CD-ROMs are disks which are read by a computer system and usually combine a number of media – text, video and sound. They have ‘hot-links’ which allow the user to move from one piece of text to another by clicking on a word or phrase. Children need help in navigating successfully and retrieving information from a vast store. As Lydia Plowman (1998) puts it: ‘The main navigational problem is knowing when all the relevant information on a given topic has been seen and how it relates to the structure of the multimedia document.’ Visualising the mainly invisible structure of the text in its entirety requires some experience and sophistication.
Educational CD-ROMs need to achieve the right balance between educational and entertainment aspects. Some CD-ROMs have little educational content despite their title. CD-ROMs should not just be books on a screen but should allow users to explore pathways and make good use of sound, animation and video. Marian Whitehead urges us to be selective about the ‘reading books’ on CD-ROM we select – they should not simply replicate dreary primers and mask meaningless text with visual tricks and loud music (Whitehead, 2004). Useful general criteria for judging quality are emerging. I have developed the following questions based on the criteria the British Interactive Multimedia Association uses for its annual awards (www.bima.co.uk).
Does the CD-ROM:
• Match with the needs of the age group it is intended for?
• Engross and entertain the young learner?
• Make imaginative use of the technology?
• Prove a suitable medium for the subject?
• Enable the user to navigate easily?
• Provide quality search systems and bookmarks?
• Offer quality content – taking account of accuracy, comprehensiveness, creativity and interest?
• Offer quality images and audio experiences?
CD-ROMs are well established as resources for the primary curriculum (see John Garvey, 2000 for a detailed account). They are used for teaching reading – for example the Dr Seuss’s ABC (‘Living Books’ series) and Nursery Rhyme Time (Sherston) – and are part of the fiction collection in class and school libraries. But perhaps their impact on children’s research across the curriculum has been most significant.
The information in a set of space-consuming print encyclopedias can be placed instead on a disk for easy storage. Publishers of children’s reference books – dictionaries, atlases, encyclopedias and thesauruses – have been producing CD-ROM versions for some time. ‘My First Amazing World Explorer’, for the under nines, has an interactive picture atlas, games and activities to teach about map skills and it includes enjoyable extras like a jigsaw and a sticker map (Dorling Kindersley). The Oxford Dictosaurus from Oxford University Press is an easily used electronic resource for children’s writing from about eight years upwards. Like similar electronic reference texts, it offers videofilm and animation to extend what is described in writing. For example, you might see part of a frog’s life cycle – the laying of eggs and tadpoles emerging from the spawn – in short film extracts. Being able to see machines working and animals moving makes viewing a CD-ROM highly motivating for many children, and a different sort of experience to reading print. Nevertheless, we should remember that reading books remains a distinct experience and electronic interactive media complement rather than replace books. In fact many publishers offer a CD-ROM together with a book as a package. Two-Can Publishing (Zenith Entertainment plc) have an exciting range of combined resources in their Interfact series. The electronic extension activities link extremely well with each sub-topic. For example in Water, the double spread on ‘Shipshape and Seaworthy’ has a disk link which allows the young learner to control a fleet of cargo ships, to learn about how ships float at sea and how you have to judge the right weight of cargo if the vessel is to be seaworthy.
Garvey, John (2000) ‘“Incredibly Creative Tools”: using ICT and multimedia’ in Fisher, Robert and Williams, Mary (eds) Unlocking Literacy: A Guide for Teachers London: David Fulton.
Plowman, Lydia ‘Reading multimedia texts: Learning how CD-ROM texts work’ in Language Matters Spring 1998.
Whitehead, Marian (2004, third edition) Language and Literacy in the Early Years London: Paul Chapman.
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