This activity is only applicable, if your organisation has already expirienced computer based learning in the past. In the table below note any specific uses your organisation has already made of any of the computer based media and any possibilities for future applications.

Use the list of uses on the previous page to consider some of the possibilities.

This activity should have helped you sketch an outline of your organisation's use of computer based methods.

In compiling your response, you should have:

• considered any problems in current use

• using the earlier analysis of strengths and weaknesses identified potential 'best' uses in your organisation

• identified any issues or possible problems.

For more complex applications, the addition of sound, vision and animation via multimedia proves increasingly attractive.

In practice, the cost of producing multimedia will mean that for many uses programmes will not be complex and may take the form of 'enhanced computer based learning'. This may have a core of text and graphics supplemented by audio or video, but not including costly simulations or highly interactive video. For many applications in education and training, this may prove effective and be viable in terms of cost and resources.

Although the current focus of multimedia in education and training tends to be on CD-ROM and DVD delivery, network delivery will increase its importance. Most of multimedia PCs existing today are or can easily be linked to in-house and/or external networks and internet functionalities. A quickly increasing part also becomes a vehicle for desktop and video conferencing. The multimedia materials of tomorrow will need to adjust to and make use of this widening range of options. The extension link produce a simple guide to some of the main multimedia terminology. Use this if you wish to check your own understanding or move onto the activity which enables you to think about your organisation's approach.

1. Identify the probable forms of multimedia your organisation will use over the next three years

2. Using an actual or hypothetical example, identify a broad approach to meet a specific need.

Will you:

• use generic published multimedia and computer based learning
  
  
• develop text and graphics computer based learning
  
  
• develop multimedia including video and audio
  
  
• use desktop conferencing
  
  
• use WWW/Internet/Intranet
  
  
• develop networked multimedia
  
  
• use performance support systems
  
  

1. Below identify the key points of one multimedia resource to meet a current learning need in your organisation using the headings below as a guide.

Target audience

Access to networked Pcs (which ‘advanced’ features?)

Objectives

Probable learning time

Main components

What form of multimedia?

This activity should have enabled you to undertake some initial thinking about how multimedia might be used in your organisation. Beginning with a clear view of your organisation's approach is an important pre-requisite for multimedia materials development. The next section provides guidelines on specific techniques and features and this will help you develop an approach to providing multimedia as well as an understanding of the issues and best practice in the field.

Effective methods of screen design and layout are now well established. The current generation of browsers and tools behind enable the development of user interfaces and screens of strong visual quality and usability.

Many of these methods are equally relevant for all forms of computer-generated and distributed material. Although use of the World Wide Web may require some differing practices to help with documents designed to be downloaded or formatted by the user, most screen design principles still apply. A current barrier to some Web documentation is its poor visual quality beyond the initial designed home pages. As WWW use develops, users may expect Web resources to display higher standards of ‘look and feel’.

Screen design is covered in detail in a number of books; below we have sought to highlight key points and indicate some of the variations across different types of computer based and multimedia material.

Many of the issues concerned with the visual style of computer-delivered materials parallel the issues raised with paper-based text materials. These include the use of:

• different typefaces

• ‘white’ or ‘empty space

• text and graphic layout.

Frame or page size

In these notes we will refer to the frame or window size designed for the user as the page size. Good practice is to use a size which permits all the information to be available to users without them having to use scrolling to access material. However you may find that documents in hypertext formats will involve some items which it is not practical or time-efficient to divide into smaller screens. A useful guide is to divide into screens if material will be mainly read directly from the computer. The landscape format A5 meets these conditions. However, larger sizes are to be recommended when available.

Screen layout

An area of the screen should be reserved for navigational tools and information. An example of an effective option is to use a horizontal line of icons at the bottom of the screen next to a title bar.

Users’ experience with the printed page may make them pay more attention to the top left of the screen in preference to other areas. A sequence of events which moves from top left to bottom right of the screen during the course of interactions will appear to be more natural than the other way round.

You will also wish to use features embedded standard browsers. For example, you may decide to make use of the user’s familiarity with the back and foreward button or the bookmarks and to customise this as part of your approach.

Text presentation

The variety of fonts and sizes now available mirrors those available to desktop publishing systems. Your use of them in multimedia materials should follow similar guidelines to those you would use for printed materials (see following unit 4).

You should be consistent in your use of fonts and font size from screen to screen and limit the number used, particularly those that appear together on a screen.

Sans serif fonts such as Avantgarde, Helvetica, Optima and Futura (and ist 'clones') are particularly appropriate for larger sizes of text and stand out well when used against a shaded background. Serif fonts such as helvetica, arial, Palatino and New Century Schoolbook are appropriate for longer runs of text and can add style to a well-designed page. You should be careful with their use particularly when:

• insufficient resolution of a screen may cause a break up of the serifs leading to a coarse or ragged appearance

• the text is placed on a shaded or stippled area which may also contribute to a break up of the serifs.

• not widely used fonts may default to other fonts in some World Wide Web browsers or on PCs without the font used.

The quantity of text on the screen at any one time should be kept relatively It is preferable to break text into short, meaningful statements, individual paragraphs or units. In a hypermedia environment, you can design the screen so that the learner can decide which parts of the text require further investigation. More detailed text can remain in hidden fields windows to be revealed only when requested by the learner.

Evidence suggests that smaller characters facilitate clear text displays. A 10 or 12 point system font (this text is in 10point) provides, clear, easy to read labels and captions. In general, line lengths should not exceed ten to twelve words, preferably double spaced. You should consider adopting a layout based on a column of text to allow vertical scanning rather than long, horizontal lines.

In general, left-justified text with a ragged right edge is preferable to right-justified. An exception to this might be when the text appears in a box which has a ruled line boundary. Text with a ragged right edge next to the straight line of the boundary can appear unsightly. Boxes which are defined by their shade or colour do not show this problem to the same extent.

When you need to give emphasis to text you should use bold rather than underline. Restrict the use of underlining to hypermedia links. This convention has developed to enable those using monochrome monitors to identify text links in the World Wide Web.

The use of colour

The VGA standard provides a multitude of colours for use in learning materials. We can provide only the most general guidelines which are intended to help you avoid the worst errors.

For text presentation use dark colour on a light background for good legibility. You will see that black or dark blue on a light grey background is particularly readable and should appeal to many users. Black on (light)yellow should also work well.

As the use of colour is also dependent on a number of personal preferences and tastes, it is particularly important that you seek the views of others before progressing too far. Demonstrate some typical screens with the variety of colours selected and draw out feedback from your viewers.

If you are devising material for the World Wide Web, consider the variation in user systems and software as well s potential problems in downloading.