March 1997
Volume 61 |
Number 3
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| Educational Multimedia
Software: Putting It All Together |
Thomas P. Engel, M.D., and George
J. Sheplock, M.D.
Committee on Electronic Media and Information Technology
Educational multimedia software programs are interactive computer
programs with text, sound, diagrams, pictures and digital video.
Programs on many subjects are currently available for anesthesiologists,
including management of the difficult airway, anatomy for regional
anesthesia, operation of the anesthesia machine and transesophageal
echocardiography. Multimedia authoring combines content expertise
with writing, education, graphic arts and programming skills.
Authoring tools are becoming easier to use and allow content experts
to produce interactive multimedia computer programs without traditional
programming skills.
Educational multimedia software has advantages and disadvantages
for users and authors. Advantages to users include convenience,
enjoyment, active involvement and potential for very rapid access
to information. Active involvement may lead to increased recall.
Educational computer programs are especially good for learning
physical skills. A picture is worth a thousand words; a movie
is worth a thousand pictures. New interactive technologies such
as QuickTime VR allow the user to explore an environment and may
become worth a thousand movies.
Disadvantages to users include lack of access to computer equipment,
software expense, confusing navigation features and limitations
as a reference. Access to computers is becoming less of a problem.
Authors must make special effort to target a wide variety of computers
and help inexperienced users. Most computer software titles are
very expensive. Software versions of printed books often cost
more than the printed version. Navigation can be a major problem
in educational software. Many titles are like mazes. It is difficult
to know their location within the program and difficult to know
which options are available. Authors must make special effort
to build useful navigation features. Educational multimedia software
is frequently of limited use for reference. Most titles are tutorials
at best. Authors also must support user-directed access.
Advantages to authors include a wide audience, the opportunity
for effective communication and prestige. CD-ROMs are less expensive
to publish than books. Electronic seminars are not limited by
attendance. An author can include sound, animation and digital
video to improve communication of material. Users are more enthusiastic
about multimedia than other types of publication.
Disadvantages to authors include great time and effort, rapid
obsolescence and intellectual property issues. Educational multimedia
software is very time-consuming to produce. It is estimated that
1,000 hours of author's time is required for each hour of user's
time. Most lectures with slides require about five hours of author's
time for each hour of lecture. Timelessness is very hard to achieve
in digital medium. Fads and improving technology can quickly date
materials. Simplicity, consistency and experience are the best
defense. The text in a multimedia title must be able to stand
alone. Authors must be meticulous about permissions for materials.
Authors also must be meticulous about intellectual property requirements
of employment contracts.
CD-ROM is the natural distribution medium for large multimedia
programs. CD-ROMs have very high capacity (650 MB). This can hold
the entire text of a small library, or about 1,000 color photographs,
or about 20 minutes of digitized video, or some fractional combination
of these. New formats such as Digital Video Disc (DVD, also called
Digital Versatile Disc) offer even greater capacity CD-ROMs and
are very inexpensive to produce. A single copy, called a "one-off,"
costs $50. Duplicated CD-ROMs are $1 each in quantities of 1,000
or more. Prices are going down. A single CD-ROM can be used on
Macintosh and Windows computers. This is a Hybrid HFS/ISO 9660
disk. The two parts can share data. Careful attention to the file
names, aliases and construction of the disk images is required.
The choice of target platform includes Microsoft Windows, Apple
Macintosh or both. Although Windows accounts for more than half
of the potential audience for multimedia software, some of these
machines have limited capability. Macintosh computers have extensive
support for multimedia software. With careful selection of file
formats and development tools, it is possible to create one project
that will run on both Windows and Macintosh. Other platforms such
as IBM OS/2 and Unix are fewer in number and may be able to run
Macintosh or Windows software. Cross-platform development tools
include Macromedia Director, Macromedia Authorware Professional,
Apple Media Tool, Apple HyperCard and the World Wide Web.
Macromedia Director is the most popular authoring tool. It has
a steep learning curve. Projects are organized into stages, cast
members and a score (time line). Programming is difficult to learn
for those with limited experience. With its time-based orientation,
Macromedia Director is the best tool for animation.
