Cathy Ziebarth Chapter 9

Chapt. 9 Hypermedia and Web Authoring
Non-sequential communication is a key feature in hypermedia and web authoring. Developing web pages and being able to navigate in a nonlinear way allows greater flexibility when searching for information. Today’s students engage in decision making and problem solving activities when they design and create web pages. Information is cross referenced and linked in many different ways through the use of hyperlinks; therefore students must gain skills in non-sequential thinking. Part of the curriculum I teach to my 7th grade students involves the creation of multimedia pages through a program called Hyperstudio. When we talk about not having to go from page one to page two, but giving the user the option to go from page one to page five, or page 12 or page 55 if they want, initially it is a bit overwhelming until the students see how it all works together. The preproduction and storyboarding absolutely provide tools for success when it comes to creating hypermedia stories.

I will continue to integrate technology in the area of hypermedia through programs such as Hyperstudio and Dreamweaver. We use Dreamweaver for the creation of web pages. I start out with some basic HTML and we use Dreamweaver which has the ability to display the HTML code and easily displays the web page content. Some students do very well using HTML to create web pages, others get frustrated easily.

Although the authors referred to the importance of teaching students to read, write and practice work in a non-sequential fashion, I find many middle school students have more difficulty executing the language of HTML, due to the exactness required. If they are not attentive to detail they quickly become frustrated if they forget a comma or end tag. Perhaps we have created students who don’t feel the need to proofread or be exact since the computer does the spell check and many think--proofread as well.