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Unit 3: Use of Multimedia in Education

Multi Media - Meaning, Nature, Scope, Definition and Approaches.
Multimedia - Meaning
● A judicious mix of various media such as text, audio, video, graphics and animation.
Components of Multimedia
● Text.
● Audio.
● Video
● Graphics.
● Animation (Animation refers to the artificial movements of
● text or other multimedia objects created in virtual
● environments using specialized software packages. )
Multimedia Materials in Education
● Computer Simulation Packages
● Educational interactive CD ROMs
● Online materials
● Educational Computer Games
● CAI material
● Programmed Learning Materials
Definition
According to research reports by Mayer and McCarthy (1995) and Walton (1993), “Multimedia
has gained acceptance with many benefits derived from its use. Learning gains are 56% greater,
consistency of learning is 50-60% better and content retention is 25-50% higher.”2 “The means
of communication is called media”3
The term “Multimedia” recurrently is heard and recited through instructional technologists today.
But to substitute it is to define in an alternative view point such as:
● Mixture of various information media like text, audio, and video.
● The evolution of hardware and software contents based on computer, composed on a very
large scale prior to yield an individual to use and learn.
The most important quality of multimedia is that it incorporates miscellaneous level of acquiring
knowledge in informational instruments which permits for the diverseness in educational
presentations.”

Scope of Multi Media

● The technology of multimedia design utilizes various features like animation, video,
graphics, audio and sound to impress the users.
● Multimedia technology is used for 3D cinema applications and mobile 3DTV
environments.
● Animation is also being used in titling films, creating special effects or in web
entertainment programs. Thus scope of animation is huge in context to market.
● In the field of education multimedia is being used extensively especially for online
courses and trainings.
Nature of Multi Media

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Approaches

● Factual
● Conceptual
● Inductive
● Deductive
● Constructivist
● Interdisciplinary
● Multimedia

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3.2 Types of Instructional Aids: Projected & non–projected Aids, Projectors,

Radio, Tape Recorder, Television, Films, Computers, whiteboard, Smart board,
e-Flash Cards, Educational Toys.
Educational Toys
The use of educational toys can help children learn many different skills they will need in their
life such as:

● Problem solving and learning cause and effect

● Learning how to play with others through compromise, conflict resolution and sharing
● Development of fine and gross motor skills
● Nurturing their creativity and imagination
● Discovering their independence and positive self-esteem
● Children can start benefiting from educational toys as early as one month old. Here are
some great ideas for educational toys based on age range and an explanation of their
benefits.

1-12 months old: At an early age, sensory play helps stimulate your child’s senses. Mobiles,
soothers and infant play gyms are great first toys for children as they focus on sensory play
through sound, sight and touch. As your child continues to grow and develops hand-eye
coordination, families can begin introducing toys that encourage more interaction such as
portable toys which will continue to inspire visual and hearing senses with flashing lights and
different sounds.

As your child becomes more active, we suggest introducing problem solving toys such as
stackers or blocks. These toys will help children work through conflicts and become familiar
with cause and effect such as “If I do this than that will happen”. They will also build up their
confidence once they’ve been able to figure out how a toy works after trial and error and
guidance. Other great toys to introduce would be ones that promote movement such as crawl-
around learning centers or light up dance mats. These types of toys get children excited and
wanting to move around through the use of lights and sounds.

12-24 months old: As your child reaches the one-year mark or older, they will soon become very
mobile. Push cars, stride and ride toys and walkers are great to teach balance and coordination
and will increase your child’s curiosity with their new found mobility. As your child begins to
learn to walk, you can also incorporate learning numbers by counting their steps which will help
them become more familiar with the terms and meaning even if they do not quite understand at
this age.

Themed playsets are great educational toys to introduce between the ages of 12-18 months
because they will help develop your child’s recognition skills. For example, if you have a theme
playset that involves animals, practice what sound each animal makes. This will also help with

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language development by reinforcing the names of colors and shapes. Ride-on toys continue to
spark creativity and imagination but also will help refine their coordination skills. When they are
using their ride-on toys, set up detours and paths that pushes them to solve problems and follow
directions. You can also role play with them by telling them they are going to visit a family
member or going on a field trip.

2+ years: As your children become a bit older and more active, you can also introduce toys that
promote more physical play such as tricycles or basketball hoops. When showing them how to
use these toys, always make sure they are aware of safety concerns such as wearing a helmet and
incorporate in the process of using the toy so they know that if they ride their tricycle, they must
have their helmet on as well.

This is also a great age to introduce toys that incorporate cognitive skill building. Kinetic sand is
a great sensory activity that helps children practice writing by forming shapes or letters in the
sand. They can practice drawing or writing their names. Introducing your child to an easel can
help develop their small motor control by allowing them to practice how to hold chalk, a paint
brush, etc. An easel will also promote creativity by letting your child use their imagination to
create beautiful art.

“See and Say” games and books will help your child to develop name recognition and emergent
literacy skills. These types of toys will show your child a visual version of what they are hearing
and vice versa. For example, the repetition of the toy will allow your child to begin to associate a
picture of a dog with the sound a dog makes. Reading books that have color pictures and a few
words on each page with your child will begin to familiarize them with how words they hear
look on the pages.

More complex building sets such as those that are magnetic are a great way to promote creativity
and problem solving, whether it’s trying to build the same structure that’s pictured on the box or
creating their own masterpiece. If the set comes with differently colored blocks, you can also
practice counting and sorting each color.

Counting toys are also great for helping your child continue to learn about numbers. These toys
can range from simple stacking sets to indoor bowling sets. Toys that encourage children to play
with others also help them to build social skills.

Incorporating play in your child’s day can be both fun and beneficial to their growth.

e-Flash Cards
Many subjects use e-flashcards as a tool to help learners better memorize the facts, notions or formulas.
You can also use it to test learner's understanding of different fields such as a foreign language,
chemistry diagrams, historical dates, and formulas.

