Multimedia Tools for Education and Business

Advantages and Disadvantages of Multimedia Tools

I don’t know about you, but I appreciate reading blogs and websites that include multimedia to enhance messaging. There’s something about electronic pages drenched in text that can present a level of resistance to reading; no matter how focused you are or how much you are grasping a concept, the words seem to run together with no end in sight. However, when I am able to access a link on a page or in a paragraph that leads to more details related to my current reading, my attention span magnifies and my understanding is heightened.

Thus, adding multimedia to enhance messaging can make the difference between the reader scanning through the site or actually concentrating on the overall content. While utilizing multimedia tools can assist in attracting visitors and holding their attention, according to one small business writer, doing so can also enhance SEO (search engine optimization) strategies by improving a site’s position and rank, increasing its click-through rate, in addition to greater immersion and support for branding (Poretsky, 2014).

On the other hand, there are some disadvantages. A colleague of writer, Poretsky, states that “Adding multimedia increases the number of codecs and plugins a browser needs to load the page. The number of opportunities for bugs to creep into your site goes up, as well. Multimedia also leaves you open to a third-party problem, such as a video being removed from YouTube, which will leave a blank space in any post in which you have embedded the video (Nield, 2014).”

The Effectiveness of Multimedia Tools

In my research, I found that there are no multimedia techniques more effective than others, as there is no one size that fits all, and every web site or presentation has its own purpose. So, what works for one, may not work for the other. For instance, there are multimedia tools specific to education and helping students learn challenging subject areas such as science. An example of this tool is www.stellarium.org, which is a free open source planetarium for computers that features a realistic sky in 3D. This media tool is one that could be listed in a syllabus and featured on the instructor’s web site for easy access by and interaction with their students.

Another resource for educators is www.animoto.com, an online video maker that allows teachers and students to produce videos for almost anything i.e., research, projects, public service announcements using photos, video clips and music. Here is an example featuring a video produced by 8^th graders on the topic of World War I -- http://youtu.be/ZlYMu8c8waw.

Finally, there is www.imovie.com, supported by MAC and Apple, which allows producers to use audio and video clips to create a movie. This is what I meant by one size not fitting all. This particular application can be a multimedia tool for education and businesses, as shown in this example -- http://youtu.be/dl8XNgtnPuk.

There are a host of applications that can turn your basic web site or presentation into your … WOW! Check out Photostory, Keynote, Glogster, and yes, even PowerPoint for your next electronic project in cyberspace, and do your research to determine the best tool for your needs.

References

Nield, D. (2014). Advantages & disadvantages of using multimedia on web pages. Demand media. Science. Opposing views. Retrieved from http://science.opposingviews.com/advantages-disadvantages-using-multimedia-pages-1215.html.

Poretsky, S. (2014). Advantages & disadvantages of using multimedia on web pages. Demand media. Small  business chron. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-disadvantages-using-multimedia-pages-46642.html.