Identifies and summarizes instructional messages in the articles in this theme issue and also identifies central theoretical issues, focusing on: (1) external representations; (2) dual coding theory; and (3) the effects of animations on learning. (SLD)

Medtronic, Inc., a medical technology company that specializes in implantable and invasive heart-related devices, uses multimedia to train its sales force. The trainers had to overcome some resistance to multimedia as a learning tool, although it increases learning efficiency and reduces training time. (JOW)

Describes the development of a task-based framework for providing learning within the workplace using networked multimedia. Builds on the recognition that tasks must reflect the social process of learning as considered by Vygotsky and takes into account the role of dialogue in the building of knowledge for an individual and for a group.…

Reports on the the Multimedia Dictionary of American Sign language, which was was conceived in he late 1980s as a melding of the pioneering work in American Sign language lexicography that had been carried out decades earlier and the newly emerging computer technologies that were integrating use of graphical user-interface designs, rapidly…

Discusses the question of whether there is such a thing as web literacy. Perspectives from media studies, literacy studies, and the study of multimodal texts are used to find the main contextual parameters involved in what might be classed as web literacy. The parameters suggested are material conditions, domain, power or ideology, and semiotic…

Examines the match between multimedia data and local area network (LAN) infrastructures. Highlights include applications for networked multimedia, i.e., asymmetric and symmetric; alternate LAN technology, including stream management software, Ethernet, FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface), and ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode); WAN (Wide Area…

Reports on three experiments that tested the perceived quality of digital images, and discusses issues about conducting research into questions about technical quality in multimedia. Issues regarding conducting this type of research include contextualization versus decontextualization, selection of variables and their values, and presentation…

Describes up-to-date news sources that are presently available on the Internet and World Wide Web. Highlights include electronic newspapers; AP (Associated Press) sources and Reuters; sports news; stock market information; New York Times; multimedia capabilities, including CNN Interactive; and local and regional news. (LRW)

Discusses multimedia and its use in classroom teaching. Describes integrated services digital networks (ISDN); video-on-demand, that uses streaming technology via the Internet; and computer-assisted instruction. (Contains 19 references.) (LRW)

Today's students watch the newest movie trailers on the Web, share music files, play video games with other players over the Internet, and swap digital pictures of the latest teen idols. Donald Tapscott points out in his book Growing Up Digital that as this rich multimedia experience becomes more a part of students' lives outside of school, they…

Design of educational multimedia rarely starts from scratch, but rather by attempting to reuse existing software. Although redesign has been an issue in research on evaluation and on learning objects, how it should be carried out in a principled way has remained relatively unexplored. Furthermore, understanding how empirical research on…

This study examined the effectiveness of L1 and L2 glosses on incidental vocabulary learning in a multimedia environment. The investigation included the effects of additional pictorial cues in L1 and L2 glosses, and how these additions affect vocabulary learning. The analyses of a mixed design repeated measures 2 (L1, L2) X 2 (picture, no picture)…

Given the challenges facing higher education in the fast-changing educational and social environment, what can be learned from an instructor who has braved the rapidly changing stream of technologies and has subsequently developed a personal and productive approach to using emerging technologies to teach better and farther? What aspects of…

This study examined the impact of animation interactivity on novices' learning of introductory statistics. The interactive animation program used in this study was created with Adobe Flash following Mayer's multimedia design principles as well as Kristof and Satran's interactivity theory. This study was guided by three main questions: 1) Is there…

As blended language learning environments evolve within tertiary foreign language institutions, issues of power with regards to the privileging of electronic technologies come to the fore. Blended learning, or the principled mix of online and classroom-based activities, challenges the practices of traditional CALL and face-to-face teaching within…