Multimedia Literacy TeleWebCourse

The Multimedia Literacy TeleWebCourse is a Web-based version of the University of Delaware’s Multimedia Literacy course. Distributed by PBS, the TeleWebCourse version enables students to complete the course totally over the Web, in a distance-learning format that enables the course to be taken from any location where there is a connection to the Internet.

The University of Delaware offers this course for communications credit at the undergraduate level (COMM 486), and for education credit both at the undergraduate (EDUC 485) and graduate level (EDUC 685).

The TeleWeb version of the course consists of the following components:

Student Jumpstart Pamphlet—introduces the course and describes how to get on the Web and get started
Online Syllabus—presents each class and paces the students through the course.
Serf Course Management—enables instructors to communicate with students, grade all of the course assignments online, and help students master the course.
Multimedia Literacy Textbook—written by Dr. Fred T. Hofstetter, the course textbook is McGraw-Hill’s Multimedia Literacy, third edition, ISBN 0-07-116420-0.
Multilit CD—A CD-ROM full of show-me videos that demonstrate how to complete the tutorial exercises in the textbook.

There are 14 weeks of instruction in the course. Each week, students complete classes containing both conceptual and hands-on components. In the conceptual part of the course, students learn how multimedia is changing the world we live in, how to use it effectively, why it became a multibillion-dollar industry so quickly, and the impact it will have on our way of life. In the hands-on component, students learn how to create their own multimedia applications and publish them on the Web.

Grading is based on three kinds of activities. First, students get a grade for their class participation, which is done via e-mail, listserv, and online discussion forums. Second, each student writes a term paper dealing with an educational or communications issue. Students learn how to conduct online research and document electronic sources in APA, MLA, or CMS bibliographic style. Third, each student develops an original multimedia application and publishes it to the Web. Education majors normally create presentations they can use in their teaching. Communications majors often create presentations that demonstrate their multimedia skills to potential employers. Students who take the course for graduate credit are required to create more complex presentations and write more in-depth term papers containing twice as many citations as undergraduates.

There are no prerequisites for this course. It is assumed, however, that each student has access to the Internet, knows how to send and receive e-mail messages, and can access the Web with Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, or WebTV. It is further assumed that each student has access to PowerPoint, either on a Windows PC or a Macintosh. In the hands-on component of this course, the students learn how to create and publish multimedia applications with PowerPoint.

Organization

The Multimedia Literacy course has two kinds of activities—conceptual and hands-on. The conceptual component has four parts:

Part One defines multimedia, tells who uses it for what, describes how it is changing the world, tells who needs to know about it, and provides a taxonomy of multimedia objects that you can use when creating your own applications.
Part Two deals with multimedia applications. Dozens of full-color screen prints and photos illustrate how multimedia is being used in classrooms, boardrooms, homes, retail stores, just-in-time training, cinema, video arcades, government, and industry. The online syllabus links to demonstrations of these applications and the development packages that were used to create them.
Part Three focuses on multimedia hardware. Remember how the VHS and Beta videotape standards competed for market share when home VCRs were invented? There are even more competing multimedia standards today. Part Three tells what the standards are, recommends the strategy to follow, and provides a checklist of features to look for when buying a multimedia computer.
Part Four looks into the future of multimedia and discusses how it will impact us all. Acknowledging the rapid rate at which the technology is advancing, Part Four describes how students can keep up with this fascinating field, continue to increase their multimedia skills, and help influence future uses of multimedia.

In the hands-on portion of the course, Parts Five through Seven provide a multimedia toolkit. Step-by-step tutorials show how to create multimedia text, graphics, sound, and video. Students learn how to manipulate text, import clip art, digitize photographs, draw pictures, record sound, make CD Audio clips, edit digital video, create buttons, and interact with users. Then the students learn how to create a multimedia application on the History of Flight. Part Eight concludes the course with a tutorial on multimedia publishing, providing strategies and techniques for distributing applications on disk or over the Internet.

