GETTING TO GRIPS WITH INTERACTIVITY - HELPING TEACHERS ASSESS THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF CD-ROMS

Many commercial CD-ROMs are now being marketed as suitable for home an d school use, increasingly promoted as covering the National Curriculu m. However, such promises are failing to be realised because many CD-R OMS are poorly constructed, consisting simply of a mishmash of images, sounds and video that offer little more than light entertainment. The aim of this paper is to provide guidance on assessing the added value of educational CD-ROMs compared with traditional materials by explica ting more the notion of interactivity as it pertains to learning.