Multimedia Literacy Syllabus

Course Description

Defines multimedia and explores who is using it for what, shows how fast it is growing, and discusses the impact it is having on society. Surveys applications across the curriculum and reflects on the effects of multimedia on current teaching practice. Considers the nature of hypermedia and the challenge of designing effective hyperlearning materials. Provides a hands-on tutorial on creating and publishing multimedia applications on the World Wide Web. Discusses multimedia frontiers, emerging technology, and societal issues including human impact, regulation, copyright, fair use, equity, cost, and universal access. Considers the impact of technology on the future of schooling.

Textbook

If you have not already done so, you should purchase a copy of the textbook that will be used in this course. The textbook is Multimedia Literacy by Dr. Fred T. Hofstetter. The publisher is McGraw-Hill. This book should be available in your campus bookstore. It is also available in many retail bookstores. You need to have the latest edition, which is the third edition. For Chinese-speaking students, this text is also available from McGraw-Hill in a Chinese edition.

Prerequisites

In order to complete the exercises and tutorials in this course, the student will need to have access to a Windows PC or a Macintosh with PowerPoint installed and either Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer. The student will also need an Internet account that provides the basic Internet services of e-mail and the World Wide Web.

Multilit CD

The Multilit CD is a CD-ROM full of multimedia resources included inside the Multimedia Literacy textbook. When you buy the textbook, you will find the CD inside the book's back cover. When one of the modules in this course instructs you to watch a movie on the Multilit CD, you insert the CD into your computer. Then use Windows Explorer, My Computer, or the Macintosh Finder to launch the movie. You can also play the movies by using your Web browser to open the file index.htm on the Multilit CD. Online instructions will tell you where to find the movie. In module 1, for example, you will be instructed to watch the movie named morph in the movies folder on the Multilit CD. If you have any trouble playing the movies, there are two things you can do to solve the problem. First, download and install the latest version of your Web browser, and reboot your computer. If the movie still does not play, go to the Apple QuickTime site and download the QuickTime player; it's free and can play all of the movies on the CD.

Multilit Web Site

This course contains hundreds of links to Internet resources. In order to keep those links in one place that can be kept up-to-date throughout the course, the authors created a special Web site that is known as the Multilit Web site; Multilit stands for Multimedia Literacy. Many of the links in this course take you to pages at the Multilit Web site, where you can always find up-to-date links to the multimedia resources used in this course.

Grading Procedures

This course is organized into a series of modules that can be customized by your course instructor. Depending on the modules that your instructor has chosen to include, you will be required to complete certain course requirements. The largest part of your grade will be determined by projects that you create during the course. These projects may include a multimedia application and a term paper that you will write on a topic of your choosing. You may elaborate on one of the topics discussed in the text, or you can choose an original topic that is related to an educational or communications issue on the Internet. In addition to these creative projects, your instructor will probably ask you to answer several shorter questions that cover more objective course content. You will also be required to communicate with your course instructor and fellow students through e-mail and possibly in a discussion forum. Click the assignments option in your course management system to see the specific assignments your instructor is requiring and to find out what percentage of your grade each assignment counts.

Course Outline

This course is organized into a series of thirteen modules. If you are taking this course during a traditional academic semester, you will need to complete an average of one module per week. Some of the modules are divided into units of instruction. Each unit addresses one of the topics that comprise the module. Printed below is a summary of the thirteen course modules. For more detailed information, you can click the title of any module or unit to bring up its page in the course.

