Evaluation skills are complex and require careful design to teach effectively. In our master's program in Instructional Design and Performance Technology, students experienced unnecessary difficulty in our evaluation course. To facilitate students' success, we redesigned the course using interactive media and the first principles of instruction, a…

Exploring the Solar System in the elementary school curriculum has traditionally involved activities, such as building scale models, to help students visualize the vastness of space and the relative size of the planets and their orbits. Today, numerous websites provide a wealth of information about the sun and the planets, combining text, photos,…

Technology is becoming increasingly more important in the enhancement of educating university students. Very little research has been done regarding how the combination of educational technologies affects test scores, compared to the use of one technology alone. This research article examines whether the post-scores of nursing students increased…

Many current (online) help systems fail because users refuse to use them or, even if they do so, they do not perceive them as helpful. There is an obvious gap between the intentions of the help content authors and the achievement of objectives concerning the perceived usefulness by help users. Problems may be divided into psychological and…

This study aimed to investigate the effects of modality and gender on learning from a computer-based matrix graphic organizer. A 2 x 2 factorial experiment was created by crossing two presentation modes (visual text vs. spoken text) and gender. Dependent measures included transfer and comprehension tests. Results revealed a significant modality by…

Games are widely recognized for their potential to enhance students' learning. Yet they are only rarely used in classrooms because they cannot be modified to meet the needs of a particular class. This article describes a novel approach to creating educational software that addresses this problem: provide an interface specifically for teachers that…

This project was designed to test Mayer's multimedia theory in an elementary school to improve students' mathematics learning for low-income children. The study designed and developed two multimedia mathematics experiments in 3rd grade: 9's multiplication experiment and geometric solids experiment. The two experimental lessons were implemented in…

Technology has advanced to the point where it is now possible to create and distribute digital multimedia recordings of class lectures over the Internet to remote learners. More importantly, the price of this technology has decreased to the point where it is also affordable to most instructional institutions. The main factor limiting its…

A survey of hardware and software technologies was conducted to identify suitable technologies for the development of instructional modules representing various instructional approaches. The approaches modeled were short PowerPoint presentations, chalk-and-talk type of lectures and software tutorials. The survey focused on identifying application…

Discusses a multimedia computer-assisted instruction training project at San Juan College (New Mexico) within the context of current research in the area. Research demonstrates that the complexity of hypermedia requires methodical management, cognitive factors limit the optimum number and types of hypermedia link displays, and close monitoring of…

Describes a model for developing interactive multimedia instructional applications called the instructional system development life cycle (ISDLC). Focuses on the pre-design analyses, including task/concept analysis, audience analysis, objectives analysis, constraints analysis, and cost/benefits analysis, that will ensure a pedagogically effective…

Reviews the background and features of digital multimedia instruction, and discusses the benefits and limitations. Applications and future trends are described, and the major areas of applications--education, training, and entertainment--are identified. (Author/AEF)