Multimedia Presentations, the story so far........
Sue Cunningham

In April 1996 a workshop to consider Multimedia Presentations was held as part of the AGOCG programme (through the Support Initiative for Multimedia Applications (SIMA) project funded under the JISC New Technologies Initiative). This workshop addressed the questions:

• • are multimedia presentations useful?
• • why don't more people use them?

Multimedia presentations can be useful if well used in that they can increase student motivation and result in increased understanding and retention. They can involve the provision of ancillary support material for student use.

The workshop came up with a number of issues and recommendations given below together with some of the actions which AGOCG have started to take as a result.

Issue:

Multimedia presentations are time consuming to produce.

Recommendations:

• • a database of media clips should be made available which should include commercial resources
• • there needs to be academic recognition for the work involved in producing online courseware
• • there are national facilities which need to be better promoted
• • standards are important and these need to be promoted
• • there needs to be a cost/benefit analysis of the benefits of using multimedia presentations

Recent Activity:

JISC are working with a commercial consortium to develop the Knowledge Gallery which will act as a gateway to a range of multimedia resources - initially images - with JISC developing content and the commercial consortium providing a gateway. The gateway will have a business infrastructure allowing authentication and charging giving a shop window to resources from the UK HE sector.

There is a growing recognition of the need to take account of teaching and research publications and development which are online and not on paper.

Issue:

There are perceived problems moving from traditional methods of generating presentations to electronic ones.

Recommendations:

• • a list of criteria for choosing presentation software should be produced — this can be used at any point in time
• • based on this, there should be a survey of tools
• • staff development needed to be undertaken in this area

Recent Activity:

Sue Cunningham has set up criteria for selecting presentation software and has conducted an evaluation comparing: Microsoft PowerPoint, Corel Presents, Astound and Lotus Freelance Graphics. This is available on the multimedia section of the AGOCG WWW pages.

JISC through their Technology Applications Sub Committee are to evaluate presentation systems for lecture theatres and to report on the direction for future technologies. This is currently (May 1997) out for tender.

Issue:

Multimedia does not necessarily mean good quality

Recommendations:

• • develop a set of guidelines
• • create a repository of good examples
• • establish a central unit for dissemination of good practice

Recent Activity:

At the launch of its Strategy in November 1996, JISC announced JISC ASSIST which it hopes will act as a clearing house for information and good practice in the use of information systems in HE.

Issue:

Lecture theatres are not "multimedia ready"

Recommendations:

• • adequate technical support must be available
• • guidelines should be developed for the creation of a multimedia delivery box
• • guidelines should be developed for a "multimedia trolley" for small rooms and as a first step to fully equipped lecture theatres
• • guidelines should be developed for a minimum standard for presentation equipment in lecture theatres
• • information sheets describing the hardware and software available in each theatre should be available
• • institutions should be encouraged to invest in and improve their facilities
• • the layout of equipment and additional factors such as lighting, networking need to be considered

This workshop (being reported here) enables us to address these issues regarding multimedia presentations in a broader context and to put some priority on the work proposed.

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