This usability study evaluated users' perceptions of a multimedia prototype for a new e-learning tool: Anatomy of the Central Nervous System: A Multimedia Course. Usability testing is a collection of formative evaluation methods that inform the developmental design of e-learning tools to maximize user acceptance, satisfaction, and adoption.…

Teaching today's students requires an integration of learner-centered pedagogy with innovative technological resources. In this article, Blase Scarnati and Paula Garcia describe the redesign of a junior-level music history course guided by learner-centered principles and driven by a fusion of stimulating technology-based learning tools and…

Virtual Enterprises International is a high school program that teaches students about business by having them create and operate their own virtual firms. The program enables students to learn about careers, develop interpersonal and organizational skills, and use technology. The New York City Virtual Enterprises (VE) Central Office invited the…

The rapid development of computer and Internet technologies has made e-Learning become an important learning method. There has been a considerable increase in the needs for multimedia instructional material in e-Learning recently as such content has been shown to attract a learner's attention and interests. The multimedia content alone, however,…

Digital publishing is a field lurching along many paths and alleyways of experimentation. For their potential influence, however, recent approaches bear watching. In this article, the author shares the story of Jason on his personal decision-making struggles on using digital versions against conventional textbooks. The author also discusses…

Describing the results of an e-portfolio contest and attendant research conducted at the University of Washington (UW), Cara Lane discusses student attitudes toward e-portfolios and argues for the usefulness of e-portfolios as a means for students to develop professional and academic presentation skills as well as basic technology skills. Lane…

Look no further than to the popularity of C-SPAN's annual video documentary competition for middle and high schoolers, and it's obvious that video editing, and the technology that comes with it, is important to today's students. In the past it was a complex, involved, and expensive process. Video editing is now within the reach of anybody with a…

Background: The current mode of stoichiometry instruction employs a passive pedagogy that consists of students reading, listening, watching, and memorizing disembodied facts, procedures, and principles in preparation for future application. But chemistry students are often subsequently unable to apply this stoichiometry knowledge in equilibrium…

Response-based approaches to teaching and learning literature provide alternatives to objectifying literature. Where traditional approaches champion close readings of texts and "correct" interpretations, response-based theorists regard readers as active meaning-makers whose personal experiences affect their interpretations of literary…

The combination of digital television and computing/networking technologies can provide solutions to many problems confronting higher education. Old Dominion University (Virginia) is committed to discovering how to exploit these technologies to produce a more effective teaching environment at a lower cost than traditional classroom teaching. The…

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…

Following a review of the literature, this paper reports on a study conducted with multimedia developers on their use of project management systems. The research questions that guided this study focused on whether multimedia developers use project management techniques; which kind they use; and which management techniques are of particular…

Preservation efforts for an increasingly digitally oriented future have turned to advanced and improved methods of preservation on microfilm, which has a life expectancy of more than 500 years when properly prepared, stored, and managed, and can support a wide range of digital access systems. Computer controlled cameras can provide significantly…

Although visual databases exist for the study of art, architecture, geography, health care, and other areas, readily accessible sources of quality images are not available for engineering faculty interested in developing multimedia modules or for student projects. Presented here is a brief review of Phase I of the Engineering Visual Database…

This paper describes the design and implementation of an object-oriented World Wide Web-based CAI (Computer-Assisted Instruction) system. The goal of the design is to provide a flexible CAI/ITS (Intelligent Tutoring System) framework with full extendibility and reusability, as well as to exploit Web-based software technologies such as JAVA, ASP (a…