Developing effective hypermedia instructional materials

The use of hypermedia as an instructional medium is growing rapidly with developments and enhancements in instructional and computing technologies. Much of the popularity of the medium is derived from its capacity to convey large amounts of information to learners in structured and associated ways which promote student centred and independent learning. Recent developments in multimedia technologies and software, and enhanced networking facilities through the Internet, have led to new and exciting opportunities for hypermedia systems development. This paper provides an overview of the potential of hypermedia as an instructional medium and discusses research that has investigated learning outcomes. It provides an overview of instructional design considerations to guide developers and designers of hypermedia systems.