Macromedia Authorware Professional is flowchart-based. Screens
and elements are part of the chart. Its learning curve is also
fairly steep. Authorware Professional automatically keeps track
of questions answered correctly and is best for making quiz-oriented
tutorials.
Apple Media Tool is page-oriented. Projects consist of a map
of connected screens. Media elements include text, pictures, sound
and digital video. Pictures can act as buttons. Apple Media Tool
offers the best cross-platform delivery. Media elements are created
with other applications. Apple Media Tool is the easiest cross-platform
authoring tool to learn. It is the best for kiosk-type applications
with limited typing on the part of the user. The Wood Library-Museum
of Anesthesiology Virtual Tour on the 1996 ASA Annual Meeting
CD-ROM sampler was created with the Apple Media Tool.
Apple HyperCard is also a very commonly used development tool.
Similar programs include Allegient SuperCard, Asymetrix ToolBook
and Oracle Media Objects. These have the most flexible programming
environment but also make the greatest demands on the programmer.
Cross-platform support is awkward. The best cross-platform solution
available currently among those mentioned here is Oracle Media
Objects. Future versions of HyperCard, SuperCard, ToolBook or
Oracle Media Objects are expected to improve cross-platform results.
HyperCard and related programs are best for calculations, highly
interactive applications, searching and integration with other
programs. HyperCard is the only tool that supports clicking on
a word in a text field.
The World Wide Web currently has greater limitations for interactivity
than the other environments. The World Wide Web consists of pages
written in a simple programming language called hypertext markup
language (HTML) with links between the pages. The Web is designed
for network delivery of pages. With careful attention, linked
Web pages may be placed on CD-ROM. To accomplish this, file names
must be in the 8.3 format, all links must be relative and image
maps must be client side only. The 1996 ASA Annual Meeting CD-ROM
sampler was created in this way.
World Wide Web pages are excellent as a secondary application.
Once materials are converted to digital form for another project,
it is easy to turn them into Web pages. HTML may be created with
any text editor. New tools such as Adobe PageMill and Microsoft
FrontPage reduce the need for knowledge of HTML. New additions
such as Shockwave for Macromedia Director, Java and Microsoft
Active X promise greater interactivity for World Wide Web pages
but with a corresponding increase in complexity for authors.
Most material may be converted to digital form in a straightforward
manner. Text can be scanned and converted to a useful format by
optical character recognition (OCR) software. Due to errors and
formatting problems, care is required to correct the OCR-converted
copy. For small amounts of text, it is usually best to just type
the text by hand.
Diagrams and tables are easily created in digital form with drawing
programs like Adobe Illustrator. Existing illustrations can be
scanned. Photographs are digitized with a color flat-bed scanner.
Slides are digitized with a slide scanner. These scans are very
high quality. Inexpensive digital cameras like the Apple QuickTake
150 are excellent when the result will be displayed on a computer
screen. Expensive digital cameras are required for magazine-quality
printed output.
Sound input is part of most modern computers. If synchronization
is required, it is important to capture audio at the same time
and with the same device as video. Video is most easily obtained
with a video camera and imported with a video digitizing card.
S-VHS input is desirable. Digital video editing software like
Adobe Premier can do any video trick seen on broadcast television
(e.g., fades to black, "wipes," split screens). Digital
video can rival broadcast video in quality, but computer hardware
demands can be high.
Here are recommended steps to create an educational multimedia
program: 1. Make an outline of information to be covered; 2. Collect
existing content in any available format; 3. Plan navigation features;
4. Create a graphic design. (In general, it is easy
to change the appearance of an item but often hard to change
the position of an item.); 5. Make a storyboard of screens and
paths; 6. Create new media elements; digitize existing content
that is not in digital form; 7. Put it all together; 8. Test it
on real users from your target audience; 9. Have it reviewed by
content experts; 10. Revise! Authors must be humble about revising
their work. Sections of the project may need major changes even
though great effort went into creating them.
Thomas P. Engel, M.D., is Assistant Professor
of Anesthesiology at Loma Linda University School of Medicine,
Loma Linda, California.
E-mail the author.
George J. Sheplock, M.D., is Assistant
Professor of Anesthesia, Indiana University School of Medicine,
and Center Associate of the Center for Excellence in Education
at Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana.
E-mail the author.
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