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Interactive whiteboards (also known as smart boards) can be described as instructional tools

which allow for computer images to be accurately displayed a board with the help of a digital
projector. The elements on the board can then be manipulated by the instructor using a mouse,
stylus, pen or his finger and this is done directly done on the screen. It allows items to be clicked,
dragged, copied and even the handwriting of notes is possible. The handwriting can then be
easily transformed to text before being saved. The board is usually mounted onto a wall or even
to a floor stand. It can be used in work places as well as in classrooms of different levels of
learning.
The education system has experienced tremendous changes in the past few years as the
traditional heavy textbooks are being replaced by convenient eBooks while notebooks are
replaced by devices such as interactive whiteboards, Tablets and iPads.

Today, there are many uses of interactive whiteboard in education. The main ways on the use
of whiteboard in teaching are as outlined below:
Display
Interactive whiteboard in the classroom can be used by educators to improve
the presentation content. This can easily be achieved by developing an array of material into a
lesson e.g. a picture from the internet, text derived from a Microsoft Word file, graphs from
spreadsheets and teacher and student annotations on the objects. Interactive whiteboards are used
in display because they engage students far better compared to chalk boards or even the
conventional projector-screen and whiteboards combination.
Record Lessons
One of the uses of interactive whiteboard in education is to record lessons. Interactive
whiteboards have a software such as the top notch video conferencing software -ezTalks
Meetings which allows users to take notes and create presentations. Educators can use this
feature to record their notes and lesson activities. Teachers can also encourage students to come
up so that they can jot down few works that can be saved for purposes of future reference. In
addition, the teacher can later print the saved works and publish them for their students. Several
interactive whiteboards softwares comprise of screen recording tools that educators can use to
capture and provide previous lessons to students whenever necessary.
Resources
Using interactive whiteboards in the classroom is encouraged because there are many flash files
available on the internet that can be used by teachers and lecturers to deliver effective lessons.
The use of such resources is beneficial in education as it functions to save both effort and time
while enhancing learning outcomes.

Sharing Resource
The use of whiteboard in teaching allows the computer to become some sort of shared resource.
This eliminates crowding or jostling of students around a small screen in an attempt to observe a
demonstration by a teacher. This means that the interactive whiteboard can enable students to
easily access material from the comfort of their seats.

Learning Styles
Among the top uses of interactive whiteboard in education is to successfully accommodate the
different learning styles. This is because recording tools can be utilized for audio learners, the

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board can be touched and manipulated by tactile learners and visual learners can easily track
whatever that is happening as a lesson proceeds. Facilitating the different learning styles is a
superb way of demonstrating the use of whiteboard in teaching.
Internet Access
Using interactive whiteboards in the classroom allows for the immediate access to all the content
that the internet has to provide. This is beneficial because queries can be answered instantly
through a Google search as audio, video and images are all easily accessible.

Interactivity
The use of interactive whiteboard in the classroom allows pupils to actively engage with
material, receive instant feedback on current projects and to manipulate learning objects. It
enables the lecturer to sit at the computer with a student at the whiteboard and the class
contributing ideas and offering suggestions. It basically promotes interactive teaching.

Preservation
One of the uses of interactive whiteboard in education that is usually taken for granted is its
capability to preserve lessons, notes and discussions. Such material can easily be accessed
afterwards. Saving concepts and ideas that had been extensively covered in a previous lesson
means that students can easily access the content so as to refresh their knowledge. Furthermore,
students who were absent when the lessons were covered for one reason of the other can get an
opportunity to access the material to go through what was previously covered.
Games
Games is also a way of how to use a whiteboard in classroom. Education via games such as
rearranging jumbled texts/ objects or drag and match is possible. This is mostly applicable for the
education of very young students. The games can be properly prepared and varied by the teacher
so that they are effective.

Emphasis
Interactive whiteboards have different patterns that can be used to lay emphasis on a single word
or even group of words. It uses movements and color among other techniques to do this.
Furthermore, the distractive part of the interactive whiteboard's screen has an effective hideaway
feature.

Group Interaction
Interactive whiteboard in the classroom is perfect for the purpose of group participation and
discussion. It is a highly effective tool for brainstorming because notes that are made on the
screen can be transformed into text and consequently saved for later sharing and distribution. It is
an ideal when collaborative learning and a small group work is being aimed at. This can be
achieved by students huddling around the board as they develop bright ideas, the work can then
be saved for sharing via email or over a network. A good example of a software that encourages
group interaction is the video conferencing software -ezTalks Meetings. The above points do not
exhaust how to use a whiteboard in classroom as they are limitless but one thing is very clear,
using interactive whiteboards in the classroom is a necessity.

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Tape Recorder
A Tape recorder is used to record sounds on magnetic tape which can be reproduced at will and
as many time required.

An audio tape recorder tape deck or tape machine is an audio storage device thats records and
plays back sounds including articulated voices usually using magnectic tape, either wound on a
reel or in a cassette for storage.

The tape recorder is an electrical device used for recording sounds on tape and for playing back
the recorded material. Tape and tape recorder are often used for teaching English language in the
classroom. Listening to tapes provides students information not only about vocabulary and
grammar, but also about pronunciation, intonation, rhythm, stress and pitch. Listening to tapes is
a method of bringing different kinds of speaking into the classroom. The teacher can play varied
types of tape to the students. Examples of them are conversations, advertisements, news
broadcasts and interviews.

