Authoring systems: students take a turn

Authoring systems, either language-or icon-based, are continuing to make a strong impression on the education community. While new to some and old hat to others, authoring programs allow educators to create custom software to meet their specific curriculum needs. And authoring programs are now widely available on a variety of platforms; several manufacturers offer support for Windows 3.0. What was alluded to in last year's article has now come to light-teachers, the primary beneficiaries of authoring systems, have decided to let their students take a turn. result? A new glimmer of creativity, improved cognitive and writing skills, and continued exposure to the power of classroom computing. Students are learning to think in a non-linear fashion while utilizing the multimedia devices to which they have been exposed. Students are encouraged to either write their own mini-lessons or create multimedia presentations. Both activities offer enhanced experience working with computers and software. For those instructors who think such an activity would require a great deal of training and structure, or believe only their advanced students could handle such tasks, read on. Students in second grade through graduate studies can and do benefit from learning to author. * Right Direction Many of the industry leaders agree that putting multimedia-based authoring software in the bands of the student is the newest trend and a direction that authoring will continue to take. Steve Allen, president of Allen Communication, Inc., is firmly convinced of the importance of multimedia in education. It's hard for me to imagine future education that does not involve multimedia, he comments. As multimedia authoring tools continue to improve, more and more teachers will embrace them and pass on the benefits to their students. Also, many students will benefit from using the multimedia tools to create lessons of their own. Paul Calkin at Commodore Business Machines, Inc. agrees. When we put technology in the hands of students, we are implementing the restructuring of education. AmigaVision offers students at levels the ability to tie together different sources of information such as video, music, sound, animation and graphics as well as control over equipment such as videodisc and CD-ROM players, he asserts, all using a simple-to-use, iconic-based Calkin stresses multimedia's ability to give students access to original information sources as opposed to textbooks that are often outdated. In addition, he says students can take their authoring skills and apply them towards real-life situations. For example, rather than hold a bake sale to raise funds, students can tape footage from their football team's victories, add a commentary and sell copies for $24.95. * Authoring in College For eight weeks, incoming minority freshmen to the University of Wisconsin at Madison get a head stan on the college experience with the help of Dr. Catherine Middlecamp, the director of the Chemistry Tutorial Program for Minority/Disadvantaged Students. Students take orientation courses during the summer to earn from two to five credits. A mandatory two-week computer course, held twice a week for four to five hours, involves these freshmen with EZ-Author, JCD, Inc.'s authoring system. The students are assigned to learn EZ-Author, select a topic and design a way to implement it, says Middlecamp. Students use the authoring program to create a multimedia presentation on topics relating to campus life. They pick background colors and borders, write screen text and develop animated segments to illustrate and explain the school's outing club, sororities, sports, writing lab or other aspects of college life. The students had no formal training on the program, she continues. I just put it in front of them and said go. general approach was for them to play with it and work in groups. …