EDC Center for Children and Technology
(TR16) Classroom Integration of Interactive Multimedia: A Case Study

New interactive multimedia tools and applications are becoming available for use in classrooms, but little is known about the nature and value of using such materials nor the conditions which might best support their integration into classrooms. This paper describes a brief exploratory look at what can happen when multimedia hardware and software are introduced into a supportive school and classroom setting. Within a few weeks of their introduction into a fifth-grade classroom, multimedia materials had become part of the classroom culture, and were being used by students for game-playing, research, and, most interestingly, the creation of individual and collaborative presentations and interactive multimedia "reports." This paper describes the highlights of children's work as multimedia "authors," and details the conditions which surrounded and supported their work.