Charts
A chart is a diagrammatic representation of a system, process, and historical sequence of event. It
is visual representation used to summarize, illustrate, compare or contrast, communicate the
subject matter in effective and concise way. Charts are used in all subjects for concept formation
and development among learners.
If you look around, you will find wide variety of charts being used. The different types of charts
are-
1) Process charts – which are used to show steps in a process. Life cycles of insects, energy
cycles, etc are shown as cyclical processes. Stepwise making of a slide box or any other object
may also be shown with the help of process chart.
2) Organizational chart – are used to represent functional relation among the different
components in our organization whether manmade or natural. Food chain, administrative
hierarchy in institution, etc. can be shown on organizational chart.
3) Time Chart – are used to represent events, occurrences in chronological sequences. Evolution
of human beings, political empires, etc can be shown using time chart, which helps learners
compare and contrast events in relation to time. It is very important for holistic comprehension of
the topic or subject under study.
4) Tabular chart – represents data in tabular form for easy comparison and understanding. For
example, types of crops, plants, etc. are represented in tabular form, which makes comprehension
easier.
5) Tree chart – shows growth and development from single source to many branches like in a
tree. In a time chart, it is generally a single line representation whereas in a tree chart many
branches are there like a tree. For example, family tree is a familiar example.
6) Stream chart – is opposite to tree chart wherein may branches come together to converge into
a single stream. For example – many rivers like Yamuna fall in Ganga, which then flows down
to fall in the sea.

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7) Sequence Charts or Flip Charts are collection of charts like flip charts used to show many events or
series of events in succession.
Maps are broadly classified into following categories:
● Physical Maps, which show climate, soil, forest areas, resources, rainfalll, etc.
● Political Map which show political divisions of countries and places.
● Economic Maps are those maps showing the crop distribution, land use, transport, etc.
● Social Maps, show demographic distribution, in country. The literacy rate, language,
tribes etc. are shown on maps for easy comprehension.
● Historical Maps show boundaries, of the empires, routes taken by travelers, places of
war, treaties, etc.
Map reading skills should be taught to students. Some significant aspects of map reading skills
are: symbols of places; location of places – longitude, latitude; different physical features – land
form, water form; human factors; climate and resources; distances; transportation.
Models are useful as these:
• Simplifies difficult concepts.
• Reduce large objects to a conveniently observable size.
• Demonstrate interior structure of an object or system.
• Help learners to understand difficult part of object or system.
It simplifies difficult concepts, processes or complex situations by focusing on essential
features only and eliminating complex details, which may hinder in understanding the
concept. Models are useful teaching learning resources. While using models certan points
need to be to the taken care of-
• Models should be large enough to be seen easily by everyone in the class.
• Models may be supplemented with other teaching learning resources like chart to help
leaners understand the relationships.
• If it is working Model – check before you use in your class.
• Leaners should be allowed to touch the model and feel it for effective learning.
• True colour should be used in models for realistic learning. It also makes the model
more eye-catching.

Model can be of two types:

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1) Stationary or Non-working Model- Stationary or non-working model is the type of

model in which all the parts of model are stationary i.e there is no movement. It is easier
to make and is widely used as teaching learning resource, for eg. Model of eye is a non-
working model.
2) Working Model- Working Model is a model in which either all or some parts are
moving to show the process in the system. They appear interesting to learners. Solar
system where all planets revolve around Sun is an example of working model.
Preparation of models
The following standard techniques may be used to prepare models (IGNOU, 2000)
• Use cheap materials such as cardboard, wood and are to prepare static models like
models of a dam, a building and the like.
• Use materials like modelling clay and plastic line to produce realistic models of living
creatures, organs of a human body, etc.
• Use materials like plaster of paris and paper mache to produce a physical map of a
continent, or a country, or landscape of a particular area.
Poster
Poster is symbolic representation of a single idea. As a single idea is depicted posters are
usually bold, eye-catching to attract learners for giving a message. Posters have both
visual and textual components. Visual component is to attract the attention of learner and
thus has to be colorful and eye-catching. Text is used to convey message related to visual
and is called ‘Caption’. Caption conveys the important message and the visual is to
attract attention and therefore to support the message to be converged. Ministry of Health
for generating awareness regarding Rural Health.

Puppets
Puppets are a very useful media in the teaching of history, drama, and literary topics. They are
available in the market or can be prepared locally according to the requirements. Puppets can be
made of cardboard, cotton, colour and other locally available materials. They are used to
dramatize any historical events like war, life of people during a particular historical period etc.

PROJECTED TEACHING LEARNING RESOUCES

Overhead Projector (OHP)
Overhead Projector (OHP) helps in displaying still visual material as projection on a screen. It is
a simple projector which is very easy to operate and therefore, popular among teacher. It is better
than using chalkboard as it helps teacher to talk and show visuals at the same time. As a teacher,
you can observe the reaction of students and interact with them. It also helps in saving time as
you can use these visuals / transparencies again and again. OHP does not require a darkened
room and is easy to handle and transport from one classroom to another.
Single transparency – Thick transparent Acetate sheets are used to display visual or textual
material while talking in class. They can be stored in boxes with blank sheets of paper in
between two transparencies to ensure that they do not stick together.
Continuous roll – OHP has provision of winding acetate rolls from one end to other. You may
start from one end to use it as you proceed through the class.

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Some may use it in lieu of chalkboard. Some may use it for calculation, derivations, etc. Roll
may also be used where visuals need to be shown in continuity for better comprehension.
Points to be kept in mind while preparing OHP slides.
1) As blank acetate sheets are slightly larger than the top glass frame of OHP. You should leave
margin on all four sides.
2) Prepare slides in landscape or horizontal position. If you need to use in portrait or vertical
position, try not to use bottom 1/3rd portion.
3) Use water-soluble or permanent marker pens according to context. When the slides are to be
reused again, use of permanent pens are preferred, whereas for one time use of water-soluble
pens are preferred.
4) Bold strong colors like Black, Red, Blue, and Green are preferred as they provide good
contrast on transparent sheets.
5) Preferably eight lines should be written per transparency and eight words per line. This makes
it readable with naked eye from 2 meters enabling students sitting at the back to read it clearly.
6) Ensure that all students can see the whole screen. Larger the screen used better is the
projection showing the details.
7) While teaching progressive disclosure of the slides should be used. The transparency is totally
covered with paper. You reveal the portion being discussed in class progressively as the
classroom teaching proceeds. This helps the learners in concentrating on the topic being
discussed and keeps alive the curiosity about the next point to be discussed.
8) You should face the class while explaining a concept with help of OHP slide. The presentation
speed should be controlled.
9) Use pointer to focus on point being discussed.
10) Switch off projector when not needed.

