A hypermedia field trip through Old Town Temecula

The purpose of this project was to develop a computer-based instructional material for Temecula third grade teachers to use with their history/social science curriculum. What evolved was a stack about Old Town Temecula that supports the Framework, an integration of technology into the history/social science curriculum. The project connects the past and present by focusing on the historical buildings in Old Town Temecula. As an instructional tool the stack provides teachers with the pre field trip materials and follow-up activities to use when doing a field trip to Old Town Temecula

Education vs. Entertainment: A Cultural History of Children's Software

Part of the Volume on the Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning This chapter draws on ethnographic material to consider the cultural politics and recent history of children's software and reflects on how this past can inform our current efforts to mobilize games for learning. The analysis uses a concept of genre as a way of making linkages across the distributed but interconnected circuit of everyday play, software content, and industry context. Organized through three genres in children's software -- academic, entertainment, and construction -- the body of the chapter describes how these genres play out within a production and advertising context, in the design of particular software titles, and at sites of play in after-school computer centers where the fieldwork was conducted

Multimedia Tool For Children Learning: Web Based Pop Up Book

Web-based multimedia pop-up book for children learning is intend to convert traditional learning process into a web using multimedia formatwhich are integrate with multiple media elements such as audio, video, graphics, text and animations. Currently the children have to pull tabs and open pages for the book to 'come to life'. So the purpose of this project is to produce web-based multimedia pop-up book for children learning. The objectives of this project are to create and design interactive multimedia learning book, to come out with user-friendly interface and interactive application and to develop multimedia book that be able to view, use and interact with the online application that providing true multimedia application. The scope of this project is to create and design multimedia web-based education book for children between 5 to 6 years old in order to help children in learning activities, reading skills and improves children computer literacy. The project will adopt methodology of 'code-and-fix' methodology. Three essential stages of development have been performed, which involved Design stage (design the page layout and design the action and animation), Implementation stage (implement by insert and modify required images and implement actions and animations), and finally Test stage (run the actions and compare with intended design). The result in designing successful multimedia web-based for children learning the relevant area are focused on content presentation and user-friendly interface design. In order to achieve the objective of this web-based multimedia tool for children learning, this project should be able facilitate the process of integrating activity into education through online application

Multimedia Presentation Tool Using SMIL

In this project, the author has to develop a tool for multimedia presentation using Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language, which is XML-based declarative language. It can synchronize all the multimedia elements in the presentation as the synchronization is one of the main issues in delivery of multimedia presentation. Recently, the content of lecture materials does not integrate all the multimedia elements (such as video, audio, text and images) in it. Hence, the integration of various multimedia elements will be accomplished in this project to make the content of lecture materials more interesting and understandable. The tool requires multimedia elements from the user before it can synchronize all those elements. In this project, the author practice several modules to develop the application such as selection module, recording module, and integration module. In this paper, the instructional design is discussed as a framework to build the application to be more effective. The author believes that with the adoption of instructional design in students' learning can boost their understanding of their course content. The tool for multimedia presentation can automatically synchronize the video of a lecture with the corresponding PowerPoint slides to generate easy to use and effective presentation

Player agency in interactive narrative: audience, actor & author

The question motivating this review paper is, how can computer-based interactive narrative be used as a constructivist learn- ing activity? The paper proposes that player agency can be used to link interactive narrative to learner agency in constructivist theory, and to classify approaches to interactive narrative. The traditional question driving research in interactive narrative is, ‘how can an in- teractive narrative deal with a high degree of player agency, while maintaining a coherent and well-formed narrative?’ This question derives from an Aristotelian approach to interactive narrative that, as the question shows, is inherently antagonistic to player agency. Within this approach, player agency must be restricted and manip- ulated to maintain the narrative. Two alternative approaches based on Brecht’s Epic Theatre and Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed are reviewed. If a Boalian approach to interactive narrative is taken the conflict between narrative and player agency dissolves. The question that emerges from this approach is quite different from the traditional question above, and presents a more useful approach to applying in- teractive narrative as a constructivist learning activity

