Internet-activated multimedia as a distance learning alternative

The potential for Web applications to bring educational multimedia to remote learner locations is sometimes limited by the realities of hardware and networking. In trying to weigh these pragmatic issues against the value of live communication and interactive tools for stimulating learning, the authors have developed a series of networked multimedia CD-ROMs to support virtual classroom settings. This format allows delivery of rich interactive activities containing animation as well as real-time information and communication. Additionally this format allows users to use archived information in the event their network connection is unavailable. The Internet-activated CD-ROM provides: Internet access to current information as prescribed by the authoring content expert; the ability to provide elaborate interactive multimedia activities with no wait for download and to modify, the behavior of those activities with simple commands from Internet servers; the capacity to couple the CD-ROM based multimedia with a server database to provide a personalized learning environment; and communication of usage statistics directly to research database. This approach offers new opportunities for educational research and is an accessible medium for development of educational multimedia.