Hardware and Software Technologies for the

Development of Multimedia Instructional Modules

Nanda Ganesan, Ph.D.California State University, Los Angeles

andK. P. Hewagamage, Ph.D.

University of Colombo

Overview

• Demonstration of modules• Survey of hardware• Survey of software • Summary

I. Demonstration of Modules

• Module formats• Module demonstrations

Module Formats

• PowerPoint based lecture modules• Chalk-and-talk type of lectures

– Simulate the in-class learning environment

• Software simulations • Software tutorials• Active learning and learning

assessment with quizzes

Module Demonstrations

• Module 1: PowerPoint lectures• Module 2: Chalk-and-talk type of

lectures• Module 3: Software simulations • Module 4: Software tutorials

II. Hardware Survey

• System unit• Input devices

II.I System Unit Consideration

• Audio and video synchronization without delay

• Time required to manipulate and process recorded audio – Quality of audio

• Time required to manipulate both audio and video together– Quality of audio and video produced

• Support for high resolution and high color depth recording of multimedia

Comparison of Systems Built

Components System 1 System 2 System 2 Improvements Over System 1

Bare-bone System

Shuttle SB61G2 with Intel 865G Chipset

Shuttle SB75S with Intel 875P Chipset

Motherboard with better chipset and quieter operation.

Processor Pentium 4 /2.8 GHz Pentium 4/ 3.0 GHz Faster processor.

Memory DDR -2700 512 M Bytes

DDR-3200 1 G Bytes

More and faster memory.

Hard Drive Maxtor5000 RPM

Western Digital 7200 RPM

Quieter and reliable operation.

Removable Drive

Lexmar USB Flash Drive 512 M Bytes

Hammer USB Hard Drive 60 G Bytes

USB hard drive was far superior to the USB Flash drive in terms of speed and storage capacity.

Video Card Built-in ATI Radeon 9600 Pro (Stand-alone)

A good quality stand-alone video card such as ATI Radeon 9600 Pro offered better performance.

Sound Card Built-in Sound Blaster SB Audigy 2 ZS (Stand-alone)

A good quality stand-alone sound card such as Sound Blaster Audigy offered observably better sound recording quality.

Minimum Guidelines for Processor and Memory

• A Pentium 4 processor or above that operates at a clock speed of 3 GHz or higher

• A total memory of at least 512 M Bytes of RAM with preference for 1 G Bytes or more of RAM

Minimum Guidelines for Hard Disk

• A hard disk with a rotational speed of at least 7200 RPM and a speed rating of at least 100 M Bytes per Second (ATA/100)

• A removable USB 2.0 hard disk with a capacity of at least 40 G Bytes

Minimum Guideline for Audio and Video

• A video card with a memory of at least 128 M Bytes and a processor that is at least as powerful as ATI’s 9600 Graphical Processing Unit (GPU)

• A stand alone audio card similar to SoundBlaster Audigy ZS that would support recording audio at a sampling rate of 44 MHz or more and at a sampling depth of 16-bits or more

System Units Front View

Systems Units Back View

Stand Alone Audio and Video Cards

II.II Survey of Input Devices

• Considered– Display based– Tablet (Pad) based– Paper based

• Others– Tablet PC– Digital Pen

Display and Tablet Based Devices

• There are certain disadvantages with display and tablet based devices

• Display based devices– Inconvenient to simulate electronic

whiteboard

• Tablet based devices– Sketches cannot be viewed on the tablet

while being sketched

Paper Based Products

• Seiko InkLink• Pegasus NoteTaker• The above two products had nearly

the same functionality• InkLink was chosen due to its wide

availability for testing in retail stores and it was found to serve the purpose adequately

Seiko InkLink

InkLink Connection

III. Survey of Software

Category Purpose

Category 1 Adding multimedia to PowerPoint Presentations

Category 2 General Purpose Screen Recording

Category 3 Developing Software Tutorials

III. I Category 1: Adding Multimedia to PowerPoint

Product Features

ArticulatePresenter

- Facilitates the conversion of PowerPoint presentations to Flash modules for web hosting.

- Allows the recording of live narration. - Supports the inclusion of quizzing and gaming activities for learning purpose.

Eteach - Enables the conversion of PowerPoint presentations for hosting on the web.

iCreate - Facilitates narration to be added to PowerPoint slides and, if needed, allows them to be converted to Flash format for hosting on the web.

Impatica - Allows narration to be added to the PowerPoint slides and the presentations to be converted for web hosting.

- Video clips included in the presentation could also be converted for web hosting.

Category 1: ContinuedMicrosoft Producer

2003- Facilitates the addition and synchronization of audio and video with the

PowerPoint slides. - Supports the inclusion of still images and HTML documents in the presentation. - Allows the timing of the different presentation components to be programmed.

PresenterOne - Allows audio and video to be synchronized with PowerPoint presentations. - Facilitated streamed versions of the presentations to be created for delivery over

the web using either the Real format or the Windows Media format.

