demonstrated in a number of ways. Presented below are five functions of animation in interactive multimedia.
a cosmetic function: to make instruction attractive to learner, b attention gaining function: to gain the attention of learners at the beginning
of and to signal salient points such as switching topics, c motivation function: to motivate learner when an incorrect answer is
given, d presentation function: to provide a concrete reference and a visual context
for ideas, and e clarification function: to provide a conceptual understanding without
providing new information through visual. 5 Video
Video in multimedia is a very important communication tool for presentations. It gives the users an illustration of ideas and concepts and also real
world events. There are two choices of video in interactive multimedia which are using very short video clips not exceeding a minute or two and using highly
compressed video files like MPEG or AVI files that can be transformed to MPEG files. Mishra and Reddi, 2004:46
c. Advantages of Interactive Learning Multimedia
Mishra and Reddi 2003:5 state that there are several advantages of multimedia for the users, especially for teachers and learners. The users use their
natural information processing abilities using eyes and ears and also the brain which result in a good system that gather information from meaningless sense of
data. There are some benefits of multimedia to teachers which are: a allows for creative work;
b saves time for more challenging topics; c replaces ineffective learning activities;
d and increases student contact time for discussion.
As for the students, the use of multimedia makes the application more attractive and interesting. Thus because the image, even if only a few or have little
pedagogical value, will stimulates the eye and relief them. Concerning with the advantage of its interactivity, Lee and Owens
2004:123-124 state that the interactivity allows the interaction to be frequent and the students involvement.
d. The Principles of Interactive Learning Multimedia
In designing an interactive multimedia, we can consider seven basic principles of interactive multimedia that are recommended by Mayer 2005: 6-7.
The lists are presented below. a Multimedia principle: Students learn better from combination of words
and graphics than from words alone. b Split-attention principle: Students learn better when the corresponding
words and graphics are placed closely to one another than separately. c Modality principle: Students learn better from graphics and narration than
graphics and printed text. d Redundancy principle: Students learn better when the same information is
not presented in more than one format. e Segmenting, pre-training, and modality principles: Students learn better
when a multimedia message is presented in learned-paced segments rather than as a continuous unit, students know the names and characteristics of
the main concepts, and the words are spoken rather than written.
f Coherence, signaling, spatial contiguity, temporal contiguity, and redundancy principles: Students learn better when extraneous material is
excluded rather than included, when cues are added that highlight the organization of the essential material, when corresponding words and
pictures are presented near rather than far from each other on the screen or page or in time, and people learn better from graphics and narration than
from graphics, narration, and on-screen text.
g Personalization, voice, and image principles: Students learn better when the words of a multimedia presentation are in conversational style rather
than formal style and when the words are spoken in a standard-accented human voice rather than a machine voice or foreign-accented human
voice; but people do not necessarily learn better when the speaker’s image is on the screen.