Slides
A slide is a film transparency contained in a frame or mount. When pictures, diagrams,
specimens, etc are to be shown to students, they can be mounted on slides and projected on
screen by the use of slide projectors or viewer. Slides are a versatile medium. They are easy to
arrange and rearrange to meet a variety of instructional needs. There are several ways of
preparing slides. Diagrams, pictures, graphs, and illustrations can be drawn on a glass slide using
ink or by enclosing them between two glass slides (of 120 mm) and binding them together.

Film strips
A filmstrip is a length of 35 mm film containing a series of still pictures intended for projection
in sequence on at a time (Gerlach and Ely, 1980). Just like slides, filmstrips can be prepared for
pictures, diagrams, graph, etc. But unlike slides, there is sequential movement of filmstrips on a
screen. Filmstrips are projected with the help of a filmstrip projector. Filmstrips can be hooked to
a tape-recorder to provide the commentary. The teacher can teach a lesson very affectively by
way of stopping and moving different frames in a filmstrip.

Radio and Television

When radio is used for the teaching- learning purpose, we call it educational radio. Of late,
there is two-way communication
between the subject experts and the students. This is called the interactive radio instruction or
interactive radio counselling(IRC).

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Let us discuss some of the uses of radio in education. The following are the three main uses of
radio in the teaching-learning process.
i) Radio can be used to teach students directly from a centralised radio station through interactive
radio technology.This provides students opportunity to interact with the experts and clear
queries.
ii) Radio can be used as a support to regular teaching sessions by providing additional and
supplementary lectures. For example, after teaching the concept of democracy, students may be
asked to listen to radio programme on the topic ‘Democracy-Advantages and Disadvantages’
iii) Radio is used to provide general information about the various aspects of the educational
programme/course and career opportunities. Counselling sessions in distance learning system
can also be organised through radio.

Computer
Computer is one of the commonly used digital devices in teaching –learning process. Computer
has a lot of applications in the field of education such as preparing digital documents, accessing
Internet, communication between students and teachers, storing data, etc.
Meaning of Computer
First, let us understand what is a computer. Computer is an electronic device that accepts raw
data from the user, processes these data under the control of a set of instruction (called
programme), gives the result (output), and saves output for future use (storage). Thus,computer
accepts data, processes it and gives result. and output device. Input device, the piece of hardware
component,is used to enter data/instructions to the computer. The piece of hardware component
used to provide output data/convey information are called output device. The device that is used
to store data is called storage device.The central processing unit (CPU) is the unitthat performs
most of the processing inside a computer. CPU consists of Control Unit (CU) and Arithmetic
Logic Unit (ALU).
Uses of Computers
In education, computers can be used for various purposes such as preparing presentations,
developing documents, storing student data, accessing internet, downloading teaching materials,
using social networking sites, communicating with students, teaching online, attending e-
conferences, and so on.

3.3 Advantages, Limitations and Challenges of Using Multimedia in Education.

Limitations of multimedia
● · Expensive
● Production of multimedia is more expensive than others because it is made up of more
than one medium.
● Production of multimedia requires an electronic device, which may be relatively
expensive.
● Multimedia requires electricity to run, which adds to the cost of its use
● · Requires special hardware
● · Not always compatible
Advantages of Multimedia
● Increases learning effectiveness.
● Is more appealing over traditional, lecture-based teaching methods.

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● Offers significant potential in improving personal communications, education and

teaching efforts.
● Is easy to use.
● Frees the teacher from routine tasks.
● Creates interest in students

6 Challenges Facing in Education

● Challenge 1: professional development. ...
⮚ key among all challenges is the lack of adequate, ongoing professional
development for teachers who are required to integrate new technologies into
their classrooms yet who are unprepared or unable to understand new
technologies."All too often, when schools mandate the use of a specific
technology, teachers are left without the tools (and often skills) to effectively
integrate the new capabilities into their teaching methods,
● Challenge 2: resistance to change. ...
⮚ Resistance to technology comes in many forms, but one of the key resistance
challenges identified in the report is "comfort with the status quo."
● Challenge 3: MOOCs and other new models for schooling. ...
⮚ New in this year's report, new models for teaching and learning are providing
"unprecedented competition to traditional models of schooling." In particular, the MOOC
(massive open online course)
● Challenge 4: delivering informal learning. ...
⮚ Related to challenge 3, rigid lecture-and-test models of learning are failing to
challenge students to experiment and engage in informal learning.
● Challenge 5: failures of personalized learning. ...
⮚ According to the report, there's a gap between the vision of delivering personalized,
differentiated instruction and the technologies available to make this possible.
● Challenge 6: failure to use technology to deliver effective formative assessments.
⮚ Assessment is an important driver for educational practice and change, and over the
last years we have seen a welcome rise in the use of formative assessment in
educational practice. However, there is still an assessment gap in how changes in
curricula and new skill demands are implemented in education; schools do not always
make necessary adjustments in assessment practices as a consequence of these
changes.

3.4 Recent Trends in Multimedia

Multimedia technologies broadly refer to the development and the use of various types of media
and communication technologies to enhance content visualization and user interaction.
Multimedia technology integration is becoming a core part in the development of e-learning
technologies. In this section, we introduce the emerging multimedia technologies that contribute
to the development of e-learning technologies. We broadly categorize such technologies based
on media that induce substantial changes to the student learning process, and content that
improves student learning effectiveness and experience. 2.1 Media changing the learning process

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The main objective of media is to provide channels for the delivery of various forms of contents.
With the availability of new media types in recent years, substantial changes have been made to
the student learning process. There are three important types of media.

