ABSTRACT
In the past two decades, educators have used various types of instructional technologies for instruction delivery to their students. Radio, film and video are among the best of their communication strategies. In recent years, the advent of multimedia and the Information and Communication Technology has rapidly altered the scenario in using instructional technologies in the educational institutions particularly in higher education. In this paper, we will present multimedia as a strategic instructional medium and as a catalyst which is revolutionising our classrooms and the teaching and learning environments. Modern-day multimedia applications are effective methods to present educational materials because they contain one key ingredient: interactivity, which empowers the users to interact and have complete control on the flow of information. Multimedia enables the teacher to present the information in multiple media and creates a multi-sensory learning environment, which enhances the teaching and learning process.
KEYWORDS
ICT, multimedia, teaching and learning, interactivity, education, electronic teaching, digital multimedia, computers
1. INTRODUCTION: An overview of instructional technologies in education
Educational technologies have had a long history of use, going back to the fifteenth century with the introduction of movable type, to the use of illustrations in books in the seventeenth century, to using slate chalkboards in the eighteenth century (Jonassen et. al, 1999). These technologies were, at that time, considered new in the classrooms as they sought to enhance the teaching and learning process, which was simply the teacher talking and the students listening.
In the past two decades, educators have continued to use various types of instructional technologies for instruction delivery to their students. Radio, film and video are among the best of their communication strategies. Many of these technologies were touted to transform educational methodologies and teachers began using these technologies in an effort to enhance their regular instruction. Proponents of film saw this technology as an improvement as it provided a visual reality to the exisiting "chalk-and-talk" teaching method. However, lack of skills, high cost of purchase and the inability to integrate it properly into the classroom resulted in film being considered as an ineffective medium of instruction. Radio was another communication strategy that promised to enhance the teaching and learning process, but it too suffered the same fate as film. Instructional television was also introduced as a new method of instruction but it made little headway in the classroom.
All these instructional technologies that were touted to improve on the now-conventional method of "chalk-and-talk" teaching, showed a common pattern that electronic learning was marginal to most classroom instructions. In education, thus, technology has undergone a slower adoption process as educators are challenged to use these technologies in their classrooms. However, multimedia computing technologies and ICT would change that scenario altogether.
2. PCs in the classroom
In the early 70s, the desktop PC or the Personal Computer was born. This was made possible with the use of transistors and integrated circuits (ICs) to construct the computers and the rapid improvement in the chip-fabrication technology. These desktop PCs today are microprocessor-based machines i.e. they use the microprocessor chip to process data and information. They packed more computing power than their mainframe predecessors. Previously, computers were used by scientists, mathematicians, government and military bodies, for purposes of research and statistical projections. Now, computers are pervasive in many areas of our society. The introduction of computers into the educational arena has brought about another wave of technology usage as a new medium of instruction.
The challenge to educators with the advent of computers has been how to best integrate them into school settings. The PC, which first started out as a convenient calculating machine with the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer) in 1946, has evolved into a device of many uses. In the 70s, the PC was used for drills and practices and programming. As the PC increased in processing power and user-friendly software packages became available in the market in the early 80s, educators began to look to the PC as a productivity tool for processing raw data consisting of text and numbers. It was also used to automate office tasks, processing large amounts of accounting data, word-processing and data-basing. With the availability of the 386 computers in the mid-80s, these new PCs were supporting the addition of a sound board which allowed the PC to process sound for PC games. Sound cards from Creative Labs’ SoundBlaster improved the PC’s capability by allowing low-quality sound effects to be played back, opening up a new avenue for the PC as an entertainment tool for playing computer games. Thus, the PC became the first multimedia PC (MPC).
3. THE ADVENT OF MULTIMEDIA
By the mid-1990s, the PC had increased enormously its processing power as more and more powerful microprocessors became available. Its capability as an entertainment device was extended with its ability to play high quality music via the CD-ROM and a sound card. With the combination of high video compression techniques and the availability of large storage medium, movies can also be played on the desktop. The PC has thus become a powerful multimedia PC (MPC), many of the media elements can now be processed on the desktop and multimedia applications can be created with user-friendly software (Fig 1). Currently, the PC is entering a new phase of use, that of a communications device. Through a modem and a telephone line, the PC can now connect users all over the world via the Internet, making the communication process global and instantaneous, and creating an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) revolution in many areas, and especially in education.
With computing technology becoming increasingly powerful and easily accessible, the role of computers has changed. Computers are now able to provide students with rich learning experiences and enabling them to have more depth and direction in their learning processes. In terms of functionality, the computer has gone beyond processing only text and data. It can now process various media elements such as high- resolution graphics, animation, sounds and video. And, now, with the addition of multimedia technology, the scope of computers as an instructional medium increases rapidly, with multimedia becoming the medium of instruction and the computers becoming the means with which the multimedia content is created.
