LEARNING IN CONTENT AREAS: MULTIMEDIA MODULES FOR STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

MCLEAN MEDIA PLANS TO RESEARCH, DESIGN, PRODUCE AND EVALUATEA PROTOTYPE MODULE FOR TEACHING SCIENCE CONCEPTS TO LEARNINGDISABLED, MIDDLE SCHOOL (GRADES 6-8) STUDENTS USING A COMPUTER-BASED, MULTIMEDIA SYSTEM. THE PROTOTYPE WILL INCORPORATE TEXT, GRAPHICS, SOUND AND VIDEO USING HYPERCARD SOFTWARE, AN APPLE MACINTOSH COMPUTER AND A VIDEODISC WITH "REPURPOSED" VIDEOTAPE MATERIAL. RESEARCH WILL FOCUS ON CONTENT LEARNING AND SYSTEM/USER INTERFACE ISSUES INVOLVED IN ADAPTING THE HYPERCARD APPROACH TO THE NEEDS OF THE TARGET AUDIENCE. THE MODULE WILL INCLUDE A MULTIMEDIA DATABASE, RELATED LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND LEARNING AIDS TO HELP STUDENTS INTERPRET AND ORGANIZE CONTENT INFORMATION. THE PROTOTYPE WILL EMPHASIZE STRATEGIES AND AIDS FOR COMPREHENSION IN EARTH SCIENCE FOR STUDENTS FUNCTIONING AT ABOUT THE THIRD THROUGH SIXTH GRADE LEVELS. THE RESEARCH IS THE FIRST STEP IN DEVELOPING A SET OF MODELS AND TEMPLATES FOR HYPERCARD, "STACK" MODULES THAT ARE BASED ON ACAREFUL ANALYSIS OF ISSUES CONCERNING LEARNING IN SPECIFIC CONTENT AREAS AND THE SYSTEM/USER INTERFACE. THE INTERFACE ISSUES STUDIED WILL INCLUDE OPTIONS FOR LEARNER CONTROL, METHODS OF NAVIGATION THROUGH THE MATERIAL, INTEGRATION OF VARIOUS MEDIA, CONSISTENT FRAME AND PROGRAM PROTOCOLS AND TEACHER AND/OR LEARNER PROGRAM ADAPTATION. THE ANTICIPATED RESULT OF PHASE I WILL BE THE CREATION OF A PROTOTYPE DEMONSTRATING THE FEASIBILITY OF USING HYPERCARD- BASED MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY TO CREATE AND ADAPT INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS FOR STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES. PHASE II WILL BE USED TO PRODUCE A SERIES OF MULTIMEDIA MODULES AND TEACHER GUIDES, CONDUCT EVALUATION AND LOCATE FUNDING FOR ADDITIONALPRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION IN PHASE III> THE PROJECT WILL RESULT IN A SERIES OF WELL DESIGNED, MULTIMEDIA MODULES WITHWIDE APPLICATION IN BOTH CONTENT AREA AND STUDY SKILLS INSTRUCTION FOR LEARNING DISABLED STUDENTS.