Communication technologies as a medium for e-learning

The development of communication technologies, such as mobile devices and RFID (radio
frequency identification), is fundamental to providing more convenient ways for instructors and
learners to interact and collaborate with each other. It facilitates the delivery of learning
materials and improves the accessibility of e-learning applications.

This type of media is important to the construction of seamlessly integrated learning

environments that feature permanency, accessibility, immediacy, interactivity, and situated
learning. The hybridization of communication devices further enriches learning environments.
For example, the UPS (Ubiquitous Personal Study) [3] integrates the concept of ubiquitous
computing by using mobile phones for improving the accessibility of learning content and
applying Web 2.0 to provide personalized learning environments. Another example is supporting
language learning through a ubiquitous environment. TANGO (Tag Added learNinG Objects)
[23] detects objects around a learner through RFID tags and provides the student with relevant
context information. The system examines a student’s understanding by real-time questions. If
the student can correctly answer the questions, he/she can receive further information about the
corresponding objects. These examples show that the use of ubiquitous devices may motivate
and improve learning in terms of curiosity, interactivity and engagement.

Social networks as a medium for e-learning Social technologies (or social media) refer to the use
of communication channels, such as the Internet or mobile networks, for establishing and
maintaining user groups/communities, where information sharing and social interaction are
supported. In social interaction, users may be grouped under various forms of communities based
on events or situations. With the growth of social technologies, social learning is beginning to
emerge. It offers powerful and enduring learning experiences through the use of social networks,
such as online communities, where learners are engaged to discuss, formulate and share
knowledge/information. An empirical study in shows that users have higher motivation to learn
new things/knowledge when exposed in a highly-interactive environment. Rienties, et al. present
a series of empirical studies on a large number of college and graduate students. Results show
that student collaboration surpasses individual learning and improves student motivation and
learning performance. These studies also identify the feasibility of using user-generated
information in socialized environments. Evidences reveal that the use of social media indeed
strengthens the relationships that learners have established offline and provides learners with the
sense of participation. Hence, social technologies help establish and manage connections that
facilitate social learning.

Games as a medium for e-learning

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Game-based learning (GBL) research is becoming popular recently, as researchers find that the
paradigm can significantly motivate students to learn. GBL is supported by a set of technologies,
including multimedia communication, computer graphics, human-computer interaction, and
ubiquitous computing. The ultimate goal of GBL is to turn the learning process into a
combination of entertainment, visual-oriented and interaction-based tasks, through which
students may gain a deeper understanding in their studies.

Designing the game scenario is crucial to a GBL system, as it is fundamental to how a student
can quickly adapt to such a new learning paradigm and learn effectively. Along this line, virtual
environment techniques have been used to develop interactive 3D environments. For instance, a
script-based game environment is built based on Second Life, which is an online platform by
Linden Lab to support 3D interaction and collaboration over the Internet. It helps students learn
how to solve problems based on interactions and formation of student groups. Results show that
supporting student interaction and collaboration facilitate problem-solving. On the other hand,
game-based learning environments also help the formation of online communities (or specific
social networks).Interestingly, games developed based on a social graph, such as Facebook,
inherit similar social properties. For example, the cumulative distribution of players’ (or
learners’) interactions follows the Power-Law decay, which can be easily predicted. Instructors
can make use of such prediction results to decide the types of learning content to be delivered
and the types of learning processes to be included in a game.

Content for improving learning effectiveness and experience

When developing e-learning systems, we need to consider how to incorporate different forms of
learning contents to improve learning effectiveness. Research in this area focuses on how to offer
students the most suitable forms of learning contents and how these contents are produced.

Types of contents Multimedia information refers to a collective set of content in different forms,
such as text, audio, images, animation and videos. Each of them requires a different data
representation for storage and transmission. Content-specific compression and retrieval
techniques are available. As human can concurrently process information of multiple
representations, such as pictorial and verbal materials. Hence, disseminating courses by
multimedia instruction may improve learning effectiveness. This has been confirmed by a recent
study that investigates factors that influence learning effectiveness. The study was conducted
using the Blackboard system, a Web-based e-learning system supporting the hosting and
distribution of learning content, online tests, assessment tracking and student-teacher
communication.

Results show that learners’ self-efficacy, multimedia instruction and interactive learning
activities are the dominating factors to learning effectiveness. A main concern of using
multimedia instruction is the cognitive overload problem in processing multimodal information.
Mayer and Moreno propose techniques, including information segmentation, pre-training,

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content weeding and signaling, to address this problem. These techniques provide various ways
to present multimedia instruction in more manageable forms. On the other hand, interactive
learning activities can be generally supported by five basic types of interactivity, namely,
dialoguing, controlling, manipulating, searching and navigating. These allow students to
exchange questions/answers/feedbacks, control which parts of the learning content to be
assessed, control the way learning contents to be presented, and identify and go through relevant
learning content. In line with the idea of applying multimedia and interactivity technologies to
improve learning effectiveness, interactive videos have been found to be useful in engaging and
motivating students. Particularly, videos can present pre-generated learning content in motion
and multimodal forms, helping students formulate and visualize abstract concepts easily. With
the support of interactivity, students are allowed to proactively discover things or control the
learning pace. This turns the learning process into a student-centered one.

Unlike interactive videos, which operate based on pre-generated learning contents, virtual
environment (VE) based e-learning systems provide graphical simulation environments with
dynamic learning contents. Simulation results are produced according to user interactions. These
systems may form immersive training environments for students to actively experience different
situations, learn operational skills and gain hands-on experience in problem solving, rather than
simply discovering and perceiving information. The immersive experience can be further
enhanced by incorporating haptic technologies, such as force feedback devices and 3D input
devices. As students may be accessing the servers via different types of network connection,
interactive graphics rendering techniques and content streaming technologies may need to be
incorporated.