Guidelines for digital storytelling for Arab children

Children are getting more exposed to various technologies in teaching-learning. Various types of teaching-learning have been designed, including interactive digital storytelling. In Malaysia, local children have been clear about story-based learning materials. However, the situation is a little bit different with Arab children. Because the number of Arab children migrating into Malaysia is increasing, for following their parents who are studying at higher levels, they have to also make themselves familiar with the local scenario. In accordance, this study is initiates, to identify their acceptance towards story-based learning materials, or specifically interactive digital storytelling. Hence, this study reacts proactively, by approaching Arab children asking for their feedback on whether they have any desire for interactive digital storytelling. Through a series of interviews, this study found that they have a strong desire and tendency. Then, the following objectives have been stated: (1) to determine the components for the interactive digital storytelling for Arab children, (2) to design and develop a prototype of the interactive digital storytelling, and (3) to observe on how the Arab children experience the interactive digital storytelling. User-centered design (UCD) approach has been gone through in ensuring that the objectives are achieved. The process of determining the components for the interactive digital storytelling was carried out by directly involving Arab children and their teachers from three preschools in Changlun and Sintok. It was similar with the efforts in determining the contents, and interface design until the prototype development. Having the prototype ready, user testing was carried out to explore the way Arab children experience the prototype. All the processes involved various techniques through observation, interviews, and noting. Specifically, the user testing involved qualitative and empirical data. Qualitative data were gathered through observation, meanwhile the empirical data were gathered using Computer System Usability Questionnaire (CSUQ) tool. In the end, having data processed, the findings show that Arab children are highly satisfied with the prototype. Scientifically, the developed prototype is a mirror of the obtained guidelines, obtained through the UCD seminars. Hence, the positive acceptance on the prototype reflects positive acceptance on the guidelines, as the main contribution of this study. Besides the guidelines as the main contribution of this study, the developed prototype is also a wonderful contribution to the Arab children and their teacher. They will be using it as part of their teaching and learning material

Mobile Learning Content Authoring Tools (MLCATs): A Systematic Review

Mobile learning is currently receiving a lot of attention within the education arena, particularly within electronic learning. This is attributed to the increasing mobile penetration rates and the subsequent increases in university student enrolments. Mobile Learning environments are supported by a number of crucial services such as content creation which require an authoring tool. The last decade or so has witnessed increased attention to tools for authoring mobile learning content for education. This can be seen from the vast number of conference and journal publications devoted to the topic. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to review works that were published, suggest a new classification framework and explore each of the classification features. This paper is based on a systematic review of mobile learning content authoring tools (MLCATs) from 2000 to 2009. The framework is developed based on a number of dimensions such as system type, development context, Tools and Technologies used, tool availability, ICTD relation, support for standards, learning style support, media supported and tool purpose. This paper provides a means for researchers to extract assertions and several important lessons for the choice and implementation of MLCATs

Strategies for Learner-Generated Comic Production in Classroom: A Comparative Analysis

Essentially, comics are one of the most significant medium in transmedia storytelling for education. The purpose of this paper is to examine recent strategies used by teachers and instructors in implementing learner-generated comics in classroom.  Hence, the definition and evolution of comics is enlightened, followed up by how comics demystified diverse educational benefits by playing roles as cognitive and affective tool. Then, educational comics characteristics and the concept learner generated comics are discussed. Next, a comparative analysis is conducted on the educational practices in learner-generated comic production. The analysis is based on brief descriptions and disadvantages on the learner-generated comic techniques applied in classroom setting. A qualitative approach is applied to generally compare the listed strategies

Design Your Library Video Like a Hollywood Blockbuster: Using Screenplay Structure to Engage Viewers

The article presents a framework of storytelling principles used in Hollywood films to help librarians make compelling and interesting videos for their users. It mentions that dramatized and non-dramatized are library video\u27s two basic types. It states that an effective story contains the structure, the most significant component in the construction of a story, and conflict, which occurs when something prevents the character to reach his or her goal. It suggests that the first act of the film should hook the attention of the audience as most viewers decide whether they like or dislike the film in the first ten minutes