Modeling and supporting the authoring process of multimedia simulation based educational software: A knowledge engineering approach

Traditionally, support for authoring educational software focuses on the au thoring process: the nature and sequence of the activities that must be per formed to deliver the required product. As a consequence, the methods that are used tend to have a strong linear flavor, which resembles the classical waterfall approach. Development strategies as currently used in software e ngineering shift the attention from activities to products (see De Hoog et al., 1994). A general implementation of this approach can be found in the C ommonKADS methodology (see Schreiber et al., 2000). The present article des cribes how this new development approach has influenced the design of an au thoring system for multi-media simulation based educational software, the S imquest authoring system.