have value outside of the school setting; in other words, it can be characterized as a vocational tool which teaches students to do meaningful work.
(8) Hypermedia can teach both students and teachers (when used by teachers as part of inservice education) to feel increasingly comfortable with the tools and methods of the Information Age.
(9) Hypermedia can be used to bring learning experiences and information which was previously unavailable to classroom students, e.g. through hypermedia students can go on a computerized "field trip" to Africa or some other exotic country.
(10) Hypermedia can be used by the educational system to increase the efficiency of operation and productivity of its schools.
Hypermedia: How It Is Currently Being Used in Education
Hancock and Betts (1994) have noted that one of the ways in which hypermedia is being effectively used in the classroom is in mathematics instruction. In this regard, the authors report that by connecting a calculator to a large video display device, students' understanding of mathematical concepts as well as their problem-solving skills can be increased.
Further, this form of hypermedia instruction in math is said to free students of the routine drudgery of rote computations. Of this freedom, the authors state:
As calculators and computers diminish the role of routine computation, school mathematics can focus instead on the conceptual insights and analytic skills that have always been at the heart of mathematics. (Hancock & Betts, 1994, pp. 24-25)
In other words, hypermedia is being used to allow teachers to more effectively teach mathematics and to allow students to more fully focus upon the crucial concepts that need to be understood in order to do mathematics.
The objective of teaching students not only information but also how to learn (learning to learn) has been a goal of educators for several decades. There is reason to believe that hypermedia may...