Learning Activities with Semantic. Hypermedia in Higher Education

2004

Abstract Knowledge-based hypermedia systems are used in scholarly communication since more than 2000 years, eg the Babylonian Talmud. Many different computer-based hypermedia systems have been successfully created for the humanities, too. But, cross-university or even university-wide use of these systems for e-learning purposes in the humanities is seldom if ever.

Computers in Human Behavior, 1995

Although the term multimedia has been used for decades, its origin might be traced back to eras which precede the advent of the microprocessor. Historically, usage of the term characterized those situations which employed multiple audio and/or video devices (such as slide projectors, video players/monitors, audiotape decks, synthesizers, and other stand-alone hardware) in a variety of instructional and noninstructional settings. With the arrival of the microcomputer, however, these devices were modified such that they could be programmed and controlled automatically. This capability to store and recall upon demand various combinations of settings has added new meaning to the term multimedia and currently depicts its more recently popular definition (Burger, 1993). The current notion of hypermedia is formed by the confluence of two very different streams of development. One branch, multimedia, has media (and media research) as its source. The provenance for the other, hypertext, is computer science or, more specifically, the engineering ancestors of computer science. The apparent fusion of hypertext and multimedia into the term hypermedia implies a link between the two streams that is misleading. The two thrusts were spawned from different perceived needs and, until very recently, were largely developed with little knowledge of each other. Since the underlying intentions and subsequent development of each are important to education and training, it is worth briefly summarizing their histories.

2016 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), 2016

We present a methodology for creating hypermedia materials derived from face-to-face tutoring sessions between a tutor and graduate students. To create the hypermedia materials, the tutor and the student used a smart pen which allowed to record the conversation and digitalize the notes being taken. The production of hypermedia material is based on the use of visual representations and text to help students go from concrete to abstract thinking and vice versa. We point out that hypermedia materials are audiovisual narratives (i.e., dynamic graphics, diagrams) that facilitate the representation of co-constructed shared knowledge and let participants navigate between oral and textual information. This methodology allows the production of individualized material without investing additional time in editing and designing. The hypermedia based tutoring (HBT) model is highly valued by students since it helps them to go over the discussions with the tutor and review the thinking process that both constructed during the session. HBT becomes a creative form of communicating and representing information that challenges the tutor and student to develop new skills and ways of thinking. The model that we propose here requires to change traditional tutor and student roles and to create learning experiences that do not overlook students' needs.

Educational Technology & Society, 2005

This study investigates student teachers' opinions about learning "instructional technology and material preparation" subjects in a hypermedia-based constructivist learning context. A qualitative case study design was employed. The students of one classroom were the focus of an in-depth investigation by means of interviews, which were designed to elicit these students' perceptions concerning the use of hypermedia as a cognitive tool in the learning process. The study sample consisted of twenty-eight second-year students who enrolled in the Instructional Technology and Material Preparation Course in the Fall of 2001 at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. The study lasted fourteen weeks (two hours per week). In the group, high, average, and low achievers (based on their GPAs), and both males and females were represented. An interview schedule consisting of sixteen questions was designed to obtain the students' opinions about developing hypermedia as a cognitive tool to learn the subject. The data collected through the interviews were subjected to content analysis. The results indicate that the majority of the students preferred the hypermedia-based constructivist learning environment in the course to a traditional learning environment. The students thought that the hypermedia-based constructivist learning environment helped them learn the subject matter more effectively.

2009

Computer-based multimedia and hypermedia resources (e.g., the world wide web) have become one of the primary sources of academic information for a majority of pupils and students. In line with this expansion in the field of education, the scientific study of learning from multimedia and hypermedia has become a very active field of research. In this chapter we provide a short overview with regard to research on learning with multimedia and hypermedia. In two review sections, we describe the educational benefits of multiple representations and of learner control, as these are the two defining characteristics of hypermedia. In a third review section we describe recent scientific trends in the field of multimedia/hypermedia learning. In all three review sections we will point to relevant European work on multimedia/hypermedia carried out within the last 5 years, and often carried out within the Kaleidoscope Network of Excellence. According to the interdisciplinary nature of the field this work might come not only from psychology, but also from technology or pedagogy. Comparing the different research activities on multimedia and hypermedia that have dominated the international scientific discourse in the last decade reveals some important differences. Most important, a gap seems to exist between researchers mainly interested in a "serious" educational use of multimedia/hypermedia and researchers mainly interested in "serious" experimental research on learning with multimedia/hypermedia. Recent discussions about the pros and cons of "design-based research" or "use-inspired basic research" can be seen as a direct consequence of an increasing awareness of the tensions within these two different cultures of research on education.