HyperCard…a venture into interactive multimedia

In the year of 1987, Apple begins shipping, with every Macintosh sold, a programming system and multimedia authoring tool.  It comes with ready to use template stacks to shorten the learning curve for beginning multimedia authors.  In HyperCard, projects called stacks, made up of cards, are created imitating a card filing system.  The cards can share the same background graphics, buttons and text.  Those cards and shared backgrounds also may contain graphic images, buttons and text fields.

The implications for education are extensive:  teachers will be able to adapt instructional materials to individual students’ learning styles.  In addition, they will be able to provide students with a vast amount of information to wade through or direct their learning toward specific topics.

In the spring of 1997, HyperCard was  to be released in an upgraded Version 3.0.  Previously, some of the features, including the lack of color, didn't always stay up-to-date.  Plans called for HyperCard serving as the control language for QuickTime, i.e. any HyperCard stack could be run standalone on any platform (Mac or Windows) that was running QuickTime.  Loyal users were disappointed to read that Apple had put  HyperCard's future on hold.  A posted message dated September 6, 1999 urged the users to begin a grass roots effort by writing letters to Apple requesting the company not to cancel the upgrade.
 

In the year of 2010, the e-Traapper is introduced to students as an "all-in-one school tool".  The design is similar to the Everybook Dedicated Reader which was created in 1999, but provides a multitude of tools to the learner.  On the left side of the 2 screen format is the reference/assignment component.  Provided are the typical reference tools of the day:  encyclopedia, dictionary, atlas and thesaurus.  Also included is a calculator.  The assignment module is an electronic Chandler’s assignment book.  On the right hand screen is a full featured word processor, a web browser and a view screen which enables the student to review teacher notes.  The word processor screen also acts like a “magic slate” where the student may also take notes using a stylus.  While the unit is charging overnite, by way of an infrared link, it is online downloading the latest assignments, updates and curricular materials.

The implications for education are extensive: Teacher and schools will, with great ease, be able to teach students who will possess all of the necessary tools in one package.  No longer will they have to leave a shoe on the teacher’s desk to insure the borrowed material is returned!

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