What Is Interactive Media?

Summary

This section hopes to deliver an overview of what Interactive Media is. By defining and identifying examples of Interactive media, we feel the user can get a better feel of how it can be used in education. We include examples of different types of Interactive media including Keynote, and Imovie productions by EDUC 106 students. Towards the end of the page we recommend key readings and present questions that we invite the user to explore. Also included is a video answer of one of those questions.



Section 1 What is Interactive Media



Section 2 Examples of Interactive Media



Section 3 Important Readings



Section 4 Forum Questions





Section 1 What is Interactive Media?



An introduction to interactive media and the important aspects of it.

The word “interactivity can be broken down into its constituent parts. “Inter”: interactivity is predicated on back-and-forth (as opposed to one-way) exchanges between a student and something and/or someone else. “Active”: interactivity presupposes vested engagement and action (as opposed to passivity) on the part of the student.

As Douglas Crockford (1990) mentioned, interactivity is not by itself experientially important, but it is meaningful when learners take part in the interaction. Learning with interactive media is quite different from the traditional learning systems such as top-down instruction, one-way communication, and textbook-based reading since interactivity offers more authentic learning experiences, and empowers learners. Nowadays, with the help of interactive media, students and teachers can communicate through various multimedia platforms such as video conferences, blogs, Black Board, Wiki, etc. Moreover, students no longer need to read large amounts of text; instead, they can learn by watching videos, playing video games, and so forth.

Although there has been little research on the interactive features of multimedia and whether interactivity enhances learning, most experts give positive attitudes on learning with interactive media. Some critical factors of interactivity that affect learning outcomes might be the following: 1) Learner-centered: with the aid of interactive media, learners are able to develop self-pace and self-regulated learning; 2) Immediate response/feedback: interactive media that provides instant response or feedback renders learners a sense of participation; 3) Real time interaction and communication with other learners/teachers: advanced social networking technologies offers learners immediate interaction and communication and consequently stimulates learning and communicating within a learning community.





Section 2 Examples of Interactive Media



In order to dig deeper into this issue, we will take a look at three current examples of interactivity in interactive media: Second Life, I-Movie, and Keynote.





Keynote - an interactive presentation creation tool

Keynote is an interactive presentation creation tool created by Apple. With Keynote, individuals can easily create and add animations, texts, graphics and make an interactive presentation or lecture. Features in Keynote ’08 include: 1) New text effects and transitions: apply dazzling text effects and captivate viewers with elegant transitions; 2) A to B Animations: move objects along a path, or slowly scale an image; 3) Instant Alpha: remove background easily and quickly; 4) Smart Builds: drop photos into a presentation and create a sophisticated animation; 5) multiple designed Themes: nine new themes offer more choices for creating professional presentations quickly (Apple Inc., 2008).



Examples:

Here are two examples of Keynote that were used for EDUC 106. Both projects address the Global Warming issue.











iMovie - a video creation and edit tool

iMovie is Apple’s video creation and edit tool in which users make viewing and working with video easily and efficiently. A built-in library enables users to organize video and all the clips that have been captured quickly and conveniently. Users can drag favorite clips or parts of clips to a projet and arrange scenes like slides. Additionally, the completed movies can be published directly to YouTube or .Mac Web Gallery. Users can also send movies to iTunes to view movies on mobile devices such as iPod, iPhone and so forth so that they can be viewed and shared anywhere (Apple Inc., 2008).



Examples

Here are many examples of Imovie that were used for EDUC 106. Projects address multiple topics involving education. The first example video is a brief tour of Eiffel tower, the second introduces how people get colds and how to prevent it, and the third gives a brief introduction to Japanese culture.







Second Life - an online 3-D simulation game

Second Life is a web simulation game in which users use 3-D modeling language to create almost everything in site (trees, furniture, houses, etc). Compared to other online games, Second Life is more likely to be applied to a method of corporate training or learning because that Second Life provides: 1) Hard skills: create 3-D models that participants can walk inside or fly around to manipulate the sense of scale and perspective; 2) Soft skills: role-play a job interview or meet a subject matter expert; 3) Simulation: learn experiences or run a simulated business by establishing virtual world; (4) Meetings: users can have talk via voice or instant text message, go for a walk, and observe others’ gesture. Second Life now provides on-the-fly translated conversation that in a way stimulating the interaction and communication of users from all over the world. Hundreds of colleges and universities including Harvard are already teaching classes in Second Life for credit (Gronstedt, 2007). Also, IBM is trying to build up 25 “islands” in Second Life to train their employees.





Section 3 Important Readings



These readings will help to give you an overview about the important aspects and use of interactive media in education from a historical perspective.



(download from the box below)





K. Woolsey, "Multimedia Scouting", IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, Jul. 1991 pp. 26-38.



Kristina Woolsey discusses how the multimedia lab projects show how uniformed viewers can get interactive access to elements formerly reserved for graphics, film and music professionals. She concludes that people find well-designed multimedia presentations engaging, imaginative, and useful, both as viewers and participants.





Pea, R.D., (1991). Learning through multimedia. IEEE Computer Graphics & Applications 7: 58–66.



Roy Pea discusses how to design tools that could facilitate students to compose their own multimedia. These tools, called the Multimedia Works software environment, consist of three programs: Media Space, a multimedia database and research program; Multimedia Works Composer, a storyboarding and presentation program; and Video Light Table, a direct manipulation video-clip editor. In the end, he brings up several challenges to meet the successful use of Multimedia Works. These issues focus on the intersection of technology design and user support for learning activities.



Section 4 Forum Questions



Please read and react to the questions below. Also view the short film ansering the question on "How can the creation of interactive media by students help students learn material?"