First Ventures into Multimedia

Some tips and tricks for those about to venture into using multimedia as a teaching tool

Ken Masters, Manager: Computer-Assisted Learning Support, ITS, UCT
kam@its.uct.ac.za
http://www.uct.ac.za/projects/cbe/cbemm.html

The potential value of computerised multimedia in education is vast. In the context that previous technologies have often failed to deliver what they have promised, however, it is acknowledged that multimedia's success is not guaranteed. This presentation discusses some of the lessons we have learnt while implementing multimedia in a teaching environment - it is aimed specifically at teachers who know practically nothing about multimedia, and are thinking of taking steps into that arena. The aim is to present a few pointers in order to reduce the chances of time and money wasting, frustration, and perhaps ultimate failure in the implementation of a multimedia program in an education institution or department.

NOTE: This paper uses screen shots used in a live demonstration; unfortunately, not all the aspects of the demonstration can be carried over into paper medium.

1. Introduction

Although multimedia has been used for several years in education institutions, it is still a very new field, and is rapidly changing. Often the people involved in developing and teaching with multimedia have to discover pitfalls for themselves - these pitfalls are time- and money-consuming.

UCT’s Multimedia Education Project has been supporting staff in the development of multimedia teaching materials, and this paper deals with some of the "tips and tricks" that have been discovered over the past two years. Although the paper points out many dangers, this is not intended to warn anyone off developing and using multimedia - it is rather intended to smooth the road ahead.

The paper is based on experience gathered while developing multimedia programs in the absence of commercially available products. Many of the insights and comments, however, are directly applicable to any evaluation of commercial products.

Multimedia

In its strictest form, multimedia is simply many media. In computer-terminology, it usually refers to the use of graphics, sound, video and animation. In computer-aided or assisted learning, multimedia attempts to combine these with other practises of education in order to assist the learner.

2. Lessons learnt from CBE

Before turning to multimedia per se, it is fitting to remember that it builds on the lessons learnt (sometimes not learnt) in Computer Based Education. This section deals with some of these lessons applicable when developing multimedia materials.

Work in a team.

Only the very experienced should work alone. If you have not developed CBE materials before, it would be far better to work with a team of people. If the situation forces you to work alone, then attempt small projects first, and be prepared for the probability that the first project may never be used in the classroom

Plan the program.

One’s program should be planned carefully on paper long before implementing or programming. There are many different ways of drawing up a plan, and it will be influenced by the educational paradigm in which you prefer to teach, but essentially, a plan should include:

•  a needs analysis, which determines exactly the goals to be achieved by the program, the reasons for reaching those goals, present methods used in the teaching of particular topics or sections, and a valuation of the success of those methods.

• milestones - a time table of deliveries, who is to deliver, who evaluates that delivery, and against what criteria is evaluation to occur.

• audience profile to determine possible influencing factors of the audience. Perhaps the most important factors are the expected computer skills and language skills of the audience. While many students today are familiar with computers, many others are not. Also the very idea of independent learning is foreign and frightening to many. They will often need to be eased into the situation. You may think twice about using complex multimedia too early in the course.

• a brief outline of the project and its modules. The program should be modular in design, but allow for some degree of interaction between sections. An example would be a guide that is part of a lesson, but which may be accessed as a reference during evaluation questions.
• media requirements: the multimedia program will use graphics, sounds files, video clips, etc. If these need to be created by outsiders or purchased, then this must be noted.
• story board: this is a detailed, screen-by-screen description of the program.
• expected budget: if funds need to be accessed, then this should be ascertained very early in the development of the program

Choose the development tool to suit your plan

There are many different tools available, and you should choose depending on your needs. If the program is to be delivered over the World Wide Web, then you might like to look at products like Top Class or Learning Space. If the course is to run over a Local Area Network (LAN) or on stand-alone machines, then you may wish to use products like Authorware, Toolbook or Quest. Most tools have graphical interfaces, accomplishing activities like the placing of buttons and graphics through simple click-and-drag-and-drop operations, and access to a powerful base language. In addition, they should have relatively easy access to common Windows interface objects such as dialogue boxes.

