Celsia: a new tool for asynchronous multimedia learning activities

The widespread use of information and communications technologies (ICT) has enabled many new forms of collaborative learning activities, which are based on the integration of communication/collaboration space with information access and organisation, within a commonly accessible hyperlinked environment. There is an increasing amount of research supporting the critical influence that the choice of communication technology can have on both the process and the product of collaborative learning. This paper presents the practical research outcomes in the field of asynchronous multimedia communication (AMC). AMC could be said to combine richness of multimedia representation and demonstrations of practice with the flexibility in the use of time for communication. The AMC is a rather new education medium and philosophy, still unexplored. This paper gives an overview of the AMC emphasizing on an innovative AMC tool, called Celsia, which is based on the modern techniques of Real Time Video on Demand (VoD) services and web-based discussion fora. This paper also presents various usage scenarios of the AMC for school education, language learning and the acquisition of practical knowledge.