Course Introduction and Goals

Introduction

Welcome to Web-based Multimedia Development. In this course you’ll learn the basics of building educational multimedia Web sites. There are a range of tasks involved, requiring both design skills and software development skills.The course flows along in three main streams, that parallel and build on one another. Our first order of business is to begin to master the software toolkit you’ll need to build Web sites. The toolkit includes HTML, a Web page editor, image editing software, animation software, and audio and video compression software. Naturally, part of the job is to figure out how to use the right tool for the right job and pull all the pieces together. We’ll use a print-based tutorial called Homer as you work with the tools on your computer.

*Software tools: Homer* 1-10**
Design skills: Textbook and Web-based modules.
	Designing an Educational Web Site	Developing an Educational Web Site

But the software tools, of course, are useless without some design skills to go with them. In this course, you’ll learn to assess your target audience’s needs, then choose appropriate content and design navigation systems and page layouts to meet those needs. You’ll do this with the help of the textbook (Williams & Tollett) and the Web-based presentations, discussions, and other activities.

You’ll put your newly-acquired design skills into practice right away by starting to design your own educational Web site. You’ll assess your audience’s needs, draft a short proposal, draw a flow diagram and sketch a storyboard. By the time your design is ready, you’ll have completed the software tools segment of the course, and you’ll be ready to begin development of your design. By the end of the course, you’ll have designed and developed a prototype educational multimedia Web site you can use in your professional portfolio.

Course Goals and Competencies

Educational Multimedia Development will help you understand the information revolution and its effect on educational and instructional design and product development. The course will provide you with intensive hands-on experience in production of multimedia products specifically for the Web. Emphasis is on the design process involved in multimedia development. You will assume various roles to carry out that process, ranging from content expert to quality assurance engineer.

At the completion of this course you will be able to produce a complete, information-based multimedia product using a Web authoring tool, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver, and other applications. To reach this goal, you will learn to:

Prepare and submit a proposal for a Web-based multimedia project.
Design attractive and effective screens.
Design navigation schemes for moving within your multimedia program.
Incorporate appropriate interactivity in your program.
Present your designs to others and negotiate improvements and accomodations based on their feedback.
Digitize video, still images and audio and use them appropriately within a multimedia program.
Post the program that you create on Web.

As multimedia and telecommunications are merging, another goal of this course is to make you adept and comfortable using computer-based communications. In Educational Multimedia Development, you will acquire the skills that you will use in future classes and in professional work. More specifically, you'll be able to:

Use e-mail and a listserv to communicate with local and distant colleagues.
Navigate the World Wide Web.
Upload and download files from distant sites.
Participate in online discussions.

So let's get started!