The book concludes with a glossary that defines the terms a multimedia-literate person should know. The author has coined a new term that combines the words “multimedia” and “literate” into the adjective multiliterate, which is what students will be when they finish this course:

mul-ti-lit-er-ate \ adj : understanding the principles of multimedia, its impact on the world, and how to use it for attaining business, professional, educational, and personal objectives

Interactive CD-ROM Brings the Book to Life

The CD-ROM packaged with the book is known as the Multilit CD. The CD is tied to each chapter in the tutorial part of the book and includes:

Dozens of Show-Me movies teaching you how to use multimedia graphics, sound, and video software
Clip art, clip music, and clip video to get you started creating multimedia applications
Dozens of Show-Me movies illustrating the step-by-step tutorial that shows you how to create multimedia applications using PowerPoint
A keynote presentation created with PowerPoint as an example of the kind of application the tutorial will enable you to create

Web Site Links the Book to the Internet

There is a corresponding chapter at the Web site for each chapter in the book. The Web site contains:

Demonstrations of many of the most popular commercial multimedia packages available today
Links to online clip libraries full of photographs, sound effects, songs, animations, and videos
Shareware versions of the graphics programs, video tools, and multimedia utilities used in the tutorials
An electronic version of the chapter titles and goals, with bookmarks taking you to materials to help you reach your goals
Hundreds of links to more information about stimulating topics raised in the book
Links to buyer’s guides that will help you shop for multimedia computers and accessories

Multimedia Concepts

The first part of the book introduces the concepts of multimedia. The reading level and computer skills required are appropriate for any business professional, teacher, executive, college student, marketing rep, audiovisual professional, or high school student.

Chapter 1 illustrates how multimedia impacts everyone's way of life, with charts and graphs that show why it is to anyone's advantage to become multiliterate.
Chapter 2 provides a taxonomy of multimedia, and the Web site brings the taxonomy to life with multimedia examples in full color with stereo sound, animation, and full-motion video clips.
Chapters 3 through 8 survey multimedia applications in business, education, entertainment, government, health, and public information. The book provides a comprehensive overview of these applications while the Web site links to demonstrations that allow you to take products for a “test drive” and consider whether you would like to purchase a retail copy.
Chapter 9 profiles several of the development packages that were used to create these applications. The book explains the purposes of the different packages, and the Web site links to free-trial versions and demonstrations of their features.

One of the most important issues in multimedia is deciding what hardware to buy.

Chapter 10 reviews the competing multimedia standards and recommends a strategy for coping with the differences in brand-name platforms.
Chapter 11 presents the components of a multimedia computer.
Chapter 12 provides a checklist that will come in handy when you buy a multimedia computer.
Chapter 13 shows you how to configure a multimedia computer so you can minimize its complexity and maximize its versatility.
The Web site links to individual product Web sites and multimedia buyer’s guides that can help you compare and purchase computers and peripherals.

The next four chapters look into the future of multimedia:

Chapter 14 explores the multimedia frontiers of electronic publishing, fiber optic superhighways, rural datafication, appliance-based computing, and virtual reality.
Chapter 15 reviews emerging video, voice, and datacommunication technologies and shows how they are creating a new form of multimedia called telecomputing.
Chapter 16 addresses the issues raised by the impact multimedia is having on our sensibilities and moralities, questions who is in control, describes the problems multimedia is causing, and suggests what you can do to solve them.
Chapter 17 offers suggestions for staying abreast of new developments in this fast-paced field, and how to contribute your own ideas to the continued evolution of multimedia.

Hands-On Tutorial and Projects

The rest of the book is a hands-on tutorial you complete on your multimedia computer.

Chapters 18 through 25 cover introductory multimedia tools and techniques. The book provides step-by-step instructions for the tools and techniques that you will use to create multimedia projects.
The CD includes Show-Me movies that you can watch whenever you would like to see a detailed video explanation of one of the step-by-step tutorials.
Chapters 26 through 32 contain a project in which you will create a simple multimedia application on the History of Flight. You will use multimedia on the CD to make the aircraft come to life with full-color slides, audio clips, and full-motion video.
To enable students to conduct research over the Internet, chapter 33 teaches World Wide Web search strategies and shows how to download multimedia objects from the Internet.
Chapters 34 through 38 present more multimedia tools and techniques, including image manipulation, video editing, advanced drawing, chart-making, and designing your own custom style templates.
The projects culminate in chapters 39 and 40, where you learn how to distribute applications on CD, on diskettes, or on the World Wide Web.
As a grand finale, chapters 41 and 42 teach you how to broadcast presentations live over the Internet, and hold online meetings in which you can share your application live with other users on the Internet.