Provides an overview of the 1996 EDUCOM annual meeting in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) that focused on transcending traditional boundaries of information technology. Highlights include the higher education initiative to seek funding and support for Internet II; school-business partnerships; digital libraries; multimedia fair use guidelines;…

Describes the development and use of a multimedia authoring laboratory and classroom resulting from collaboration between Bard College (New York) and IBM. Topics include teaching models; a campuswide network; the use of computers to store and access text, images, audio, video, and artifacts; faculty development and acceptance; and benefits of…

Discusses three ethical and legal challenges of technology: issues of accessibility and equality, the appropriateness of materials available to young people on the Internet, and matters relating to copyright and the licensing of software users. States that educators and parents must make a collaborative effort to address these concerns. (DJM)

Features reviews of four computer games for use with intermediate and upper grade students, three on geography (Travelrama USA, Crosscountry USA, My America) and one on history (Vital Links). Comments include strengths of each activity, related multimedia activities and resources, and links to literature. Also reviews "Educator's Internet…

Describes the development of an instructor-friendly multimedia environment that is interactive and facilitates the integration of multimedia elements into classroom teaching at a community college. Highlights include a courseware template, HyperCard programming language, a portable media cart design, and student booklets. (Author/LRW)

Discussion of California State University's development of alternative education delivery models using digital technology focuses on use of the EmbARK database. Highlights include declining financial resources; EmbARK's cataloging and management portion and the public access portion; student software testing; and collaboration between higher…

Describes the development of an electronic book that provides a forum on the history and culture of Native Americans in the Lakota Nation. Illustrates how such multimedia programs can help teachers with multicultural education. Discusses the importance of interactivity and random access in educational technology, collaboration, and the teacher…

Relates experiences with replacing textbooks with computer-based multimedia, citing middle-school use of multimedia software Science 2000 in Laredo, Texas. Advantages include interactivity, extensive databases, visual learning, data links, and student enthusiasm. Drawbacks include superficiality, lack of infrastructure support, teacher resistance,…

Explains how one small-town school district encouraged community residents to support a costly new school-bond issue by building a multimedia-focused educational facility that served both students and the community. Discusses how technology proved to be the key in the school being built, and the community's involvement. (GR)

States that portfolios are increasingly being used as an approach to individual and institutional evaluation and hiring practices. Discusses the design, implementation, development, and evaluation of portfolios. Describes multimedia, CD-ROM portfolios in detail. Highlights the Indiana Electronic Portfolio Project, a statewide effort implementing…

Examines the ways in which the collaborative use of a multimedia-based CD-ROM encyclopedia in a sixth-grade Finnish classroom fosters science learning. Results show that students' activities during task-processing were highly procedural and product-oriented. Students had inefficient skills in accessing and retrieving information from the…

Describes a CD-ROM containing a resource library for students in an information science/technology course at the Open University (United Kingdom). Development gave rise to several issues: adaptation of print-based content to the electronic medium; development of quality-control methods; and adaptation of staff roles. Feedback from students shows…

Video and electronic media have the potential to bridge the gap between classroom research and practice by providing rich and detailed data for grounded discussions about teaching and learning. Describes attempts to use digital video technologies to increase collaboration between researchers and practitioners. (WRM)

Examines technological literacies from a sociocultural orientation to language and literacy, supporting the position that literacies are socially and culturally situated and cannot be examined in isolation from their social constructedness. (Author/JL)

Examines the status, issues, and trends of multimedia instructional support. Presents examples associated with the development of CD-ROMs and interactive Web sites to illustrate important considerations for such development. Some issues considered include: degree of interactivity, performance, accessibility, dependability, and development dynamic.…