MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS: TOOLS FOR LEARNING

Advances in hardware speed, and ubiquitous high bandwidth computer networks offer the possibility of using multimedia systems to improve the process of teaching and learning, both in the case of face to face courses as well as in distant learning. But, are we using educational multimedia software to its full potential? Are we at a dead end or is this a field where valuable research is still to be done? In order to answer these questions, this paper describes some pioneer multimedia systems in the field of education, and presents some of the trends that might be crucial in the development of future educational multimedia software systems.
One of these trends is the use of ever decreasing hardware devices to deliver and access multimedia contents. From portable computers we have moved to laptops, palmtops, PDAs and nowadays, to last generation cellular phones, that in the opinion of some researchers are going to be the main platform to access multimedia contents of various kinds. Some of the most promising examples of mobile educational multimedia will thus be presented and discussed.