Computer as a teaching tool

The computer does not replace the teacher; it is a teaching tool. Although the computer is very effective as a teaching tool, it is only effective if used well. Every teacher has his or her favourite teaching tools - the black board, the OHP - and we have all seen these used superbly. On the other hand, we have also seen them used badly. A bad multimedia program could be worse than no program at all.

Creating and using multimedia will not necessarily lighten your work-load; in fact, in the beginning, it will probably increase it. A good multimedia package will ensure, however, that the time invested by the teacher will result in far more effective learning by the student.

3. Features of the program

When designing a multimedia program, you need to be aware that there is a range of features or characteristics that will demand consideration, and that you will want to employ to differing degrees.

Entertainment

There is no denying the value of well-placed entertainment, but just as in standard face-to-face teaching, a class that has been entertained for an hour will not necessarily have learnt anything. Entertainment that works well in the class is generally carefully planned and prepared before, and is designed to be integrated into the lesson. Multimedia enables the teacher to use elaborate ideas that may take too long to set up for a face-to-face class, and test the idea carefully and thoroughly before using it on the class

Active engagement and interactivity

The idea of interactivity is to mimic the ideal of one teacher to one student ratio. Of course, like everything else, simply having it does not guarantee anything: it must be of a high quality, and must encourage student participation in the lesson.

While the teacher designs the programs, the learner has a high degree of control over certain aspects of the learning process. Three typical applications are:

• Repetition. If a student wishes to have work repeated, such as listening to the pronunciation of a word, running a self-assessment test, following the explanation of a difficult concept, this can be done without affecting the rest of the class. The student can ask for, and be given this, as often as he or she wishes.
• More details. This is fundamentally different from pure repetition. When the learner asks for more details, it will usually be for one of two reasons:

• Something in the original was not understood, and more information is required. In this case, the teacher must be careful that the information performs the clarification, rather than merely repeating what was said in the main body of the program.
• The original was understood, but the learner would like to see more advanced information or have access to material not needed at a basic level.

• Controlling simulations. A student may experiment with simulations, watching the results of different values of input data - especially where the real situation may be expensive or dangerous.

 Assessment

The computer is a valuable tool for assessment, but should not be limited only to drill and practise procedures - with a little imagination, it is relatively easy to build exercises that allow students to apply what they have learned, and even require them to analyse and synthesise information.

CBE allows us the opportunity to craft situations and questions beforehand - just as we think carefully about the questions in a face-to-face situation, so we should think carefully about the questions in CBE. Simply having 20 questions at the end of the lesson is valueless, if the questions are poor. In addition, one should guard against having too many questions - rather have core questions, with the opportunity for students to investigate further questions.

The multiple-choice question (MCQ) is the most common form of assessment. MCQs bring with them their own special problems, and this is an area far too large to be discussed here. For further information on MCQs, one may look at the World Wide Web site at: http://www.uct.ac.za/projects/cbe/mcqman/mcqman01.html

Effective feedback to the student is part of effective assessment. This feedback, however, should try to move beyond the simple "Yes that's right", and "No, that's wrong." Perhaps build in some sort of analysis, or comment procedure - especially easy if MCQs are used.

4. Media at your disposal

If you wish to have some of the features mentioned above, you should be aware of the different media at your disposal. Although different authoring tools will have different media, and differing degrees of ease in the use of the media, there are many media that are common. In all cases, however, the aim is not to use the medium, but to use it effectively This section examines some of the media, and their effective use.

Still graphics and colours:

The cliché of a picture’s being worth a thousand words is true enough, but one should ensure that any graphics are chosen carefully so that they say what you would like them to say. Ensure, for example, that colours do not clash: a pretty background might look good at a glance, but remember that your student will have to stare at that background for 45 minutes.

Often a concept called "hot spots" is used. A "hot spot" on a graphic is an area of the graphic, which, when clicked, will result in an event (e.g. show a label, give directions to related material, jump to another place in the program).

Figure 1 shows various colour combinations. While a lot has to do with personal preference, a fairly safe combination is yellow on blue, with white on blue for emphasis. One may also experiment with other colour combinations.

Animation

Animation is very useful for showing events that occur too quickly, or too slowly, or are too dangerous, expensive or destructive.

