Interactive Multimedia Changing Our Learning Process Essay

Interactive Multimedia: Changing Our Learning Process Essay, Research Paper

Running head: Interactive Multimedia: CHANGING OUR LEARNING PROCESS

Interactive Multimedia: Changing Our Learning Process

Mark A. Cheeks

Wayland Baptist University

Interactive Multimedia (IMM): Changing Our Learning Process

Interactive multimedia has become increasingly more popular in the past decade as an educational tool. How. By making it possible to access illustrations and photograghs, sound and video, as well as large amounts of text, IMM programs present learning information to teachers, students, and scholars in newly engaging and meaningful ways. IMM has paved the way for self-taught learning environments.

This research report will touch upon several different areas; first discussion of the definition of IMM, the IMM origins or beginnings, the “nuts and bolts” of IMM, why we should use IMM, and how multimedia can be incorporated into educational context.

What is hypermedia or IMM. IMM is an all-inclusive term, which describes the new line of software, which evolves around the provision of information. The multimedia component is combination of media, which includes test illustrations, photographs, audio, graphics, image, voice, animation and video. The interactive component involves interactively within the system, which provides the user with some influence over accessing the information. The user is also given control over the outcome of the system.

In most cases the system will present the user with choices and the choice taken by the user will influence the path the system follows. Points of decision in multimedia can be described as crossroads. The user reads a signpost and moves in

and another decision is made. These pathways are limited to the software. The user only has the options of what is available on the system” (Shaheen Akhtar, John Bourne, Keith Claxton 1996)

Now a brief background on the origin of hypermedia, which is better known as interactive multimedia. In 1945, Vannevar Bush, an electrical engineer and science advisor to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, described a system that he called memex. Memex was “a hypothetical, mechanical device that predated computers and that would use state-of-the-art photographic technology to manipulate, display, and interconnect information on microfiche” (Locatis et al.,1989). Memex would emulate the human mind, but it never got beyond the conceptual stage for lack of adequate technology.

In the early 1960s, Douglas Engelbart adapted Bush’s concept to the computer. His ONLine System provided a means to organize and retrieve text, as well as electronic mail and a teleconferencing facility. At about the same time, Ted Nelson created a literary system called Xanadu that allowed complex derivations of new material from existing text. It could trace the development of ideas by recording linkages and information transfers, and provide royalty payments to the original creators (Locatis et al., 1989). Nelson coined the term hypertext to describe his system. From those humble beginnings came the multi billion dollar IMM market that we know today.

Hopefully now there is a basic understanding of the definition and origin of IMM discussion will now be focused on the nuts and bolts of the present day systems. There are four potential hardware devises associated with an IMM system: compact disc or CD-ROM, laserdiscs, digitizers and sound hardware.

The CD-ROM was introduced in 1985 and because of its durability and information storage capabilities it has virtually surpassed all other data storage tools. One CD-ROM can store about 650MB of data, equivalent to some 270,000 page of text, this is ideal for large databases and because a duplicate disc cost little to produce initial production investments can be recouped quickly from savings on paper copies. CDs are ideal for multimedia, because digital audio and video files are huge (Lockard, Abrams, and Many 1997).

Laserdisc, are similar to a CD, in that a laser reads both. Laser discs are analog and not digital which makes image quality much better. Laserdisc can be found in two distinct formats the first, constant angular velocity (CAV) laserdisc can contain up to 54,000 individual photo-quality images. 54,000 frames provide 30 minutes of motion video at normal playback speed of 30 frames per second. There are usually two or more audio channels associated with laserdisc to provide stereo sound, bilingual or multilingual narration. Many CAV laserdisc contain a mix of single frames and motion segments. Single frames can be viewed as long as needed without loss of picture quality because only a light beam touches the disc.

The makeup of the second format of laserdisc, constant linear velocity (CLV) is similar to that of videotape in organization. CLV runs in streams as oppose to the individual frames in CAV. Data is marked by time codes and segments are still randomly viewable with the use of these time codes. Another distinct difference in CAV and CLV is playing time because of the makeup of CLV the playtime is doubled making it a much more usable vehicle for movies and popular educational multimedia type programs. (Lockard, Peters, and Many 1997)

Digitizing hardware is also a valuable player in the IMM setup. Photo-quality images are critical in hyperme

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