrieving information from multiple sources such as digital libraries and multimedia servers that could support computer-assisted learning environments. Students learn to develop multimedia materials, especially as a component of project-based learning that is rooted in constructivism and in cooperative learning.
Multimedia offers the lecturer many benefits including: satisfying educational objectives, increasing students understanding, demonstrating events, showing places, conducting experiments which would otherwise be impossible. Sharing of multimedia outputs is done carefully such that it will not disturb other learners working in the same classroom! Not only may a number of students be performing similar activities at the same time on a network, the lecturer must decide whether to control the activities via the media of the computer. The use of multi-party desktop conferencing with the lecturer chairing the running of the conferencing session, showing selected parts of a video is a case in point.
Many school reform models focus on a significant restructuring of the classroom. They propose a shift from a teacher-centered didactic model to a learner-centered constructivist model. While details of these constructivist models vary, they typically include an emphasis on cooperative learning and on the use of project-based learning. Most types of school reform models recognize that multimedia brings a new dimension to reading and writing, and the need for students to develop basic skills in information retrieval in multimedia environments.
Training and Staff Development
Of course all of these teaching innovations require a new methodology to support the technology. It requires a change of direction in terms of academic planning and lectures need to be carefully structured to maximize the benefits that interactive systems bring to teaching.
The installation of any new technology inevitably brings with it the need for staff development courses, and the costs of such staff development should not be overlooked. With regards to presentation equipment within teaching spaces there are two main groups of people who require training, the lecturers and the support staff, though increasingly students also seek training in presentation skills. The availability of standards for multimedia networking, particularly for inter-working between applications, the development of networked applications, and interworking between networks are essential to reduce the complexity and level of skill required in using multimedia.
Resources – WWW and Virtual Environments
The World-Wide Web was created to support remote collaborative research, but it has developed primarily as a means of providing information that is linked to other information sources. It is an essential medium for accessing, delivering and exchanging information. The WWW provides a number of opportunities for teachers and students. Resources can be accessed which might otherwise have been unavailable. These include virtual libraries and museums. Other resources can be built up and used by students, for example questions and answers that can be searched or routed through to an expert if it is a new query and then the answer logged for future use. Teaching programs can be accessed and used by students as part of their modules.
The Web can be thought of as a digital global multimedia library (See Figure 2). With the steadily increasing classroom use of multimedia resources, students are required to develop the skills needed to locate information contained in this format. Developing skills for locating and evaluating information requires learning to distinguish good multimedia from poor multimedia materials.
Multimedia in education has the potential to go beyond the boundaries of interaction and explorative learning. The actors in the education community could establish a ‘Virtual Education Space’ (VES). A student can ‘create’ artifacts that reflect his/her understanding of concepts by combining text, voice and animation utilities. A teacher could customize lesson plans that can be individualized. Literally it is setting up an education lab to innovate and create.
Concerns
The fusion of all types of media in a digital world captures the ethos of the new technological age. Multimedia: a combination of video, text, still images and sound can provide an effective learning aid. But the adage, “Putting computers into schools will directly improve learning,” is negated by the reality that, “all this expensive technology will yield little educational return until schools and districts address the need for professional development, technical support, the availability of appropriate software, classroom management, and curriculum integration.”
The full potential of using multimedia technologies for learning in primary and secondary schools can only be realized after there has been some re-engineering of the way learning experiences are offered in the traditional schools and colleges. A critical element is for teachers to be familiar with multimedia technologies in order for them to know how to use them within their curriculum areas.
Moreover, the freedom of the Internet has some disadvantages. There is too much information on the Internet. Students must decide what information they need and what they do not need. The quality of the information can also be misleading. Students must be taught how to distinguish between quality and unimportant information. Since no rules exist on the Internet in terms of what can and cannot be disclosed, anyone can put any material
When defining the appropriate medium to use it is vital to ‘know’ the audience and the technical specification of users’ machines. There may be technical reasons for choosing which multimedia element will best communicate certain concepts. Whatever medium is chosen, to apply a principle mentioned above to all digital media elements, visuals must be congruent, relevant, and consistent with other information presented in order to be effective. Whatever the latest technological advance, instructional design principles apply. For example, care needs to be taken when using visuals for aesthetic reasons. The misuse of a single visual element can cause misrepresentation of information and become a barrier to content and impede learning, even if the program overall may, in all other aspects, follow the principles of instructional design. It is important to bear in mind the nature of the audience, especially their age group and culture mix.
Human – Computer Interface
Multimedia applications like any other application, appliance or tool, benefit from being easy to use, with minimal training or self-learning. The need for a well designed human – computer interface, which may be screen or audio based is well accepted. The standards for computer- based publications are set by the publishers of books, music, Walt Disney cartoons and television producers. With the development of High Definition TV and beyond, it is likely that there will be a continual increase in the demands placed on computer based multimedia systems.
Access, Delivery, Scheduling and Recording
On demand access times to computer information need to be below one second to be usable in real time. Alternatively the delivery of information at a later time is acceptable if it can be scheduled, as in a TV broadcast schedule. Scheduling can have advantages for users over on demand delivery. In open learning situations learners can control their program by requesting a multimedia unit at a convenient time. Computer users will wish to record a film, session, or learning experience for future reference.
