The application of multimedia technologies to instruction has been a major preoccupation of mine since the late seventies when personal computers began to appear in our educational institutions. So inspired was I with what I envisioned as the multimedia potential of these machines that I completed my dissertation on their application to instruction (Sebald, 1981). Looking back now I would have to admit that I probably didn't really understand what multimedia was exactly, but I knew that the prospect of using a computer to deliver information through several sensory channels simultaneously was too compelling to resist. Of course at that time computer multimedia didn't mean digital video, CD-ROM, or long distance learning. In reality, it meant using a microprocessor to control projected images and taped audio. Primitive, yes, but still it was multimedia.

Over the years, I've retained this keen interest in educational multimedia and have explored its application at every possible opportunity. The field has matured a lot since the early eighties. Much of the technological potential that I could only wish for at the time has begun to be realized. Even the definition of multimedia has begun to stabilize. The definition that I use currently in presentations about the topic is, ".. a computer-based information delivery system that uses a variety of media in a rich, interactive environment." In my work, I have yet to find an example of multimedia that does not fit this definition even though new technologies are constantly being developed to satisfy our media-sophisticated culture. For me, educational multimedia is the instructionally effective combination of text, graphics, photographic images, animation, video, 3D models, music, narration, and sound effects in a form that the user can control, individually navigate, and interact with at some level of programmed intelligence.

Recently, I have been exploring one of the newest of these technologies–the Internet–as a delivery vehicle for instructional multimedia. The potential of the Internet for instruction seems immense, but the reality so far–like that of multimedia twenty years ago–seems to fall somewhat short of the promise. Much of this disparity is due to the fact that creative tools for Internet instruction are still nonexistent, primitive, or not unified. If one wants to incorporate multimedia instruction on the web, there is not at this time a clear choice of tools or techniques to use. Instead, one must select from among a plethora of unfamiliar, single-purpose choices … many of which were not originally designed for the purpose and some of which may even conflict with other tools. For example, is it better to use HTML, Dynamic HTML, HTML 4, Java, Javascript, server-based CGI scripts, client-based interactivity plugins, Quicktime, VRML, Shockwave, RealAudio, RealVideo, Flash, etc. You get the idea … and I'm not even mentioning the many fringe tool choices.

The purpose of this paper is simply to report one person's attempts to find a way through this maze. Bearing in mind what I think multimedia should be according to the above definition, I'll show some web-based instructional multimedia examples that I have recently created for my Computer Applications in Music course, and I'll discuss the tools I used to make them. I'll also give some personal opinions about their real world usefulness.

I

developed this short tutorial last year to help my students understand the interior construction of a typical desktop computer. We used to accomplish this objective by bringing a real computer to class, putting it on a table in the center of the room, and pulling it apart while lecturing about it. Besides being a rather messy process, our students were never really able to touch or examine the parts. This tutorial overcomes these problems to a certain extent by using a 3D model that each student "constructs" virtually at their own pace while examining and "touching" each part (by clicking with the mouse) as it is explained. No attempt was made to allow for branching navigation. The student is expected to move from the beginning to the end of the tutorial in sequence. However, the student does have the ability to move backward through the sequence as well as forward to review a concept. The tutorial uses no sound, only text and 3D imagery. A simplified model was used instead of photographs because the student can grasp the core visual cue faster when it is not obscured by needless detail.

I used Lightwave 3D Modeler to create the part models, Lightwave Layout to render them, Graphic Converter 3.0 to convert them to PICT images, and Director 6.0 to sequence them and add interactivity. Once the program was in finished form, I used Shockwave (a Director Xtra) to compress the program for web delivery.

In order to run properly over the web, the user's browser must have Macromedia's Shockwave PlugIn in the PlugIns folder.