ShowAndTell - Supports the creation of online presentations from within PowerPoint. - Allows the addition of narration to the presentation and its synchronization with

the slides. - Facilitates the streaming of modules in Real and Windows Media formats.

PowerPoint Recording

- Supports basic audio and video incorporation in each slide

Ovation - Facilitates the incorporation of voice in each slide- Extensive templates are available to create complete presentation packages- Supports inclusion of animation and other special effects - Allows various formats for incorporating multimedia in the PowerPoint slides

Category 1: Selection

• For the development of simple modules– PowerPoint recording facility– Microsoft producer

• For the development of more advanced modules– Ovation– Impatica

III.II Category 2: Software for General Purpose Screen

Recording

• Screen recording software with audio capabilities

• Modules generated– Ease of learning and use– Low storage requirements – Support for popular recording file

formats

Software Grouping

• For the purpose of the survey, the software was grouped into two sub-categories, namely the high-end and low-end software categories

Category 2: General Purpose Screen Recording Software

SoftwareGroup

Software Functionality Cost(AcademicVersion)

High-end -Adobe Premier-Macromedia Director-Macromedia Authorware-Macromedia eLearning Suite

Software in this category includes real-time screen capture as part of a more advanced set of multimedia authoring features.

-$219-$499

-$499

-$599

Low/Middle-End

-Camtasia-HyperCam-Microsoft Media Encoder

Software in this category is largely dedicated to a specific task, namely for capturing screen activities and adding narration. An exception in this case is Microsoft Media Encoder that is designed for streaming audio and video.

-$199-$39.95-Free with XP

High-End Software

• Turn-key CD and e-learning system development

• Time consuming task• Macromedia’s software packages

generally dominates the market• Expensive to purchase, in general

Low-End Software

• Mostly centered on a specific purpose– Recording of screen activities and

narration

• Designed for rapid application development

• Studio versions have many features included

Low-end Software

• HyperCam• Microsoft Encoder• Camtasia

HyperCam

• Shareware• Limited support• A relatively good and cheap

software for recording screen activities

• Advanced editing and processing features are limited

• http://www.hypercam.com

Microsoft Encoder

• Screen recording features are somewhat limited

• Designed for generating streamed multimedia modules from other multimedia file formats

• Distributed free of charge by Microsoft

• Demonstration

Camtasia

• A very good software for recording screen activities

• Extensive of set of media processing capabilities with respect to screen recording activity

• Supports the creation of modules in different media formats

Uses for Camtasia

• Recording of screen activities• Adding audio to PowerPoint

presentations• Simulation of chalk-and-talk type

of lectures• Creations of basic but effective

software demonstrations

Category 2: The Choice

• From the high-end software category– None

• From the low-end software category– Camtasia

III.III Category 3: Software for Authoring Software Tutorials

• Extensive features for creating software simulations

• In general, the purpose is to record screen images with annotations showing the action taken at each stage– Actions relate to key strokes, mouse clicks

etc.

• The entire process is done automatically without user intervention

Creating a User in Windows XP

Other Features

• Software simulation• Creating quizzes

Leading Software in the Field

• Viewlet Builder– By Qaborn

• Captivate– By Macromedia

Comparison of Viewlet Builder and Captivate

Criterion Captivate Viewlet Builder

Software tutorial creation features

Very Good Very Good

Suitability for academic environment

Very Good Good

Rapid development capabilities Excellent Very good

Ease of learning Very good Very Good

Flash compatibility Excellent Good

Conforms to e-learning industry standards

Yes Yes

Cost (Academic Price) $199 $299

Overall preference rating on a scale of 1 to 10

8 7

More on Comparison

• Both ViewLet Builder and Captivate have nearly identical features

• However, Captivate is relatively easier to learn and use

• Moreover, Captivate is better integrated with a host of academic software such as Macromedia Flash

Category 3: Selection

• Captivate was chosen for the project

• Demonstration of software

III. IV Category 4: Other Software

• Microsoft Office• SoundForge sound editing software• Pinacle, Sony VideoBlaster and

Adobe Premier Elements• Adobe Photoshop Elements• Roxio Easy CD-Creator• CD-Stomper Label Creator

IV. Summary

• Results• Inference• Recommendation• Conclusion

Results

• Hardware Survey– System components– Input devices

• Software survey– Add multimedia to PowerPoint slides– Screen recording software– Tutorial development software

Inference

• Technologies for producing multimedia modules have advanced in power and capabilities

• A combination of hardware and software can now be used for the simulation of the in-class learning environment

• A new generation of software is available for rapid application development

• Hardware and software now available at affordable cost for multimedia content development

Recommendation

• Capture the in-class learning experience for the students

• Rapid application development tools for the instructor

Conclusion

• Properly designed instructional modules can have a positive impact on the learning environment – Learning effectiveness– A host of other benefits

• Simulation of in-class learning experience and rapid application development features will encourage instructors to design, develop and use multimedia instructional modules

• Use of instructional multimedia modules is likely to become as prevalent as the use of course websites

The End