This example of energy loss during sub-atomic activities shows events occurring on a scale too small for the human eye to detect. It would normally require an experimental situation that would be too difficult and expensive (and potentially dangerous) to have in the classroom. In addition, in the simulation, the student may perform the experiment as often as he or she wishes.

One of the drawbacks of computer animation, is that the speed of the animation is directly related to the speed of the machine - when preparing animation, attempt to develop it on a machine closely resembling the type of machine that will be used in the classroom.

Audio

Sound files can be extremely useful but also large - the size of the file is dependent upon:

• Duration
• Whether stereo or mono: very rarely would stereo be necessary
• Whether 8-bit or 16 bit
• Sampling rate - the frequency of digital samples across the analogue sound (Sampling rate is the audio equivalent of pixel screen resolution in graphical images)

 In this exercise, two different files have been used in order to demonstrate another consideration: the quality of the sound card through which the recording was made.

Generally, you should choose a fairly high quality of sound card, record the file at the highest quality (e.g. 16 bit, 44kHz), and then convert it to the required quality. In most cases, you will find that a file of Mono, 16-bit, 22kHz is adequate

Figure 3: Examples of sound files and their sizes, dependent upon various attributes.

One of the greatest values of sound is in the teaching of language:

Fig 4: The Noun class reference guide from Thetha IsiXhosa. © African Voices, 1997

Fig 5: More examples from the Noun class guide: Thetha IsiXhosa. © African Voices, 1997

Figure 4 shows the use of sound in the teaching of pronunciation. In addition to the underlined hypertext words, when the button labelled "Examples" is pressed, more examples are presented to the student (Figure 5).

The students can ask to have the word repeated as often they wish. In addition, this particular program uses several voices, thereby reducing the risk of students’ not being able to distinguish between idiosyncrasies of the new language, and idiosyncrasies of the teacher. This has the added advantage of introducing variety to prevent the students’ becoming bored with one voice.

Video

In a fashion similar to the use of animation, video clips can be used in order to simulate situations for the learner. In Figure 6, the learner triggers the playing of the video, watches the video, and follows the text on the right. The text display is timed to coincide with particular events - each event is a particular point in the video. This screen is from a lesson advanced in the course, so the learner is expected to be able to follow much of the dialogue fairly easily.

In earlier video clips of the program, a "talking head" (image of head and shoulders) was used. For language, the "talking head" has value, as the learner can listen to clear, uninterrupted monologue. As the learner progresses, however, the videos should come to resemble real life situations. In this particular video, shot at a party, the learner has to listen to the conversation above the noise of the party - as he or she would be expected to do in a real situation.

Fig 6: A video from Thetha IsiXhosa. © African Voices, 1997

Interest has been added to the video by the fact that the situation portrayed is an event in a short sequence of events, and by the humour of the situation.

When the video clip is finished, the learner can request translations of various elements of the dialogue in the video. In addition, the word "umazela" is hypertext. If the learner clicks on the word, the pop-up window in Figure 7 appears. This pop-up window is typical of the explanation windows used throughout this program.

Video files are also usually very large. This particular file runs for 48.6 seconds, and is 4.9Mb in size. As with sound files, videos should be shot in high quality - using a digital or Super VHS camera will give good quality. The video can then be converted into a file using software purchased with a video capture card.

Fig 7: A typical pop-up explanation screen from Thetha IsiXhosa. © African Voices, 1997

Voice input

Most computer programs use only the keyboard and/or mouse for user-input. Although voice recognition is still in its infancy and, at the moment, too complex for small-scale developers, in language work, voice recording can be extremely valuable.

When learning a new language, a comparison of pronunciation is essential, but it is difficult for the student to speak and listen at the same time, especially when comparing his or her pronunciation with the standard. Standard procedures in almost all language laboratories allow learners to record their own voices, and then compare with the voice on the tape; the learner can compare a recording in the same medium, and can concentrate first on speaking, and then on listening. In Figure 8, the screen that follows Figure 7 in the Thetha IsiXhosa program, the user is encouraged to play parts of the video, concentrating on the pronunciation. The learner can then record his or her own voice, and compare the two. This may be repeated as often as desired.

