User disorientation related to instructional hypermedia programs

Instructional hypennedia programs seem to define the current trend in today\u27s educational institutions. These multimedia programs, most often found on CD-Roms (compact disks, which can be read, but not written to), make use of the computer to coordinate and present text, graphics, audio, animation, and video within a single document. They are classified as hype1media because of the way in which the various elements can be accessed. Rather than being limited to a linear presentation, in which each element is dispensed in a predetermined sequence to all users, Yang and Moore (1995) define hypermedia as a non-linear association of information .... [ which have a linkage] based on [the] users\u27 real-time decisions, not on a predete1mined sequence (p. 4). Thus, the user of the program has the ability to select multiple paths through which to approach the information. This means that each user can independently decide both the flow of the presentation, and which portions of the material need to be attended to or disregarded