Choosing Multimedia for Education

As the Instructional Design and Technology Coordinator for a Nursing College it is my responsibility to integrate technology into the curriculum. Researching different multimedia options to integrate has become overwhelming. I have noticed that despite the talk about not recreating the wheel most College employees are looking for a way to create custom solutions. They easily and quickly dismiss existing options because they do not fit exactly what they are wanting, instead of adapting to utilize it. Yet, they do not have the knowledge about how to create customized solutions. As a result multimedia that is of lesser quality and that does not follow good design principles is created and used.

How do we navigate the vast sea of multimedia options? The following steps will get you started in finding and creating high quality, research based, multimedia content.

Step 1: Plan

• Before you can look for multimedia options you must know what it is you want the end result to be
• Create a basic plan or goal.
• Ex: I want a students to create e-portfolios.
• Ex: I want students to watch, evaluate, and dissect videos of nurses caring for patients. Students must list the things that were not done correctly, why they were not correct, and what should have been done.

Step 2: Research

• Knowing what you want the end result to be will allow you to start looking for options
• Benchmark with other institutions that are similar to yours. What are they doing? Are they creating custom content? What software and resources are they using?
• Search the web. What content or options are already available? Don't forget to include the Open Source options and software.

Step 3: Adapt or Create?

• You now know what has already been created by others.
• Creating your own custom content should be looked at as one of the last possible options. This is due to the cost and general lack of knowledge of how to create custom multimedia resources.
• Can you use existing solutions? If no, can you use them if they are adapted? Can you adapt what you are looking for to meet fit the options that are available?

Step 4: Educate yourself

• It is important to educate yourself about e-learning, user interface designs, and how people learn.
• Having knowledge of these elements will assist you in determining whether the content you find is of good quality.
• You also want to ensure that any multimedia you may create is high quality.
• There are many learning theories you can follow. One of  these is Cognitive Load Theory. Following this theory will help you choose what elements your multimedia content should have to improve learning.
• Two great resources are "e-Learning by Design" by William Horton and "Efficiency in Learning Evidence-Based Guidelines to Manage Cognitive Load" by Ruth Clark, Frank Nguyen, and John Sweller.

Step 5: Make a Decision

• You are now armed with enough knowledge to make a decision.
• So, which did you choose? Adapt or Create?