Multimedia Research Assignment

Objectives

Description

Remember this little diagram, representing the four ways of knowing about educational technology. In this program, we encourage students to use all four ways, including examining the scientific literature in our field. In 1996, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) sponsored a project headed by Dr. David Jonassen to put together a Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology. The 2nd Edition was published in 2003. The 41 chapters summarize much of what we know—scientifically—about our field.

In this course, we're particularly interested in what the research can tell us about educational multimedia and about instructional message design in general.

Deliverables

To complete this assignment, look over at least 4 articles from the Handbook:

Don’t try to summarize an entire article! Scan a chapter, pick out a page or a few paragraphs in which you’re interested, read that section in depth, and put together a brief summary.

Reflect on one or two themes, insights, disappointments (at the lack of research or conflicting findings in a particular area, for example), ideas for further research, puzzling thoughts the article prompted, or how the article relates to your own projects or work.

Post a short (250+ words) summary/reflection to the appropriate course listserv. Please type or paste your summary/reflection in the body of the email message rather than attaching it. For more information on how to subscribe, unsubscribe, and post to the course listserv see the Course Listserv page.

Be sure to include a reference for the article in APA format. The SDSU library has a nice APA job aid online, or you can check the American Psychological Association style guide Website for guidelines.

Here's an example of how a reference for a Handbook article might look:

McLellan, H. (2004). Virtual realities. In D. Jonassen, (Ed.), Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (2nd ed., pp. 461-497). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

The Handbook is currently available online to AECT members at:

http://aect.org/Intranet/Publications/index.html#hb.

AECT is an important organization for our field, and one you might wish to consider joining sooner rather than later (student membership $50). As a promotional offer, AECT is giving SDSU EDTEC 561 students special permission to access the articles from sections II and VI for this assignment at no cost:

Part II - HARD TECHNOLOGIES

12. Research on Learning from Television [pdf]
Barbara Seels, Karen Fullerton, Louis Berry, Laura J. Horn

13. Disciplined Inquiry and the Study of Emerging Technology [pdf]
Chandra H. Orrill, Michael J. Hannafin, Evan M. Glazer

14. Distance Education [pdf]
Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena, Marina Stock McIsaac

15. Computer-mediated Communication [pdf]
Alexander Romiszowski, Robin Maso

16. Exploring Research on Internet-based Learning: From Infrastructure to Interactions [pdf]
Janette R. Hill, David Wiley, Laurie Miller Nelson, Seungyeon Han

17. Virtual Realities [pdf]
Hilary McLellan

18. The Library Media Center: Touchstone for Instructional Design and Technology In the Schools [pdf]
Delia Neuman

19. Technology in the Service of Foreign Language Learning: The Case of the Language Laboratory [pdf]
Warren B. Roby

Part VI - INSTRUCTIONAL MESSAGE DESIGN

33. Visual representations and learning: The role of static and animated graphics [pdf]
Gary J. Anglin, Hossein Vaez, Kathryn L. Cunningham

34. Designing instructional and informational text [pdf]
James Hartley

35. Auditory instruction [pdf]
Ann E. Barron

36. Multiple-channel communication: The theoretical and research foundations of multimedia [pdf]
David M. (Mike) Moore, John K. Burton, and Robert J. Myers