Funding | Planning | Design | Production | Testing | Marketing Identify Participants | Inventory Resources | Schedule | Design Characteristics Instructional Methods | Instructional Design Model These articles present a few things to consider prior to the planning phase of a project. Knowing what paradigms we tend to operate under in multimedia planning and design will help us to both operate within the confines of those paradigms and look beyond them for potential solutions. An Historical Perspective on Current Multimedia Design Practices Production of Instructional Multimedia: An Engineering Perspective Identify Key Participants For the project to succeed all the key participants must be included in the planning process. Their inclusion will ensure that various aspects of the project will be given appropriate consideration. Potential problems will be focused on in the planning phase and not later on during production which is both time and cost consuming. Most importantly key members will have"buy-in" on the project and will therefore be supporters and not protagonists. Key members may include: Management Technical Advisors/Hardware & Software Subject Matter Experts Designers/Developers Investors Legal Advisors Learning Experts Some of these may appear to be relatively minor role players. Identifying these roles early in the planning process can save time and money, and keep the project deadlines on schedule. Developing Multimedia: A Method to the Madness Inventory available resources Identify all available hardware and software resources required to complete the project and then complete an exhaustive inventory of onhand resources. This step will identify hardware and software requirements that must be acquired. If budgetary constraints prevent acquisition of additional resources then alternative plans must be developed. Project Schedule This schedule outlines all the required tasks, available resources, timelines, and milestones required to complete the project. Timelines and milestones are used to monitor project progression. They consist at a minimum of a project start date and a project end date. They will also usually include major decision points in a project and any legal requirements that must be met at a specific time. Below are some sites where you can find out more about timelines and milestones. Developing Milestones Example of Project Timelines Using Timelines in Education Establishing Design Characteristics Instructional Multimedia is a broad and complex domain. It is constantly changing and updating a wide array of products. These products offer a staggering range of multimedia capabilities. In fact, most people do not understand the degree of complexity involved. Therefore, it is vital that all the key personnel involved in the project understand the time and resource requirements for various multimedia attributes and levels of interactivity. Below are some sites that address those concerns. Also included is a site where various educational programs can be downloaded and checked out for different levels of multimedia and interactivity. Ten Design Points for the Human Interface to Instructional Multimedia The A,B,C's of Developing Online Instructional Multimedia Determine Instructional Methods The first step is to determine the if the instructional methods used in the course currently are suitable for a multimedia environment. Objectives should be reviewed and wherever necessary, appropriate instructional methods should be designed. Each objective should have associated strategies in the appropriate domain (cognitive, physical, affective). http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/k12/livetext/docs/berry1.html An effective media for presentation of the objective should be selected. Teaching and Learning on the Internet , Structuring Web Documents Lastly, the test criteria should match the objective. Educational Assessment Reassessed: The Usefulness of Standardized and Alternative Measures of Student Achievement as Indicators for the Assessment of Educational Outcomes Criterion Referenced Testing The Island of Criterion Referenced Testing Selecting an Instructional Systems Design Model There are numerous Instructional Systems Design Models that can be followed when designing instructional multimedia. Below are some links to various sites that discuss some of those models. Some commonality can be seen in all of the various approaches. There are some basic elements of the Instructional Systems Design. Determine the needs of the learner Set the goals of the course and the instructional objectives Develop appropriate and meaningful assessment procedures Determine the most effective approach to deliver the instruction Test the effectiveness of the instructional system Adjust, implement, and maintain the instructional system St. Cloud State Instructional Technologies George Washington University Australian National University University of Central Florida Advanced Instructional Design Associate A Nine-step Systems Approach to Instructional Design - Return to Top - Multimedia Best Practices University of Texas System Comments to g.culp@cc.utexas.edu