Children's media have the capacity to prepare young learners to develop the knowledge, attitudes, and skills they need to contribute to a more peaceful world. Research suggests international coproductions of Sesame Street and other children's media efforts are linked to positive impact on how viewers perceive themselves and their own cultures, as…

This article addresses the importance of teaching transformative usability and accessibility concepts through the lens of disability studies in general business and professional communication courses. It argues that when students learn to analyze audiences, include diverse users, and foresee accessibility "before" the final draft because…

As the world told becomes the world shown, the texts of the 21st century will require teachers to adopt new skills, strategies, and pedagogical frameworks to support students' transactions with multimodal texts. This shift from a focus on monomodal, print-based texts to a focus on the skills necessary for producing and consuming multimodal texts…

This paper presents a genre-based conceptual framework for designing content for learning objects. Some content aggregation models are reviewed in order to stress the lack of such an approach. In this framework, learning objects are considered as multimodal macrogenres. These macrogenres are constituted of content objects which in fact are several…

Through the use of Web 2.0 technologies the production and distribution of professional digital video content for use in teacher education has become more prevalent. As teachers look to learn from and interact with this video content, they need explicit support to help draw their attention to specific pedagogical strategies and reduce cognitive…

Business communication courses are ideal for teaching visual communication principles and techniques. Many assignments lend themselves to graphic enrichment, such as flyers, handouts, slide shows, Web sites, and newsletters. Microsoft Publisher and Microsoft PowerPoint are excellent tools for these assignments, with Publisher being best for…

Art history is a hybrid discipline that combines the verbal with the visual, yet the limiting verbal approach traditionally has defined the field. Another problem at the university level is that different types of classes define visually literacy differently; for example, art education programs emphasize perceptual and cognitive angles while art…

Understanding how to include interactivity when designing multimedia-based training (MBT) storyboards is a major key for a successful MBT. Discusses the basic formats of interactions and when to use each format. Describes how to storyboard and areas to address, including: the display area, prompts, branching, programming and graphics notes,…

This article presents a schematic application of computer vision technologies to e-learning that is synchronous, peer-to-peer-based, and supports an instructor's interaction with non-computer teaching equipments. The article first discusses the importance of these focused e-learning areas, where the properties include accurate bidirectional…

Explains how to create slide shows via computer using common software programs such as ClarisWorks. Highlights include identifying the audience, organizing the information, becoming familiar with technical specifications of the equipment, the use of text, style consistency, the use of graphics, and the use of color. (LRW)

An interactive multimedia tutorial system that focuses on the "why" aspect of user interface design is described. The system contains a design exercise, three experts for guidance, and a user group that comments on the usability of the design. Testing results indicate that learners consider more possible solutions to design issues. (Author/AEF)

State-of-the-art computers being used today for instructional multimedia products have monitors capable of displaying millions of different colors. Designers are given virtually unlimited control over the factors that govern the display of these colors. This paper examines how color is displayed on computer monitors and interrelationships with how…

This paper describes how the authors use a mixture of World Wide Web (WWW)-based functionalities and new didactics to teach educational technology students at the University of Twente (Netherlands) about the design of WWW-based learning environments. Topics discussed include: (1) the content of courses about the design of educational WWW…

This paper shows how to use design patterns for building educational multimedia applications. The first section summarizes design issues related to organizing the information, the organization of the interface, and implementation. Navigating through information is covered in the second section, including problems, motivations, and solutions, and…

Describes a layered analytical framework for discussing design and educational issues that can be shared by the many different stakeholders involved in educational multimedia design and deployment. Illustrates the framework using a detailed analysis of the Galapagos Pilot project of the Open University science faculty which examines the processes…