CALMET 99 - Workshop C: Web-based instruction (introduction)

5. Getting interactive

The Web can be a means of delivering hypermedia documents but if it is used only in this way it is not a very interactive, dynamic vehicle for education and training. The technologies which allow it to become more interactive vary in their complexity and therefore in the experince you might need before using them. They are:

HTML including Imagemaps (standardised by the WWW Consortium)
CGI (standardised by the WWW Consortium)
JavaScript (originally developed by Netscape)
Java (originally developed by Sun Microsystems)

Each of these topics has had a libary of books written about it so there is plenty of information avaiable on the web. A good place to start when searching for any technological information is the Virtual Library of Web Development which contains tutorials and many other details on software. Another source is one of the many virtual bookstores such as Macmillans which offer a close look at technical books on-line before buying them.

Practice

Try out these different examples of interaction. Can you tell which techniques are used in this sample module on the Euro currency. After trying this, discuss the relative merits of each of these different types of interaction.