This is a quiz/tutorial designed to help students learn the interface to one of our course sequencers, Opcode's MusicShop. The most immediately apparent difference between this example and the previous one is the incorporation of spoken narration used to question the user about various parts of the screen. The sound for the narration was digitized using Macromedia's SoundEdit 16 and was saved in a highly compressed Shockwave Audio format. This format works well for narration although it might not be suitable for music. A second difference is that this program tells the student whether or not each response is correct, constantly monitoring the number of correct and incorrect responses to provide immediate visual feedback. At the end of the tutorial the student has the option of sending this information to the instructor's email address.

Director was used to sequence the questions. Although the image looks contiguous, it is actually made of numerous small pieces pasted together so that each part can respond individually when clicked. A Director Xtra called XtraNet by Grey Matter Research is used to email the results to the instructor from within the program.

Since my music technology course deals in large part with how MIDI works, I created this tutorial to give students an opportunity to explore the way a typical MIDI sequencer creates and stores data. Unlike the previous examples, there is no attempt here to move the student through a set sequence of items. Rather, this is a virtual "toy" that allows the student to "play" and create simple compositions using MIDI commands. Some previous knowledge of MIDI's language and syntax is helpful.

The graphic interface is purposefully limited. If the student clicks on a key, a MIDI command is entered in numeric form into the scrolling text field. Clicking on a note symbol changes the timing of the next MIDI command. In order to add more complex rhythms, volume changes, and other advanced musical nuances, the student must enter the correct numbers directly into the text field. It is then possible to clear the work or play it directly from the interface.

Director was used to create the interface. However, Director is not capable of MIDI control by itself and so requires an add-on called MidXtra from Yamaha Corporation to acquire that capability. In order for this program to work over the web the user's browser must have MidXtra in the Shockwave support folder inside the browser's plugins folder, and a MIDI synthesizer should be attached to the computer. If a synthesizer is not available, Yamaha's software synthesizer, SGMLIB, can be put in the Shockwave support folder and will provide the audio.

My computer applications course covers many music related technologies including an overview of common digital synthesis techniques. We usually start this overview with an explanation of additive synthesis beginning with how numbers can be manipulated to create a complex wave. The program shown here allows the student to manipulate that concept by summing overtones of a natural harmonic series together with virtual faders. The program draws the resultant complex wave in real time and, for those students who relate better to musical notation, fades the notation for the overtone in and out in the staff window. The student can switch to and from a numeric view of the waveform at any time. Whenever the student changes the fader settings, the numbers are encoded into a single wave AIFF file and saved to disk. The complex tone that the waveform represents can be played back by clicking on the Play button.

This Director program requires Shockwave and and another Xtra called FileIO; however, there is a significant problem with running it over the web. In order to maintain security, Macromedia designed Shockwave to be incapable of saving binary files to disk. Thus the program is only half functional over the web. For full functionality it must be downloaded and used outside the browser environment.

I try to include some basic audio technology in the computer applications course. This is just an overview of terms and proper use of audio equipment appropriate for all musicians. Those students who wish to learn more about audio take an Audio Technology course after completing my Computer Applications class.

Teaching students to identify small parts used in a studio has always presented a problem in class, but virtual reality compensates for this. The program shown here allows students to directly manipulate and examine a model of a typical RCA plug over the Internet. Currently, this program is just a stand-alone virtual reality example and has not been expanded into a full fledged tutorial

It makes use of shockwave and Apple's QuickDraw vector technology. This combination makes for very small, quickly transmitted files; however, it limits the accessibility to a Macintosh. Cross-platform QuickTime VR could be used instead, but the size of the file then would be much larger since Quicktime uses raster images.

I have found Director 6.0 and its many support Xtras to be viable tools for developing web-based multimedia learning packages. No single package is a perfect solution at this point, but Director's flexibility and the ability to incorporate many third-party options brings it very close to fulfilling my instructional needs.

If you would like more information on the programs shown here, the source code, or information on the add-ons mentioned, you are encouraged to point your browser to my multimedia home page: http://www.aim-ed.com. This page contains links to all the programs shown here as well as many others I am presently developing.