Fezile Mlungu, Materials Developer, Centre for Learning and Teaching Development Interactive multimedia: its related computer applications and emerging technologies

Interactive Multimedia refers to any kind of user input including typing commands or clicking the mouse which results in computer application displaying multimedia images, text, videos, sounds, animations and still images. It has an ability to give the learners a combination of the audio visual power of television, the publishing power of the printing press and interactive power of the computer.

It is better to give an explanation in multimedia content forms, eg, words and pictures, than words only and that explanation and the multimedia forms that company the explanation must be presented alongside each other not in separate pages. Voice narrations to explanations, not only on screen text, must be provided.

Students who listened to a narration explaining how a bicycle tire pump works while also viewing a corresponding animation generated twice as many useful solutions to subsequent problem solving transfer questions than did students who listened to the same narration without viewing any animation (Mayer & Anderson, 1991, 1992).

students given multimedia explanations are able to build two different mental representations - a verbal model and a visual model--and build connections between them.

Interactive multimedia allows learners to test themselves for prior knowledge before they go to the actual classroom. This reduces time for teaching and encourages knowledge retention.

Intuitive and user friendly multimedia application encourage learner participation and learning experience.

With multimedia, users become participants in an exciting experience involving the sensory modalities of sight, sound and touch, all of which naturally facilitate learning (Khoo Cheng Choo – National University of Singapore).

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