Making Values and Beliefs Explicit as a Tool for the Effective Development of Educational Multimedia Software - a Prototype

This paper puts forward a prototype process for the development of educational multimedia materials, which can help educational multimedia software developers produce more coherent and effective learning resources by making explicit the value/belief system on which the project is founded. The prototype is presented as an object and stimulus for debate and discussion, around the many issues it raises. The paper critically reviews some current models of educational multimedia software development with regard to the role of “values/beliefs” and discusses why there is a need for these factors to be taken into account. It particularly focuses on environmental issues and is more widely applicable to those subject areas which involve the teaching of “controversial issues”. The basic process put forward involves three steps: 1) identifying and agreeing a prioritized list of the core values and beliefs on which the project is based 2) using these to inform the specification/design process 3) using them as part of the evaluation/quality control process. The process is illustrated using a small number of examples and the paper ends by looking forward to a full trial of the prototype and suggestions for further work.