Intuitive Reasons for Excitement about Hypermedia.

I found this interesting article and thought it provided opportunities for discussion.

Christopher Dede and David Palumbo suggests that advocates of hypermedia pose several arguments for why it is a major advance over other media. The are articulated as:

• the associative, nonlinear nature of hypermedia mirrors the structure of human long-term memory, empowering both intelligence and coordination through intercommunication. (Hey this sounds good!).

• the capability of hypermedia to reveal and conceal the complexity of its content lessens the cognitive load on users of this medium, thereby enhancing their ability to assimilate and manipulate ideas.

• the structure of hypermedia facilitates capturing and communicating knowledge, as opposed to mere data.

• hypermedia's architecture enables distributed, coordinated interaction, a vital component of teamwork, organizational memory, and other "group mind"
Phenomena.

For these reasons alone the use of hypermedia should be incorporated into teaching and learning. I think it affords teachers to be creative in their lesson planning and great opportunities to enhance students learning.

I came across a multimdia physics site called hyperphysics. It shows what can be done with hypermadia.
The site is located at http://www.phy.mtu.edu/links/phytutorials.html