Unit 2-7 Application Development Packages

After completing this unit, you will be able to:

• Define the categories of application development packages and recognize the names of the major packages in each category.
• Know when to use a presentation package, a hypermedia program, an animation package, or a full-fledged authoring tool.
• Experience what the different packages are like by running product demonstrations and downloading product demonstrations.
• Define the term Instructional Management System (IMS) and know how to locate and compare the commercially available IMS products.

Reading

Read chapter 9 of the Multimedia Literacy textbook to study the concepts covered by this unit.

Online Activities

Follow these links for demonstrations and more information about the development packages covered in this unit:

• The goal of presentation packages is to make it easy for you to produce convincing multimedia shows consisting of slides, audio clips, animations, and full-motion sequences. Industry leader PowerPoint is so-named because of how the package is intended to influence an audience. Several graphics packages also have presentation capabilities. One of PowerPoint's competitors, for example, is Harvard Graphics, which is a high-powered graphics package with presentation capabilities. Follow the Multilit Web site links to learn the latest about the status of these presentation packages.
• Hypermedia programs go beyond the linear slide-show metaphor used in presentation packages to provide an infinite capability to link objects and enable users to navigate among them. Follow the Multilit Web site links to the most popular hypermedia programs.
• Multimedia sequencers are programs that let you show a series of audiovisual events, either one after the other or in synchronization with each other. These events often include animations. The Multilit Web site links to three industry-leading programs that enable you to create animations and present them as part of a multimedia sequence, namely, Adobe Premiere, Autodesk 3D Studio, and Macromedia Director.
• Full-fledged application development tools that let you present material, ask questions about it, evaluate user input, and branch accordingly are called authoring systems. In the past, before graphical user interfaces became popular, authoring was a tedious and time-consuming process, often requiring hundreds of hours of work to create one hour of completed material. The Multilit Web site links to authoring systems that use windowed environments to the reduce considerably the time needed to create a sophisticated application.
• The Web is fast becoming the preferred medium for publishing multimedia applications. The Multilit Web site links to some of the more popular Web page creation tools.
• An instructional management system (IMS) is an educational environment that can present instructional content, make assignments to students, administer tests, help instructors grade assignments, record student progress, provide feedback to students, and export grades and other kinds of records. In short, an IMS provides the educational infrastructure for organizing and delivering applications created by the other kinds of multimedia software discussed in this chapter. The Multilit Web site links to examples and comparisons of some of the leading instructional management systems. The Serf software that some institutions use to deliver this course is an example of an instructional management system.

Assignments

One of the major assignments in this course is the term paper that you will write on a topic of your choosing related to a multimedia trend or issue in your chosen field. The other large assignment in this course is the multimedia application that you will develop and publish to the Web, again on a topic of your choosing. If multimedia development is your intended field, it is possible that the readings in this unit will help you decide upon one of these topics. After you choose your topics, remember to respond to the assignments that ask you to tell your instructor what topics you have chosen:

• A major part of your grade in this course is determined by a term paper that you write on a topic of your choosing related to a multimedia trend or issue in the field of education or communications. Your paper must be about six pages long and contain at least six bibliographic references if you are taking this course for undergraduate credit, or about twelve pages long with at least twelve references for graduate credit. Before you write the paper, you need to have your topic approved. Please tell what your paper is going to be about. Say why you have chosen this topic, tell how you plan to research it, and indicate how the writing of this paper will help you achieve the goals you had for taking this course. Your instructor will respond by writing a comment on this assignment to let you know if your topic is approved.
• The largest part of your grade in this course is determined by the multimedia application that you will create. Your application must have at least seven screens if you are taking this course for undergraduate credit, or at least fourteen screens for graduate credit. Before you develop the application, you need to have your topic approved. Please tell what your application is going to be about. Say why you have chosen this topic, and tell how you plan to design it. Describe your intended audience, tell how they will use your application, and indicate how developing this app will help you achieve the goals you had for taking this course.