MHVR '94

Abstract - This paper is concerned with cultural factors in the design of
educational multimedia software.  Two examples of multimedia software, designed
at ULTRALAB, are described explaining their design criteria and the method used
to allow for cultural factors of two kinds.  

Firstly, "Le Carnaval des Animaux" is described, explaining how the software
was designed to work both with children's culture in terms of the operation and
metaphor of the software and in terms of their native language.  The software
is designed to allow children to explore the imagery of Saint-Saens music in a
participative manner.  In this program, multimedia is created and manipulated
by children without technical knowledge using "drag-and-drop" direct
manipulation of familiar tools and objects.  The user-interface has little text
apart from that which is entered by the learner and the extensive "balloon
help".  To support learning better, the "balloon help" is translated into
Spanish, Catalan and Bulgarian and the software chooses automatically which to
display based on the version of the operating system installed.  The
opportunity to translate this help systen is built into the software to permit
any interested party to create their own translation to match their learners'
own culture.

Secondly, "X" is described to explain how the ULTRALAB team exploited
children's games culture in developing a multimedia game for practising and
learning multiplication tables.  In the design process, children, parents and
teachers were consulted by the ULTRALAB team to guide the design. The
children's desire for challenge, the parents need for educational games and the
teacher's requests for specific learning problems to be addressed were all
taken into account.  Despite the limited, factual knowledge learning involved,
the software also permits children to add their own hints to help them with the
more difficult number facts providing them with the means to customise and
"own" their learning environment.

The authors argue that software designed with learner's culture firmly in mind
can exploit their existing capability and know-how, delight them with tools and
challenges they recognise and offer learning environments they come to with
eagerness and leave with reluctance and not the opposite.