Multimedia authoring system

Draft

Authoring systems are authoring environments that have on-screen tools like menus, prompts, icons etc. that let users enter text, graphics, banching logic etc. and that generate underlying code.

Popular systems

Commercial educational

• Macromedia Authorware
• Everest ($1995 list price on 15:22, 26 June 2007 (MEST))

Commercial general purpose

Hypercard like

• Hypercard (Wikipedia article, now a dead product)
• SuperCard ($179 - $279) - SuperCard (Wikipedia)
• Revolution - Revolution (MediaWiki)

Multimedia presentation, animation and interaction

• Director
• Flash ($700 on 15:22, 26 June 2007 (MEST)).
• Quest (dead product ?)

Other

• Toolbook ($2795 on 15:22, 26 June 2007 (MEST))
• NeoSoft, ($200 - 10% for education)

Free or cheap

Hypercard like

• HM-Card. HM-Card is a set of tools designed to create and peruse: Computer Supported Educational Packages ; Multimedia Presentations and Demonstrations; Interactive Hypermedia Manuals ; Highly interactive WEB sites (not tested by Daniel K. Schneider).

• HyperNext Studio ($20). Inspired by Hypercard.

• Pantechnicon Wiki lists other free HyperCard systems (not tested !)

Specialized

• MaxAuthor, a free multimedia authoring system for language instruction. Windows 95/98/NT/2000/Me/XP. Student activities include MaxBrowser, Listening Dictation, Pronunciation, Multiple Choice, Vocabulary Completion, and Audio Flashcards. Lessons can be delivered via Internet or MS-Windows

Quizzing

• Hot Potatoes, The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. Hot Potatoes is not freeware, but it is free of charge for those working for publicly-funded non-profit-making educational institutions, who make their pages available on the web.
  • This is probably today's most popular stand-alone quizzing software - Daniel K. Schneider 15:22, 26 June 2007 (MEST).

There should be more systems I think (but don't know). Therefore also consider WBT tools like eXe.

Free of cheap WBT systems

• eXe

Other/See also

• Computer game. Some toolkits can be used to build educational games.

Links

• Multimedia Wiki (formats and players)

• Multimedia Authoring Tools (good list, updated 2003), retrieved 15:22, 26 June 2007 (MEST).

• Assessments of Multimedia Technology in Education: Bibliography

• DMOZ Software: Online Training: Authoring

• A Brief Guide To Interactive Multimedia And The Study Of The United States

• http://fie.engrng.pitt.edu/fie95/3a2/3a21/3a21.htm

• Multimedia Authoring Systems FAQ 1/3 (1999) - Ascii via Usenet FTP Archive

References

• Locatis,Craig, Al-Nuaim,Hana (1999), Interactive technology and authoring tools: A historical review and analysis, Educational Technology Research and Development, 47, 3, 9/18/1999, Pages 63-75, DOI 10.1007/BF02299634 (Access restricted)