Content construction

The construction of multimedia instructions requires standards for formulating the content as
well as user-friendly tools and well-defined authoring processes for authors to produce the
content. Typically, multimedia instruction relies on multimodal information to represent learning
contents and structural information to connect them. SCORM is a popular standard for
constructing hierarchical structures to connect learning contents and schedule their delivery. It
also defines the communication standard for the client and server components of a web-based e-
learning system. Apart from the format for content exchange, IMS Common Cartridge includes
standards for content authorization, student assessment and online discussion forum, providing a
more complete coverage to the pedagogical needs. Constructing multimedia instruction is not
trivial, as every different type of content requires a very different method to produce, store and
render. This is difficult for ordinary teachers to manage, particularly if a variety of software and
development toolkits are involved. Emerging Web technologies, including HTML5, CSS3 and
WebGL, try to address this issue by allowing different types of media and user interactions to be
processed and rendered within a Web browser without installing a bundle of plug-ins or
software. To take this further, all-in-one e-learning platforms, such as Canvas LMS , have been
developed. This includes a rich content editor for teachers to create and edit learning content in

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different types of media. On the other hand, Web Services allow ready-made remote e-learning
services or information resources, such as Google Map, to be incorporated on-demand to enrich
the dissemination of learning content. For the authoring process, teachers traditionally assume
the role of producing learning content. This means that the learning approach and pace are
defined by the teachers. Recently, with the availability of Web-based collaborative editing
technologies, such as wiki, the use of student-created content has been studied. This exploits the
fact that students can be more engaged and can learn deeply by taking the authoring role. This
can be treated as a new learning approach. To ensure that students are truly benefited from this
approach, the study finds that prior training should be provided to the students in order to prevent
them from getting confused with the unstructured characteristic of wiki. In addition, clear
apportioning of responsibilities and proper control of ownership and intellectual property should
be set in place.

Future research directions Based on our studies, we envision a number of research directions in
developing and incorporating multimedia technologies for e-learning. We summarize four
research directions as follows.

Towards the social learning paradigm

Traditional e-learning systems deliver courses based on a pre-defined curriculum and knowledge
set. They assume that well-defined instructions and assessment procedures are available. Social
learning (or s-learning) allows learners to receive timely information and learn from community
users with similar interests. It is a powerful way for sharing opinions, stimulating discussions and
facilitating learning processes. While defining social learning is still a work in progress, many
researchers have been using social networking platforms to create activities and exercises for
specific programs. A typical example is Elgg, an open source social networking platform
designed specifically for online education. Social media extends learning, especially informal
learning, from conventional classrooms to the global communities, offering ways to connect
experts of different domains, and providing just-intime solutions to problems. Related
challenging issues include:

1. Emerging collaborative learning paradigm based on social networks—a main research issue in
social learning is to improve the interactions among learners. One challenge is to identify the
best-fit methods that support learning activities, such as discussions, post-and reply and content
sharing, in social environments. Such investigation may be supported by observing learners’
behaviors, such as types of activities or interactions conducted.

2. Content discovery and searching—with multimedia technologies, learning content may be

composed of different forms of materials. As a result, content discovery becomes non-trivial
since each type of medium is different in nature. A research challenge is to develop efficient and
automatic methods for discovering and delivering learning content in large-scale social
environments.

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3. Social behaviors mining and reuse—Student characteristics are reflected from the ways that
they behave in a social environment. By capturing such behaviors, an e-learning system can
better address the needs of individual students to improve learning effectiveness.

Gamification

Game-based learning (GBL) research focuses not only on applying games in education, but also
on developing technologies for game designers and educational professionals to work together to
produce attractive and highly-engaging GBL environments. Adequate tools should be provided
for developing the system and the content. Some future research issues include:

1. Authoring and development of immersive worlds—A challenging research issue is the

instructional or constructional learning design, since the role of a tutor may be turned from the
traditional teaching role into a facilitator, a collaborator, a producer or an author. On the other
hand, self-authored content, such as user-generated content, may lead to greater opportunity for
teaching and learning in a game environment, which also matches the ultimate goal of social
learning that facilitates user interactions.

2. Online gaming and its community—this research issue is related to the construction of more
seamless learning experiences, which blurs the boundaries between formal institutional learning
and learning at work or home. It involves the formulation and maintenance of team-based or
collaborative learning. Evidences show that an online game scenario prompts learners to receive
information related to specific topics of the game and provides a way for learners to use it. In
addition, learning via game-playing has been proved to change and influence individuals
unobtrusively and imperceptibly.

Incorporating reality as the content Learning is a process for students to gain understanding in
certain knowledge and acquire skills for dealing with certain problems or situations. Although
conventional multimedia e-learning systems allow students to learning more effectively by
presenting knowledge through different senses, they are not well integrated into students’
physical environments. Promising research directions are envisioned to fill such a gap. They
include the following.

1. Situated or context-aware learning—This develops techniques for making use of sensors to

capture environmental or personal contexts, such as physical location, environmental parameters
and body temperature, that form input parameters for building up a situation to support learning.
In addition, wireless and mobile technologies can be integrated to support individual or group
learning. It may lead to the development of learning services that can be adapted to different
environments, such as hardware devices and networking conditions.

2. Mixed-reality based learning—this investigates the use of computer vision and virtual reality
techniques for integrating physical objects and virtual objects/information in such a way that
students may be able to explore/visualize/manipulate objects or information from both the real

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and the virtual worlds. Relevant research issues include developing methods to improve the
accuracy and the performance of real world object recognition and designing user interaction
techniques to manipulate both real and virtual objects in a seamless way.

3. Interactive student responses—Traditional student feedback, which reflects student learning

experiences, is typically collected after a learning session. Interactive student responses refer to
real-time feedbacks collected during a learning session. They reflect student understanding,
preferences or opinions, and form part of the real-life context that can be immediately applied to
adjust the learning content dissemination. In classroom teaching, interactive student responses
can be collected with simple remote control devices. In e-learning systems, potential research
challenges of collecting interactive responses include how to incorporate multi-modal responses,
which offer much richer information, and how to analyze, summarize, interpret and present the
responses collected.

