The word “multimedia” has become popular since the 90s of the 20th century. Multimedia is a multicomponent environment that allows the use of text, graphics, video and animation. “Multimedia” means the ability to work with information in various forms, and not only in digital form, as with conventional computers. Multimedia computers allow you to play audio (music, speech, etc.), as well as video information (videos, animated films, etc.). Video effects can be represented by showing removable computer slides, cartoons, video clips, moving images and texts, changing the color and scale of the image, its flickering and gradual disappearance, etc.
Multimedia programs use a certain way of transmitting information:
the interaction of various information blocks (text, graphics, video fragments) through hyperlinks. Hyperlinks are presented in the form of specially designed text, or in the form of a specific graphic image.
Several hyperlinks can be placed on the screen at the same time, and each of them determines its own route. Interactivity, that is, the dialog mode of the user’s work with the source, in which he can independently choose the speed and sequence of its transmission that interests him.
The multimedia computer for training includes additional equipment: a CD-ROM drive, headsets, sound speakers. A special projector and screen are required for classroom demonstrations.
The use of multimedia programs in the classroom places high demands on the computer: memory capacity, sound-reproducing equipment, high-speed drive mode for CD-ROM or DVD-ROM.
Multimedia programs can not only improve the perception of the material being studied, reduce the amount of homework, they help to organize a survey in a test form in the classroom. The capabilities of multimedia programs allow you to overlay one image on another, thereby establishing cause-and-effect relationships.
Today, educational electronic multimedia publications on geography have been created from 6th grade to 10th grade, a library of electronic visual aids on geography from 6th grade to 10th grade, a multimedia guide for passing the Unified State Exam in geography, there are also multimedia collections of abstracts that students can use to prepare homework.
In geography lessons, you can not only use multimedia teaching aids developed by someone, but also create your own. There are programs that make this process much easier.
This opportunity is now available not only to those children who have a computer at home, but also thanks to the school Internet. After completing the task, the guys enthusiastically talk about the results of the work in the lesson, which causes a lot of questions and involves others in the conversation. Presentations created by students complement their response during oral presentations. To create a multimedia product, it is necessary not only to find the necessary information, but also to select it, discard unnecessary, analyze the information received, bring it into the system, and not mindlessly “download” it from the Internet. When independently creating a computer presentation, the student not only repeats the material he has passed, but also has the opportunity to learn a lot of new and interesting things about the phenomenon or subject being studied.
The increased productivity of computers has made possible the widespread use of multimedia technologies in teaching.
A wide visual range, the active inclusion of imaginative thinking in the educational process help the learner to perceive the proposed material holistically. The teacher has the opportunity to combine the presentation of theoretical information with the demonstration material.
Educational multimedia programs are used for frontal, group and individual classroom instruction, as well as for independent work at home. They offer a lot of individual customization options for the user: the student, mastering the educational material, sets the speed of study, the volume of the material and the degree of its difficulty.