Proceedings

Conference Overview

Call for Participation

Track Sessions

Advisory Committee

Featured Speakers

Conference Agenda

Workshops

Registration Form

Payment Information

Hotel Information

Travel Information

Exhibit Information

Previous Conferences

itconf@mtsu.edu

Interactive Macromedia Software for Economics, Psychology and African Studies

Abstract

This workshop will present two interactive programs by Macromedia, Authorware and Dreamweaver. In Authorware one presenter created a macroeconomics simulation game "MacEcon$im" and a tutorial in African crafts in their social context "The African Connection." Participants will have the opportunity to try out the programs for themselves. The other presenters use Dreamweaver to reconceptualize introductory psychology around integrated thematic topics presented through a changing website using videoclips of social issues.

This workshop will also demonstrate programming in Authorware and Dreamweaver with their multimedia possibilities and challenges.

Description

MacEcon$im is an economics simulation designed for a fifty-minute class session. For twenty moves students manipulate government spending, taxation and interest rates in order to keep an economy on its growth track. Explanations before each move and questions throughout the game help the student to master the moves and verify the student's comprehension. To provide realism, in various moves new challenges arise, such as emergency military spending, a tax cut, and a balanced budget amendment. The simulation collects results in a data folder that can be accessed by the teacher.

"The African Connection" is a multimedia presentation that can be used in a 30-60 minute session. It shows African art, videoclips of artistic creation and of dancing festivals where art is displayed. The festivals include videoclips of drumming and dancing masks and royal processions. The art topics cover sculpting African masks, carving drums, weaving and dyeing cloth, and producing metal figures with the lost wax process. Each topic has videoclips of the artistic work. Integrated into "The African Connection" are maps and images of the climates of Africa.

In introductory psychology, the workshop will demonstrate the course web pages, on-line activities, the collaborative projects conducted by students, and the contrasting models of pedagogy using the web. It will show how easy Dreamweaver can serve to update webpages as students submit their research for the course.

The workshop also includes a demonstration of the capabilities and limitations of Authorware to design interactive software. By the end of this section, participants should learn:

1. To identify advantages and disadvantages of interactive software from examples,
2. To try out Authorware's system of icons on a flow line,
3. To plan the logic of interactive software appropriate for their course,
4. To prepare means to assess learning through the interactive software,
5. To produce a simple example of interactive software with a file for recording students' results.