Effective multimedia instruction authoring learning activity design and learning content
authoring are generally time-consuming. Constructing multimedia instruction imposes additional
burden and difficulty to teachers, as learning contents are in multi-modal forms, which require
significantly more time and effort to produce. Despite of these overheads, constructing
multimedia instruction is expected to become essential, as it can enrich knowledge
dissemination. Hence, seeking effective ways to produce multimedia learning content is an
important research direction. Some promising issues are as follows.

1. Development of pedagogical Web services—Web services are distributed-system technologies

to allow a system to be constructed by composing dynamic software components (or Web
services) provided by different organizations over the Internet. Such technologies allow the re-
use of existing Web services as a way to support rapid system development and dynamic
extension of system functionalities. Pedagogically, Web services can be established to re-use
learning activities and multimedia instructions. This helps shorten the development process of
emerging but effort-demanding learning activities and multimedia instructions, such as game-
based learning. Some e-learning platforms like Moodle have already supported Web services.
We believe that more pedagogical Web service components will be developed in the future.

2. Adaptive multimedia instruction authoring—producing suitable learning content that matches

student learning styles may enhance student learning effectiveness. However, the implementation
is not trivial as a student may have a mixture of learning styles that change over time. This
makes adaptive multimedia instruction authoring difficult. When producing multi-modal
versions of learning content, teachers need to determine the learning-style-dependent
relationships among learning contents, together with their delivery sequences and abstraction
levels [14]. We envision that techniques will be developed for teachers to quickly preview an
adaptive multimedia instruction session for a student, based on his/her learning styles. Such
previews may allow teachers to review/verify their multimedia instruction design and to improve
the quality of authoring processes. A good starting point along such a research direction could be

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employing summarization techniques, which aim at producing abstraction of multimedia content.

Main issues include the production of a unified form of abstractions to learning contents
constructed by different types of media and ensuring that the abstractions produced are
pedagogically meaningful.

3.5 Implication of Multimedia in teaching learning.

A medium is “an intervening agency, means, or instrument by which something is conveyed or
accomplished” (Webster’s College Dictionary, 1991). The plural form of medium is media,
which, in the context of education, includes the means to create, store and present instructional
content. These include tools such as chalk and talk, books and computers, slide projectors, video
projection, overhead projectors, document cameras, audio systems (a CD player, radio),
combined sound and video systems (television, digital video cameras, and DVDs), and the media
objects themselves. The term multimedia was introduced in the 1960s to describe the combined
use of several media, such as text, film, video, still images, and audio (Vincent & Shepherd,
1989). Schnotz and Lowe (2003) define the term multimedia as the combination of multiple
technical resources for the purpose of presenting information represented in multiple formats via
multiple sensory modalities.

Jarosievitz (2011:22; 2009:383) encourages university lecturers to take advantage of multimedia

(text, pictures, animation, sound, video and interactivity) and new devices and their applications
so as to ensure that pre-service teachers leave university with adequate knowledge and applicable
skills. Multimedia-based instruction can be efficient and effective for three reasons (Issa, Cox &
Killingsworth, 1999):

• it is self-paced learning: the individualized pace of the learning allows students to break down
the group instructional setting, which often inhibits some people’s natural progression (West &
Crook, 1992);

• it includes video/audio production, enhancing a learner’s interaction with the course material
through less bridging effort between the learner and the information being processed, and

• it provides autonomy in the learning process: self-regulated instruction shifts the sense of
responsibility from the instructor to the student.

Multimedia offers avenues for presenting material not possible with other methods, such as:

• Interaction;

• Animation to demonstrate concepts;

• Sound cues;

• Incorporation of stimulating visual effects such as flashing, and

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• Nonlinear progression.

The cognitive processing by the learner is believed to cause learning and not the media environment
(Mayer, 2003:137)

Multimedia Classroom

The time it takes to earn the degree in education today is based on an increasingly outdated
model: so many hours in a classroom entitle a student to a receipt in the form of a grade, and so
many receipts can be redeemed for a credential in the form of a degree... Education today is just
beginning to think of shifting the basis of certification from time served to skills and knowledge
obtained. Traditionally classroom situation is teachers stand in front of the students, giving
explanations, informing, and instructing. They usually use chalk to write something on the
blackboard. These technique needs slightly to be modified regarding with the development of the
technology. The using of multimedia in classroom cannot be denied anymore. That will make
possible for teachers giving more opportunity to students being happier and more enjoy during
the course. Traditional classrooms have different settings from the multimedia classrooms.
Students seat in rows and a chalkboard in the front. The teacher is standing in front of the class
giving a lecture. Compared with traditional classrooms, multimedia classrooms setting differ
greatly from traditional classrooms. Traditional classrooms have the seats in rows and a
chalkboard in the front. In the multimedia classrooms, students’ seat can be modified according
to the situation needed. Inside the classrooms, all the equipment is available and makes the
students feel comfortable to study. They sit at wide tables in comfortable chairs and have plenty
of room to spread work. Furthermore, they also have the opportunity to move the furniture
around for group discussions. A large teaching station is located at the front and to one side of
the room. Inside the station cabinet there are controls for the rooms built – in equipment. The use
of multimedia described here makes use of print texts, film and Internet to develop and enhance
linguistics and knowledge. Through their interactions with multimedia texts on topic of interest,
students become increasingly familiar with academic vocabulary and language structures. As
they pursue sustained study of one content area through focus discipline research, the students
become actively engaged in the process of meaning construction within and across different
media. Working though the complex intermingling of meanings, embedded within different texts

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encourages students to make connections as they build a wider range of schemata, which are then
available to help them grasp future texts. Using print, film and Internet as resources for studying
provides students with opportunities to gather information through stimuli that will stimulate
their imaginations, engage their interest and introduce them to the raw materials for analysis and
interpretation of both language and context. Students develop solid foundation in several subject
areas and become “content experts” in one. Thus they greatly increase their overall knowledge
base, as well as their English language and critical literacy skills, facilitating their performance in
future college courses. Although various studies support the application of multimedia in the
classroom, Liu, Jones and Hem street (1998) point out that the design of multimedia is useful
when technology is to have any effect on learning. One of the main purposes of software in
writing is to facilitate the development of academic writing skills for students through the use of
the objects matter for writing assignments. The program is presented as a simulation game to
interest and motivation. Students using the program found themselves in the virtual world of
education.

