DEVELOPING THE MODULAR MULTIMEDIA COURSEWARE SYSTEM: A STANDARD AND TOOLSET FOR IMPLEMENTING INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA COUR

INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA COURSEWARE COMBINES TRADITIONAL COMPUTER-BASED INSTRUCTION WITH AUDIO-VISUAL PRESENTATION AND A HIGH LEVEL OF STUDENT PARTICIPATION. WITH MULTIMEDIA COURSEWARE, A STUDENT LEARNS BY EXPLORING A SUBJECT IN A PLAYFUL, ENTERTAINING ENVIRONMENT WHICH CAN HEIGHTEN INTEREST AND IMPROVE RETENTION. RECENT ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY MAKE MULTIMEDIA COURSEWARE POSSIBLE USING PERSONAL COMPUTERS. HOWEVER, A LACK OF STANDARDS FOR CREATING, DISTRIBUTING, CUSTOMIZING, AND USING MULTIMEDIA COURSEWARE IS LIMITING ITS APPLICATION. THE PROPOSED MODULAR MULTIMEDIA COURSEWARE SYSTEM (MMCS) ESTABLISHES A FRAMEWORK THROUGH WHICH COURSEWARE DEVELOPERS, EDUCATORS, AND STUDENTS CAN UTILIZE INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA COURSEWARE. DEVELOPERS CREATE MODULAR MULTIMEDIA LESSONS FOR DISTRIBUTION THROUGH A COMMON COURSEWARE REPOSITORY. EDUCATORS INTEGRATE THE LESSONS INTO CUSTOMIZED COURSES FOR THEIR STUDENTS. THE PHASE I OBJECTIVES ARE 1) TO DESIGN THE MMCS STANDARD WITH COURSEWARE MODULARITY, EASE OF DISTRIBUTION, AND IMPROVED LEARNING CAPABILITIES, AND 2) TO DEVELOP A WORKING MMCS PROTOTYPE TO DEMONSTRATE AND EVALUATE THE SYSTEM. THE WORK EFFORT WILL INVOLVE DEFINING THE MMCS STANDARD, DEMONSTRATING A FUNCTIONAL PROTOTYPE OF THE SYSTEM, DEVELOPING A SAMPLE REPOSITORY OF MODULAR LESSONS, AND EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE SYSTEM. THE MMCS WOULD BENEFIT THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM BY FACILITATING THE DEVELOPMENT, DISTRIBUTION, AND USE OF A LARGE REPOSITORY OF STANDARD INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA COURSEWARE. ANY ORGANIZATION CAN UTILIZE THE MMCS TO DELIVER EDUCATION AND TRAINING MATERIALS IN A MODULAR, STANDARDIZED FORMAT.