ABSTRACT
Where in the curriculum does multimedia authoring fit? As multimedia authoring is a style of teaching and learning it can fit anywhere in the curriculum where images and animation can enhance students’ understanding of a subject, or where presenting many aspects together in a non-hierarchichal way is appropriate. There are many times in the curriculum where an added extension to the work would be a bonus. For example in a technology class on structures students built towers out of newspaper to find one strong enough to hold some Easter eggs. The classroom ended up littered with unsuccessful as well as successful attempts. It would be useful to find a way of recording these attempts so that different pairs could see each other’s process, not just the final product. In a geography class on earthquakes students read from a textbook about different ways in which p and s waves move. They drew their own diagrams giving explanations in words. It would be better if they could animate them and show the actual movement and the teacher could really see if they had understood. In a history class on the Anglo-Saxons students listened to tales of King Arthur, they wrote their own with pictures and read them out to the class. It would be a faithful reproduction if they could produce a permanent display of that work including the students’ voices reading the stories. In an English class on the Merchant of Venice students watched videos showing different ways of performing one scene. They discussed which one they preferred and why. It would be a useful extension of their individual work if they could put all their multiple interpretations together and get a sense that a play can be performed in many ways which will bring out different aspects of the meaning.
