Core Principles of Educational Multimedia

Abstract

The notion of using technology for educational purposes is not new. In fact, it can be traced back to the early 1900s during which school museums were used to distribute portable exhibits. This was the beginning of the visual education movement that persisted throughout the 1930s, as advances in technology such as radio and sound motion pictures continued. The training needs of World War II stimulated serious growth in the audiovisual instruction movement. Instructional television arrived in the 1950s but had little impact, due mainly to the expense of installing and maintaining systems. The advent of computers in the 1950s laid the foundation for CAI (computer assisted instruction) through the 1960s and 1970s. However, it wasn’t until the 1980s that computers began to make a major impact on education (Reiser, 2001). Early applications of computer resources included the use of primitive simulation. These early simulations had little graphic capabilities and did little to enhance the learning experience (Munro, 2000).