What role does educational multimedia play in overcoming the learning and teaching problems found in today's
educational systems? Do children, and adults, really benefit from this new medium, or are the programs mostly entertainment? These are some
of the important questions an expert panel of CD-ROM developers and educators explored in the seminar titled Educational Multimedia:
Cross-Examination (February 15). While addressing these topics, the speakers also presented a fascinating overview of the kinds of programs
available to children, students, and educators today. The panel was assembled by Merlyn Holmes of Mayfield Publishing (who also acted as
moderator), and featured Anne Bubnic (On Computers Radio), Michael McGrath (Grafica Multimedia), Jim Spadaccini (The Exploratorium), and
Richard Hendricks, president of IICS (International Interactive Communications Society).
Learning by Doing
Anne Bubnic presented a convincing argument for the value of educational software in the cognitive development of young children and
teenagers, emphasizing that many of the programs teach children to think for themselves and find creative solutions to problems. Bubnic is a
consultant in the educational multimedia field, a contributing editor for "On Computers Radio," which airs a program on children's educational
software. She also tutors children with special needs and has tested hundreds of children's software programs, noting how quickly children
seem to learn with them. Today's programs are especially valuable, she says, because CD-ROM creators have analyzed the learning
weaknesses of adults to determine which skills children need to develop early on.
Bubnic described some of the more noteworthy programs, explaining their concepts and how they can act as tools to enhance learning and
creativity. In Logical Journey of the Zoombinis (Broderbund), kids (ages 8-12) experiment, using trial and error to gain insight and test
their hypotheses, and they learn graphing, sorting, and ordering.
Nile: Passage to Egypt (Discovery Channel) takes kids (ages 8 and up) on a 4000- mile interactive journey along the Nile River.
Programs for younger children (ages 3-8) introduce them to reading, writing, spelling, music, math, and art, with an emphasis on having the
children create their own works or solve puzzles and problems; this challenges them to use and remember the information they are given.
Bubnic believes that children need to experience what they are learning to make it meaningful for them; CD-ROM programs not only make
this possible, they also make learning more fun.
Merlyn Holmes briefly reviewed a CD-ROM titled Video Producer (Wadsworth Publishing), a college-level program that teaches
students about the video production process. Holmes praised the personal, one-on-one nature of the program, which features experts
appearing on-screen to guide students through each step of the process. "Try It" buttons and an "Internship" at the end of the program provide
hands-on experience.
The sample of the internship Holmes demonstrated, for example, shows a section of a video and asks students to figure out what is wrong with
the video. The problem turns out to be the sound quality; once the students determine this, the program then requires them to adjust sound level
knobs on the screen until they have fixed the problem. If students cannot solve the problem on the first try, the program offers a hypertext link
that goes back to the appropriate section of text so students can go through the process again. This, as Holmes pointed out, could not be
achieved by using a textbook alone. With this program also, students are learning by doing.
The Importance of Context
Michael McGrath of Grafica Multimedia developed the CD-ROM, A House Divided, a supplemental product for American history
courses at the middle school, high school, and community college levels. The program introduces students to the seven Lincoln-Douglas
debates of 1858. Students can choose to read a transcript of the debates or see a reenactment of them. They may also wander through a virtual
mansion, where they can play music from the era, hear narratives by various characters, or see art work and political cartoons, all of which are
annotated to explain their meaning and importance in that time period. The object of the program is to help students better understand why the
Civil War began and also to help them view the situations and events through the eyes of the people who lived during that time. As the
description in the program stated, "A House Divided tells the story of the Civil War with many voices. Not just the politicians, but from
all parts of American society."
Encouraging Creativity:
A Different Angle
Jim Spadaccini, who currently maintains The Exploratorium's Web site, recently led the production of a CD-ROM created by-and for-high
school students. Spadaccini guided a group of students from nine Bay Area high schools through the step-by-step process of creating a
multimedia magazine on CD-ROM, with the goal of introducing multimedia creation into a variety of classroom settings. The project, titled
Visionary Stampede, addressed what students saw as the "dreams and challenges of the '90s." Students were involved in all aspects
of the production, including the graphics, storyboard design, and the creation and implementation of sound effects. They set up and shot the
video and did all the programming. Spadaccini noted that the project seemed to encourage creativity, and the students had the satisfaction of
producing something that they hoped their peers would view and learn from.
Trends in the Market
The trend in classrooms is
for instructors to use programs such as A House Divided to supplement textbooks, not as main teaching tools. As Michael McGrath
pointed out, the marketing of such CD-ROMs by themselves is difficult; these products tend to have a short shelf life because so many new ones
are constantly being generated, or they may be intended for such a narrow section of a specific course that they may not seem worth buying. It's
proved more beneficial, then, to distribute this type of CD-ROM together with a textbook, because book publishers not only provide the staying
power of the print product, they also provide valuable marketing, distribution, and sales knowledge.
For young children, CD-ROMs can sell well as stand-alone programs and are used primarily to supplement the teacher's curriculum-as well as
having a good outlet in the home market. A difficulty in marketing them, however, is that many teachers do not yet know how to use such
resources and will have to take time to learn the programs before they are able to use them in their classrooms.
Richard Hendricks, president of the International Interactive Communication Society, also commented on the growth of the CD-ROM
market. Because a single organization may not have enough time or all the necessary resources, one major trend is for groups or companies
to become partners in the creation of CD-ROMs. Hendricks predicted that the CD-ROM will continue to evolve and take on different forms but
will probably never entirely replace books or other types of durable media such as radio or newspapers.
Overall, the seminar provided an exciting glimpse of the power and future potential of the CD-ROM. The speakers all seemed to agree that
learning is best achieved through hands-on experience; educational multimedia provides this hands-on experience and should keep striving to
do so.