Figure 8: Facility for voice recording and comparison in from Thetha IsiXhosa. © African Voices, 1997

Text and hypertext

The most commonly used method of transmitting information is text. Unlike sound or video, it requires no special hardware or software, is usually easier for the learner to access, and can often be clearer than graphics. One should guard against placing too much text on a screen, however, as it can become overpowering.

Text often requires much imagination - a common shortcoming of CBE work in general, is the tendency simply to dump everything into electronic format, and the computer becomes an electronic page-turner. Sometimes this does have its place, for instance in a glossary of terms, but this should rarely be the norm.

Hypertext is simply a piece of text, usually underlined, sometimes in a different colour, which, when clicked, triggers an event, in much the same way as a hot spot does. The underlined words in Figures 4, 5 and 6 are typical examples of hypertext.

When using hypertext in a program, one should achieve consistency by avoiding the use of underlining for emphasis or titles. If the student sees the underlining and clicks on it, failure to produce an event will give the impression of a bug in the program. Rather make use of bold, different colours or italics.

Because the concept of hypertext follows the same principle as hot spots, underlined words in hypertext are often referred to as "hot words".

Base language

Although multimedia developers will want to use the click-and-drag facility as much as possible, it is unlikely that one will be able to get away from having to use a base programming language. If the lesson is for presentation purposes only, (e.g. a teacher’s giving a demonstration in a classroom), very little use of a programming language will be needed. The teacher will follow a set pattern of activities with no need for error-checking and other aspects that make a programming language necessary.

When the program is to be used in the classroom by students, then some coding will be necessary. There is no such thing as the best programming language - all programmers have their own favourites; in fact some programmers have several languages, and choose the appropriate language according to the requirements of the task at hand.

Apart from choosing a development tool that is not totally reliant on a programming language, one should also consider using a language that is fairly standard - choosing a language that exists only for that authoring system could be limiting. For example, Quest uses ANSI C, and authors who develop in Quest have access to books on C and programmers who have no knowledge of Quest, but who can provide assistance on the base language.

4. Using the Media in combination

Although I have discussed the media separately, it is obvious that they will often be used in combination. In multimedia, the use of these often sits between two extremes.

A "minimalist" screen like that in Figure 9 suffers from lack of thought from the author. Although what is required from the user is obvious, it goes to the extreme of even omitting basic instructions like "Press Enter when you have completed your entry"

Figure 9: A "minimalist" screen with the bare essentials, to the point of being extremely unfriendly.

While multimedia does present the opportunity for a little inspiration, one can also go to the extreme. When one becomes too caught up in the availability of the "bells and whistles", and loses sight of the goal, education, one can have something quite disastrous.

NOTE: Special effects that have been used in Figure 10 not apparent in a paper medium:

•  The text at the top of the screen appears as "timed text" - the characters appear at 400 millisecond intervals.

• While this is happening, a fanfare is playing.
• The red balls in the margin bounce around inside the margins.
• When the fanfare has ended, the text in the middle, the little graphic "Press me" and the text at the bottom of the screen appear.
• When the graphic "Press me" is clicked, a short sound file of "Oooooh!" is heard.
• The text at the bottom of the page moves backwards and forwards along the screen.

 The screen is full of all the "bells and whistles," but the most important part of the screen is the only element that has not been highlighted by any of the media. What has been done to the information line is nothing that could not be done on paper.

5. Purchasing Multimedia material

 This paper has concentrated on issues to remember while developing your own multimedia materials. These issues, however, are just as important when evaluating multimedia materials for purchase. The fact that CBE material has colours, graphics, videos, sounds, is interactive, is not by itself, a recommendation. What needs to be closely evaluated is the use of these in the program.

On the one hand, you will want a program that can best suit your needs. On the other, some programs are developed by people who have years of experience in the teaching of the subject, and just as you may change an idea after receiving information or advice from a colleague, you should open your mind to different approaches that may be effective.

If there is any doubt as to the value of some aspect of the program, one should attempt to ascertain the reason(s) for this. "Looks pretty" is not necessarily a good enough reason.

