We have only just begun to understand and appreciate the multiple ways in which a multimedia educational system influences or enhances student learning. A major challenge in assessing the impact of learning technologies relates to the difficulty of gathering, organizing, and presenting useful data in collaborative multimedia environments. Technologically-rich environments demand equally rich data collection and analysis tools--ones capable of examining human-computer interactions as well uses of multiple representations of information. These technologies not only allow evaluators and researchers to gather data from the systems being used, they allow integration of other data as well - observations, interviews, video and audio records, documents produced, and more. The technologies also support researchers as they analyze the data and develop their interpretations of the use of the systems. Viewpoints can be shared among other researchers so that common themes can be synthesized and different insights can be explored. The goal of this workshop is to examine the uses of multimedia assessment tools in order to understand how well multimedia technologies influence learning.
Multimedia applications and programs ranging from simulations to digital libraries and museums will be demonstrated. A series of multimedia assessment tools and analysis techniques will be discussed during the workshop by people from diverse backgrounds (researchers, developers, multimedia publishers, librarians, foundation officers).
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