Week 9: Practical Considerations for Multimedia Courseware Development: An EFL IVD Experience

I think IVD (interactive Videodisc) is quite attractive compared with the computerized graphic displays. Students may be interested in Authentic learning input such as their familiar movies.

To design this kind of Multimedia courseware, we should consider at least three things (as mentioned in the paper): the media, the institutional needs/constraints, and design principles. First, we need to know what the IVD is about and what are the strengths of the program. Next, we need to find out the language needs of our students and whether they can learn from these authentic texts as many idioms may be appeared. Third, we need to set the objectives why we decide such program – what language skills are we expecting students can learn?

The access to computer is very important. Before we use this program, we also have to consider whether we can provide support for students in this area. I know some of our classmates do not have a proper MMLC in their school. It may difficult to conduct this activity.

After reading Paul’s comment on this week’s reading, I also agree that this IVD program is a bit out-dated. We can find different kinds of similar resources online or from some publishers. It is no longer time consuming and too expensive to develop such courseware.