Abstract

This chapter focuses on multimedia technology as a learning form, explores the themes that influence multimedia designs, and examines their relationship to classroom instruction. We begin by noting the characteristics of hypermedia and its potential for learning, and highlighting current trends in education policy and practice that frame its use. We discuss the evolution of technology-based instructional design and concurrently evolving theories about learning. Drawing on our years of experience at an innovative education technology company, we use our company’s unique development model to discuss the factors and philosophies that must guide the design and use of technology materials in schools. Throughout this paper we present our developmental model as an exemplar of a broadly replicable process, though we acknowledge at the outset that it is one in which we have had an economic interest.