educational software and multimedia

COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING/MULTIMEDIA

CAL

CMICALLCAI

CBI

CBT

CAL

emphasis on learning

computer assisted learning

THIS PRESENTATION:

Overview of computer assisted learning.

MORE SPECIFICALLY:

I. types of CAL software,II. hypermedia/multimedia

environments,III. authoring languages,IV. design considerations,V. a critical view of

CAL/multimedia.

I. TYPES OF CAL SOFTWARE

drill and practice games simulations tutorials tools (hypermedia) (CMI software; e.g.. tests)

categorizing is difficult:

imagine a “space travel game” in a“hyper environment” with atutorial component.

• drill and practice

Typically, drill and practiceactivities are supplementaryto the “normal” teaching process.

• drill and practice

Drill and practice is good forfundamental mastery.

• drill and practice

Can be thought of as a “flash card”system of the stimulus-responsemodel.

• drill and practice

Speed is important for both presentation and feedback.

randomness record keeping

• drill and practice

often incorporates:

• games

Often CAL software is presentedin game format.

• games

May include point scoring, andcan be individual or team format.

• games

Have the potential for a verymotivational environment.

• simulations

Can provide microworlds (e.g.,a world without friction orgravity).

• simulationsThe University of Illinois hassuccessfully provided computer-driven “dry” chemistry labs.

SIMULATIONS ARE safe inexpensive fast slow clean possible

• tutorials

Self-paced, where the computeracts as an infinitely-patient,all-wise tutor.

Is this guy slow, or what??

Typically a good tutorial will have astructure(s) as follows:

give information test

giveinfo.. . .

remediate

OK

(needs help)

give information test

giveinfo.

remediate

OK

(needs help)

..

.

can be verycomplex

• tools

Typically, application programswhich are being used by thestudent for learning.

spreadsheet programs statistics packages hypermedia software desktop publishing

software presentation software CAD software etc.

• examples of tools

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II. HYPERMEDIA &MULTIMEDIA ENVIRONMENTS

hyper- pref. ‘over’, ‘above’, ‘too’...

eg. hypersensitive or hypertension

hypermedia can be thought of as “chunks” of information (nodes),stored in a structure, and accessed by links (buttons).

• HYPERTEXT

Textual information, structuredby use of links and nodes.

Here is some exampletext which is going tobe shrunk down to asize which is barelyrecognisable; good toobecause then my poorspelling won’t berecognised. Now, Ihave run out of exampletext. Oh well; so what?

Here is some exampletext which is going tobe shrunk down to asize which is barelyrecognisable; good toobecause then my poorspelling won’t berecognised. Now, Ihave run out of exampletext. Oh well; so what?

Here is some exampletext which is going tobe shrunk down to asize which is barelyrecognisable; good toobecause then my poorspelling won’t berecognised. Now, Ihave run out of exampletext. Oh well; so what?

• HYPERMEDIA

Like hypertext, but includingsound, video, and/or animation.

Here is some exampletext which is going tobe shrunk down to asize which is barelyrecognisable; good toobecause then my poorspelling won’t berecognised. Now, Ihave run out of exampletext. Oh well; so what?

Here is some exampletext which is going tobe shrunk down to asize which is barelyrecognisable; good toobecause then my poorspelling won’t berecognised. Now, Ihave run out of exampletext. Oh well; so what?

Here is some exampletext which is going tobe shrunk down to asize which is barelyrecognisable; good toobecause then my poorspelling won’t berecognised. Now, Ihave run out of exampletext. Oh well; so what?

• MULTIMEDIA

Involves more than one medium(>2 really, since most literaturecontains graphics and text).

• multimedia

Involves the use of sound,animation, and/or videoas well as text and graphics.

Even Ted Nelson said he didn’tknow the difference betweenhypermedia and multimedia.

• multimedia

1

1Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia Conference,June 1994, Vancouver. [Ted Nelson coined the term hypertext (“non-sequential writing”)].

• multimedia

Computer-controlled multimediaallows the seamless integrationof media.

• multimedia

Multimedia can provide asensory-rich learning environment.

• multimedia

Interactive multimedia is theincorporation of multimedia withhuman-computer interaction.

• multimedia

Interactive multimedia provides an obvious educational advantage over current broadcasting & publishing which is passive.

play speed movie

take a quiz

more information

WWW

tutorial

SpeedInformation regarding the concept of speed can appear as text here. I know very little about it myself, so perhaps a multimedia tutorial about it would help me. To learn about it, selectoptions below, some perhaps more than once..

Choose one option below:

play speed movie

take a quiz

more information

WWW

tutorial

SpeedInformation regarding the concept of speed can appear as text here. I know very little about it myself, so perhaps a multimedia tutorial about it would help me. To learn about it, selectoptions below, some perhaps more than once..

Choose one option below:

Metaphors abound.A computer screen ofinformation can be aslide, a page, a card,a node, whatever...

There are many possible “HyperDesigns”.

Linear

..... .....

There are many possible “HyperDesigns”.

Network

Possible applications of less complexdesigns include electronic books, andinformation/ training kiosks.

HYPERDESIGNS GIVE THE USER OPPORTUNITY FOR:

more control, but require careful planning and

analysis.

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IV. DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

the design team and user interface design

Two important points in designingCAL software are:

Typically, the design team cancirculate ideas on storyboards(hard copies of screen templates).

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Storyboards circulate amongdesign team members.

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contentexpert

graphicartist

cognitivescientist

programmer

allow the user control use visual cues be consistent design, don’t decorate

Some quick tips for User Interface Design

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V. A CRITICAL VIEW

1. CAL is an inferior teaching medium.

a critical view:

2. Users can become disoriented and lost in hyper environments.

a critical view:

3. Too much attention is paid to appearance (esp. graphics) and not enough to educational issues.

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SUMMARY

1. There are many types of CAL software other than sequential point-and-click text.

Summary

2. hypermedia/multimedia environments offer great potential but require care in design.

Summary

3. Many important design issues need to be considered.

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