How Are Hypermedia/Multimedia Authoring Systems Used as Cognitive Tools?
A solution to the problems of navigating and integrating information in hypermedia is not to think of hypermedia as a form of instruction to learn from, but rather to look at hypermedia as a tool for constructing and learning with (Jonassen, Myers & McKillop, 1996). In other words, we advocate the use of hypermedia as a cognitive tool. Learners may create multimedia databases that reflect their own perspectives on, or understanding of, ideas. Or learners may collaborate with other learners to develop a classroom or school hypermedia knowledge base. We contend that students are likely to learn more by constructing hypermedia instructional materials than by studying hypermedia created by others. Of course, hypermedia created by others (such as World Wide Web sites) can provide excellent resources for students in the process of creating their own hypermedia. Hypermedia and multimedia construction is predicated on the idea of knowledge as design (Perkins, 1986), which refocuses the educati