Module 1 Understanding Multimedia, defines essential terms, presents a taxonomy of multimedia, and reflects on how multimedia is changing the world.
Module 2 Survey of Multimedia Applications, conducts a colorful tour of applications across a wide range of fields and disciplines:
Unit 2-1 Business and Industry, explains how multimedia is transforming business and industry into a global economy.
Unit 2-2 Education, describes how multimedia computers provide a powerful environment for achieving the goals of the cognitive movement in education.
Unit 2-3 Entertainment, demonstrates how multimedia is transforming the entertainment industry by moving from passive to interactive art forms.
Unit 2-4 Government and Politics, reflects on issues related to the use of multimedia in local, regional, and national governments.
Unit 2-5 Medicine and Nursing, surveys applications that promise to provide you with better diagnosis when you get sick, more-efficient treatment, and life skills to keep you healthy.
Unit 2-6 Encyclopedic Resources, which you can use to find out about applications in virtually any field or discipline.
Unit 2-7 Development Packages, with which authors develop the kinds of applications that are surveyed in this module.
Module 3 Selecting Multimedia Hardware, consists of three units covering the following aspects of multimedia hardware selection:
Unit 3-1 Competing Multimedia Standards, presents the competing standards of multimedia and defines what is meant by the phrase multi multimedia.
Unit 3-2 Multimedia PC Components, teaches you to recognize the components of a multimedia computer and make intelligent choices when purchasing a multimedia computer.
Unit 3-3 Computer Buyer Checklists, which help clarify what you need to buy and why.
Unit 3-4 Configuring a Multimedia PC, provides you with a strategy for connecting the audio and video components of a multimedia computer.
Module 4 Looking to the Future, prepares you for coping with the fast pace of change that is occurring in the computer industry:
Unit 4-1 Multimedia Frontiers, identifies the frontiers that multimedia researchers are investigating.
Unit 4-2 Emerging Technology, studies the technologies that are emerging.
Unit 4-3 Societal Issues, reflects on how people are affected by the manner in which multimedia technologies are used.
Unit 4-4 How to Keep Up, enables you to find out about and even contribute to new knowledge in this exciting field.
Module 5 Designing an Application, begins the hands-on tutorial that will prepare you to create your own multimedia applications:
Unit 5-1 Screen Design Principles, provides you with guidelines and examples of good screen design.
Unit 5-2 Creating Applications with PowerPoint, gets you started creating multimedia screens.
Module 6 Creating Text and Graphics, gets you started creating multimedia text and graphics:
Unit 6-1 WYSIWYG Text Editing, teaches you how to enter, position, size, color, shadow, copy, and edit text.
Unit 6-2 Graphics, teaches you how to insert pictures and clip art, resize and reposition graphics, and draw freehand onscreen.
Module 7 Triggers and Special Effects, how to create triggers that enable the user to make choices, decide how to navigate through your multimedia objects, and choose to see and hear your special effects:
Unit 7-1 Manipulating Objects, teaches you how to select and manipulate elements on a multimedia screen.
Unit 7-2 Triggers and Hyperlinks, which make multimedia applications interactive by linking objects to words or pictures on the screen.
Unit 7-3 Multimedia Effects, teaches you how to create transitions and animations that combine text, graphics, audio, and video in powerful and interesting ways.
Unit 7-4 Waveform Audio Recording, teaches you how to record waveform audio, trigger its playback, and create narrated slide shows that have ambient sound effects.
Module 8 Creating an Application, gets you started creating the History of Flight application:
Unit 8-1 History of Flight, steps you through the process of creating a picture menu from which users will launch screens explaining different historical aircraft.
Unit 8-2 Barnstorming Biplanes, you create multimedia screens describing the barnstorming era of the 1920s and link them to the Biplane button on the History of Flight home screen.
Unit 8-3 Flying Fortress, you create multimedia screens describing World War II aircraft and link them to the Flying Fortress button on the History of Flight home screen.
Module 9 Completing an Application, completes the History of Flight application and packages it for delivery to end users:
Unit 9-1 Blue Angels, you produce screens about the Blue Angels McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornets, acrobatic jet aircraft that made their debut in 1978.
Unit 9-2 Jumbo Jets, you produce the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet slides and link them to the History of Flight menu.
Unit 9-3 Completing and Presenting, you save the History of Flight application as a show, rehearse it thoroughly, and prepare speaker’s notes and audience handouts.
Module 10 Designing Advanced Applications, teaches techniques that will prepare you for creating more advanced applications in the future.
Unit 10-1 Hypermedia Design, teaches hypermedia design techniques that will help you plan the structure of a multimedia application.
Unit 10-2 Downloading Multimedia, teaches you how to download multimedia resources from the Internet and obtain the necessary copyright clearances.
Module 11 Imaging and Video Recording, teaches how to enhance a presentation with imaging and video effects:
Unit 11-1 Image Capture and Manipulation, teaches you how to manipulate an image to make it suitable for use in a multimedia application.
Unit 11-2 Digital Video Recording, steps you through the process of editing video with QuickTime Pro for Windows or QuickTime Pro for the Macintosh.
Unit 11-3 Drawing Lines and Curves, you learn how to use the drawing toolbar to draw simple graphics directly onto the screen.
Module 12 Master Layout, teaches you how to develop your own style of screen layout and presentation:
Unit 12-1 Masters and Templates, teaches you how to the change default look and feel of the slides in a multimedia application.
Unit 12-2 Charts and Graphs, covers advanced techniques for displaying numerical data on the screen.
Module 13 Distributing Multimedia, enables you to create and contribute, not just sit back and consume.
Unit 13-1 Publishing on Disks, teaches you how to distribute multimedia applications on CD and DVD.
Unit 13-2 Web Publishing, steps you through the process of publishing to the Web.
Unit 13-3 Presentation Broadcasting, illustrates how to present an application live over the Internet.
Unit 13-4 Online Collaborating, teaches you how to communicate and share application materials with other online users.

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