It is absolutely imperative that one evaluates software before purchasing. Many software companies are prepared to give demonstrations at schools, and may allow prospective purchasers to experiment. If purchasers are serious, some companies will allow the installation of a demonstration copy on a machine for a limited period. Unless you have a third, objective opinion about a product, you should not purchase a product based on promotional material only.

Some of the issues to consider are:

• The overall educational approach to the material
• Screen layout and design (including colours)
• Ease of navigation
• Existence and quality of feedback
• Functionality (i.e. did the program do what it said it would do?)
• General quality and appropriateness the various media used
• Existence and ease of accessing auxiliary information such as glossaries and help files
• Existence and levels or self-assessment questions 

6. Student involvement

 During the creation of the program, student evaluation (and possible involvement) could be done at the earliest stage at which you are comfortable. Students should include those from the target audience, but also those who have already done the course.

When software is to be purchased, student evaluation of the software is extremely important. This can be both in the form of informal anecdotes and comments made by the students, and also in form of formal questionnaires. The issues mentioned above could form the basis of a questionnaire for the students. In addition, students who have already done the course covered in the material should be encouraged to draw a comparison between the perceived effectiveness of the two approaches used.

7. Target equipment

Because multimedia technology is advancing rapidly, it is important to ensure that the equipment used by the students can run the software. There is mention above of evaluation of software - wherever possible, this evaluation should be performed on the machines that are eventually going to be used in the teaching of the students.

 Some hardware considerations are:

 The Local Area Network (LAN)

• Cabling

Video cards and sound cards

The technology in this area moves so fast that several versions of a sound card will have exactly the same commercial name, but will differ in functionality - the only identifying feature will be a small serial number printed on the card. For example, there are currently at least 29 versions of the SB16 Sound Blaster card, and they have a wide variety of functionality: some do not record user-input, some do not have treble and base settings, etc. On the box, there is no indication of this: the statement "Actual contents may differ slightly from those pictured" often provides the manufacturers broad license. It is recommended that if special features are needed from a sound card, one stipulates these features, on the understanding that the sound card be returned if found to be unsuitable.

More details on the specifications of various Sound Blaster cards can be obtained from their Web site at: http://www.ctlsg.creaf.com/wwwnew/tech/spec/techaud.html

The quality of video will also be affected by the amount of RAM on the card. 1 Mb should be seen as the current minimum.

Headsets

Most multimedia packs or machines come with small speakers - these are totally unsuitable for classroom work. Headsets should be purchased - preferably headsets that have microphones for voice input. Be prepared to buy decent quality headsets. As guide, one could examine voice-activation software for recommendations. As an example, you may wish to visit the Web Site of Telex Nomad at: http://www.telex.com/mac/computeraudio/nomad.html

Screen functionality and resolution

The screen functionality of the student machines is an important consideration. Apart from verifying that VGA or SVGA in the classroom is adequate, the screen pixel resolution must be considered. A program developed to run in 640x480 pixel resolution will occupy a small, usually central, section of the screen on a screen set to 800x600 resolution. Pop-up, and other extra windows, however, may appear in the wrong place. On the other hand, a program developed in 800x600 resolution may not run at all on a machine set for 640x480 resolution.

Student Access

One of the greatest advantages of multimedia (indeed, any CBE material), is that students have access to the material at times that is not necessarily convenient for other students or for the teacher. Access to the facilities is an important consideration, and has implications for security, insurance costs, etc.

8. Conclusion

Although the prospect of developing, purchasing and using multimedia can be somewhat daunting, the opportunities presented to the teacher by multimedia for more effective teaching are tremendous. One should not be fooled into believing, however, that multimedia is the technological magic bullet that will solve all education problems. The history of education is littered with "saviours" of education, from pedagogical approaches to, in the last century, technological solutions.

For effective education, teachers will still have to work, students will still have to work. The hope is that multimedia, properly used, will enable both teacher and student to earn a higher reward for the time and effort invested.

 I would like to thank African Voices for permission to use screen shots in this paper, and for access to their program code so that screens could be adapted and incorporated into the program used for the presentation.

I would also like to thank Fiona Cameron, Stephen Darcy-Evans, Georges Delpierre and Christine Dunckley for comments and suggestions.