EVALUATING NEW MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES FOR SELF-PACED INSTRUCTION

A growing body of research suggests that instructional media affect cognition and thus each new advance in instructional technology brings new challenges and opportunities for self-paced instruction. However, to maximize the possibilities within each technology, the recurring tendency to use it as an extension of prior technology must be overcome. The new multimedia technologies allow for the reintegration of multisensory modes of learning that were lost as print became the dominant form of self-paced instruction. A number of techniques for using and evaluating the new multimedia technologies are offered in this article. Several of these technologies allow for users to better become their own evaluators and thus call for new models of program evaluation based on this empowering opportunity.