A SIMA Report

Published by the Centre for Computing in Social Sciences

Summary

Copyright Notice
About the Authors

Introduction
System Requirements
Developer Skills and Resourcess
Overview of Toolbook 3.0
Differences between Toolbook 3 and Multimedia Toolbook 3
Versions and Upgrades
Alternatives to Toolbook
Case Studies
Conclusions
Appendices

Summary

This report gives a detailed evaluation of Asymetrix Multimedia ToolBook 3.0 focusing on the strengths and weaknesses of the tool in different application domains. It enables developers seeking to assess Multimedia ToolBook's suitability for their application to make more informed decisions relating to their choice of authoring tool.

Much of the content of this report is also directly applicable to the recently released Multimedia ToolBook 4.0 whose features are listed in the appendices. However, it is not yet possible to write a similar report for version 4.0 as the requisite body of real world experience and knowledge does not yet exist.

Copyright Notice

About the Authors

Simon Price

Simon Price is Director of Software Development for the Centre for Computing in the Social Sciences at the University of Bristol. The Centre currently hosts a number of EU and UK Internet and multimedia projects including the British Computer Society Medal winning WinEcon ToolBook software for which Simon was the Senior Programmer.

He is the chairman of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) ToolBook User Group, was an organiser of the 1994 and 1995 ToolBook Users Conferences, and an invited speaker at the 1994 Asymetrix World Developers Conference in Seattle. He has also given invited lecture tours on multimedia software development as far apart as Sweden and South Africa.

In his role as a ToolBook consultant, he has developed software or delivered training for Armadillo Systems, Centre for Computing in Medicine, Department of Health, Economics and Business Education Association, Employment Services Commission, Institute of Dental Surgery, ICS Solutions, ICL, Leicester University, Multicosm, Oxford University, Southampton University, UK Association of Cardiothoracic Anaesthetists, UMIST, Unilever and the University of the West of England.

He holds a B.Sc.(Hons.) in Computing Science from Staffordshire University and is a Member of the British Computer Society, IEEE Computer Society and ACM. For the eight years prior to joining the University of Bristol he worked as an analyst programmer in the computer games industry, designing and programming twelve published titles.

Li Lin Cheah

Li Lin Cheah is Systems Analyst of Software Development for the Centre for Computing in the Social Sciences at the University of Bristol. She was Analyst Programmer on the WinEcon project which won a British Computer Society Medal in October 1995 and an European Academic Software Award in June 1996. Her current work at the Centre includes the WinEcon Authoring Tools, which is the template on which WinEcon was developed, and providing technical support for WinEcon. Her research interests include the assessment and evaluation of interactive learning software.

Li Lin holds a B.Sc. in Mathematical Statistics from Monash University, Australia and a Dip.Comp.Sc. from La Trobe University, Australia. She has worked as an analyst programmer on a number of software projects in Bristol, Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne, specialising in the design and development of database management systems. Prior to joining the Centre in 1993, she was systems development manager on the National Food Survey Statistical Analysis System project which was developed for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food based at the Department of Economics, University of Bristol.

Additional Credits

Jan Chipchase for converting this document to HTML.