This Week's
Hot Topic

Multimedia

Multimedia is our topic again this week.  As promised there is no new material this week.  The drills posted below are those that are continuing from last week.  Have fun!

Multimedia Terms

Drill

This drill is multi-faceted just as multimedia is.  In the threaded discussion I would like for you to:

• Discuss when you think text, graphics, motion, and sound are necessary to promote learning?

• Review the examples provided last week

• Find an instructional multimedia example of your own on the web, provide the url, and note how the different media elements are used, how they help or hinder learning, and what else could/should be done to promote learning

• Identify whether your multimedia is interactive and give a summary of how it allows for user input and what it does with this input. If possible identify the authoring tool(s) used for the development of this multimedia.

Graphics Tools

Drill

Complete the following activity:

Use the graphics program of your choice to learn more about graphics programs.  Locate an image/graphic you wish to use from clip art, the web, etc. Try to modify the image to create a new image of your own.  OR, create your own graphic from scratch. This can be as simple or as complex as your skill will allow. If you want to challenge yourself animate your graphic in some way.  Save your graphic in the GIF or JPEG file format (or another format readable by a web browser if necessary). Then e-mail your graphic to me.  Tell me what program you used to create it and how you will use it in your future web site.

Drill

If you have not already been working on this last week then I strongly suggest you choose Option 1.  It does not require you to teach yourself an authoring tool.  It only requires you to investigate the capabilities of 2 tools and compare them.  There are many web sites you can review that can help you with this. Option 2 will take you longer than 1 week to complete so do not attempt to start it this week and hope to have it done on time.  If you are already familiar with one of these tools or you are a quick study then by all means choose Option 2.

Choose one of the following activities to complete after reviewing the different authoring tools above

Option 1:

Choose 2 competing products (2 that propose to do the same thing).  Learn what you can about their capabilities, strengths, weaknesses, cost, user friendliness, etc. Download them both if possible and play around with them using the different tutorials or quick start guides they provide or talk to people that use these tools and see what they have to say.  Write up a comparison report of the 2 products and which one you would choose and why.  Point to urls and other resources you used for your evaluation of these 2 products. (Do not copy someone else's evaluation from the web - read these evaluations if you find them and compile your own report given what you have learned) If you were able to download and use them provide a comparison of your experience with this as well. Post your report to the threaded discussion

Option 2:

Most of the above authoring tools have downloadable trial versions available along with small quick start projects, videos or tutorials.  Choose one of the tools and learn what you can about it.  Download it and create a small scale product (animation, instruction, graphic, etc. - whatever is appropriate given the program you choose).  You can choose to simply complete one of the quick start projects or product you create within one of the tutorials or come up with one on your own. My recommendations for this would be Flash, Fireworks, Director, Swish, or LiveMotion. Send me your creation!

• Check the FAQ Page to see if your question has already been answered.
• Email Chief Curda.
• Email EMT Kelly.
• Email the firehouse crew and see if another firefighter knows the answer.

Now let's take a look at the Chief's
Inspection List for this week!