Interactive Multimedia to Enhance Parenting Skills of

The U.S. Department of Education has identified the need for technologies to increase parents' skills in nurturing young children's learning and development. In response to this need, American Research Corporation of Virginia proposes the development and evaluation of interactive multimedia for enhancing parenting skills of adolescents and adults with children aged 2-4 years. Interactive multimedia is the integration of text, graphics, and audiovisual media with computer- based information retrieval techniques to enable a user to view information in a nonlinear, intuitive manner. Phase I technical objectives include development of instructional content and scripts for video portions of the program, integration of the content with multimedia presentation technology, and evaluation of the Phase I system with regard to usability and knowledge gain. In Phase II, additional instruction will be developed for parents with children from prenatal to eight years of age. Phase II evaluation will entail assessment of changes in knowledge, attitudes, and behavior with regard to more traditional methods of instruction.