Interactivity
Computer based multimedia needs the same degree of interactivity that a school exercise book, or a laboratory experiment has in order to remain credible as a learning medium. Educationists have shown that certain forms of learning becomes easier, and is retained more permanently if the learner participates in some way with the learning material. The generation of computer based virtual reality is an extension of this process. The incorporation of interactivity is really the job of the application designer. The incorporation of interactivity is assisted if the network is capable of two-way communication, and for some applications the sense of interactivity is aided by the ability to deliver a moving picture, or a sound very quickly, so that a sense of two-way human participation can be generated. Real time video conferencing is an example.
Classroom Architecture and Resources
The technology needed to support classroom teaching has increased in complexity. Until only a few years ago all that a lecture room needed were some seats for the students, and a blackboard and a lectern or table for the teacher. Then came the overhead projector, slide projector and the return of TV with video player. Now there is the computer, networks and related display tools. From having a next to zero maintenance cost, the teaching room is becoming not only costly to equip, but costly to run and maintain, including the escalating costs of security. Figure 2 shows a typical multimedia based educational environment. The main teaching spaces are equipped with a standard set of presentation equipment, and full details of what is, and is not, available in each room.
The live lecture in the digital theater is concurrently broadcast to the remote distance-learning site. Even home-based students may join the live session. The ways in which users or participants in multimedia sessions access multimedia or connect with others have important consequences for the storage and transmission systems. For instance multimedia learning material can be accessed directly from a server during a class or downloaded to student machines prior to a session. The demands on a connecting network are very different in each access mode. Students learn to make use of multimedia as an aid to retrieving information from multiple sources such as digital libraries and multimedia servers that could support computer-assisted learning environments. Students learn to develop multimedia materials, especially as a component of project-based learning that is rooted in constructivism and in cooperative learning.
Multimedia offers the lecturer many benefits including: satisfying educational objectives, increasing students understanding, demonstrating events, showing places, conducting experiments which would otherwise be impossible. Sharing of multimedia outputs is done carefully such that it will not disturb other learners working in the same classroom! Not only may a number of students be performing similar activities at the same time on a network, the lecturer must decide whether to control the activities via the media of the computer. The use of multi-party desktop conferencing with the lecturer chairing the running of the conferencing session, showing selected parts of a video is a case in point.
Many school reform models focus on a significant restructuring of the classroom. They propose a shift from a teacher-centered didactic model to a learner-centered constructivist model. While details of these constructivist models vary, they typically include an emphasis on cooperative learning and on the use of project-based learning. Most types of school reform models recognize that multimedia brings a new dimension to reading and writing, and the need for students to develop basic skills in information retrieval in multimedia environments.
Training and Staff Development
Of course all of these teaching innovations require a new methodology to support the technology. It requires a change of direction in terms of academic planning and lectures need to be carefully structured to maximize the benefits that interactive systems bring to teaching.
The installation of any new technology inevitably brings with it the need for staff development courses, and the costs of such staff development should not be overlooked. With regards to presentation equipment within teaching spaces there are two main groups of people who require training, the lecturers and the support staff, though increasingly students also seek training in presentation skills. The availability of standards for multimedia networking, particularly for inter-working between applications, the development of networked applications, and interworking between networks are essential to reduce the complexity and level of skill required in using multimedia.
Resources – WWW and Virtual Environments
The World-Wide Web was created to support remote collaborative research, but it has developed primarily as a means of providing information that is linked to other information sources. It is an essential medium for accessing, delivering and exchanging information. The WWW provides a number of opportunities for teachers and students. Resources can be accessed which might otherwise have been unavailable. These include virtual libraries and museums. Other resources can be built up and used by students, for example questions and answers that can be searched or routed through to an expert if it is a new query and then the answer logged for future use. Teaching programs can be accessed and used by students as part of their modules.
The Web can be thought of as a digital global multimedia library (See Figure 2). With the steadily increasing classroom use of multimedia resources, students are required to develop the skills needed to locate information contained in this format. Developing skills for locating and evaluating information requires learning to distinguish good multimedia from poor multimedia materials.
Multimedia in education has the potential to go beyond the boundaries of interaction and explorative learning. The actors in the education community could establish a ‘Virtual Education Space’ (VES). A student can ‘create’ artifacts that reflect his/her understanding of concepts by combining text, voice and animation utilities. A teacher could customize lesson plans that can be individualized. Literally it is setting up an education lab to innovate and create.
Concerns
The fusion of all types of media in a digital world captures the ethos of the new technological age. Multimedia: a combination of video, text, still images and sound can provide an effective learning aid. But the adage, “Putting computers into schools will directly improve learning,” is negated by the reality that, “all this expensive technology will yield little educational return until schools and districts address the need for professional development, technical support, the availability of appropriate software, classroom management, and curriculum integration.”
The full potential of using multimedia technologies for learning in primary and secondary schools can only be realized after there has been some re-engineering of the way learning experiences are offered in the traditional schools and colleges. A critical element is for teachers to be familiar with multimedia technologies in order for them to know how to use them within their curriculum areas.
Moreover, the freedom of the Internet has some disadvantages. There is too much information on the Internet. Students must decide what information they need and what they do not need. The quality of the information can also be misleading. Students must be taught how to distinguish between quality and unimportant information. Since no rules exist on the Internet in terms of what can and cannot be disclosed, anyone can put any material
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