The Computer Internet

Computer technology has given us Internet, which has various uses. Dealing with education,
Internet presents the students a wide range of collection of English language texts in many
discipline departments. Before the general use of computers in colleges and universities to teach
writing, students met in a traditional classroom and were taught to write standard essay.
Instruction was personified commonly by the teachers standing behind a lectern or by the teacher
marking errors on student texts (Blair, 1997). With the rapid proliferation of the personal
computer, many institutions of higher education created “computerized writing courses”
emphasizing word processing skills and collaborative critiquing; believing that using the
technology “democratizes the classroom discussion, allowing students to transcend the limits of
the traditional Computer technology has given us Internet, which is an electronic medium in
which both print and visual resources are invariably bound. At the click of a mouse, text
resources present students with a diverse collection of authentic English language texts dealing
with a wide variety of interdisciplinary topics, and at each web page link, students have the
advantage of reading print texts with the benefit of immediate visual reinforcement provided by
pictures and slide shows, facilitating the collaborative effects of print and visual information
processing. Integrating the Internet yields the additional benefit of increased student motivation.
Students are eager to begin class and often arrive early at the computer lab, logging on to the
Internet and beginning research on their own. They also often stay after class to continue
working on the Internet. Overall, students develop greater confidence in their ability to use
English because they need to interact with the Internet entirely through reading and writing.
Using the Internet for focus discipline research not only teaches higher order thinking skills, but
also promotes critical and social literacy as students encounter a variety of information,
synthesizing that information through cooperation and collaboration with their peers. Members
of focus discipline groups generally form strong multicultural friendship fostered by their

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collaborative efforts throughout the semester. However, the general uses of computers are rarely
found in traditional classroom. For instance, students attend the regular classes that were taught
to write the standard essay. With the technology use, the students do not only literate the ability
to read and write but also to be able to understand music, video, hypertext and networked
communications. Whitaker (1995) points out clearly that technology as something to expand
human potential rather than substitute for it and which enhances the thought process rather than
cripples it.

The Print Text

The Print text used in presenting students with sophisticated reading that contains cognitively
demanding language and introduces a wide range of vocabulary. However, these texts may be
difficult to understand. This is suggested to present in printed and visual text. By reading print
texts will the benefit of immediate visual provided by pictures or slide show. In writing class of
using multimedia, students watch the selected video novel. After watching students are asked
questions about the video and assigned essay topics, then divided into brainstorming groups.
They discuss and develop the topics in their group. They then make rough draft before presenting
in front of other groups. It is obviously that in the multimedia classroom students are engaged to
learn how to brainstorm, how to use groups for draft and how to critique other presentations
.However, to benefit from the Internet, the students have to learn to navigate and then evaluate
the information found there. The students must know how to use search engines, web browsers,
and met sites evaluate information in terms of its validity and reliability, as well as its relevance
to the topic (Carlson, 1995). Therefore to guide the students in determining whether an Internet
source is reliable and credible, students should consider the source and time frame, as well as the
evidence supporting the information provided. As the students become more comfortable surfing
the Internet, they discover it can be used to develop not only content area knowledge but also to
improve their language skills. They know how to compose an essay, using information from the
sources they have found in the Internet; also they learn how to cite references in a bibliography.
A study conducted by Kasper (1997) illustrate that teaching English using multimedia such as
print, film, video, Internet to students encourage them to write a critical analysis on assignments.
Overall, the students’ achievement increased significantly. 92 % of the students passed on
departmental reading and writing examinations. In addition, their feedback on discussions is very
positive. They express confidence in their ability to use English. They attribute this improvement
to the multimedia model that the texts teach them English and provide helpful information in
other courses and the film and Internet help them make material easier to understand because
they see, hear, and read about the topic.

The Film

Film can be used to provide a visual material. The students can read a print text and watch the
film later, according to Kasper and Singer (1997), the film can clarify comprehension,

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consolidate concepts and reinforce learning. It is expected to the students to fully understand
both visual and verbal comprehension. By watching the

Through the interaction with multimedia, the students become increasingly familiar with
academic vocabulary and language structure. Connecting with the Internet will make the benefit
of increased student motivation. Students are eager to begin class and often arrive early at the
computer lab, logging on the Internet and beginning research on their own. They also often stay
after class to continue working on the Internet. Overall, students develop greater confidence in
their ability to use English because they need to interact with the Internet through reading and
writing. Using multimedia provides the students to gather information through media that
encourages their imaginations, interests. Also it using this technology combined with the sense
of teaching will create a successful teaching method. In our imaginations, we enjoy and value all
the benefits of education on-demand. We wish the future was here already because deep down
inside, we all are lifelong learners. We just want learning to be easy, personalized. This vision is
inviting, yet we must live and work in present time. And today, the reality stays apart from the
dream. The challenge to educators is clear. We must also establish rigorous standards of quality
in the products, services, and solutions we offer to our youth. We must learn how to prepare all
of our students for lives that are becoming more and more complex. We must prepare our
students to master change. Complete film the students expected to understand various areas of
academic discourse such as psychology, environmental science and others to broaden the verbal
and written perspective (Kasper and Singer, 1997). A study case from Florida International
University (1994), has examined a multimedia classroom, the students watching the video novels
Tom Jones (the new six part A & E version) and The Scarlet Pimpernel (Anthony Andrews and
Jane Seymour). After viewing it, the class asked questions about the movie and assigned essay
topics, to help them the teacher asked the students to brainstorm.

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