Literature, audio, and video acquired from the United States' Centers for Disease Control HIV and AIDS prevention initiative were used to develop the instructional content. Macromedia's Authorware was used to develop the interactive hypermedia instructional program. However, research that focuses hypermedia-based instruction and its relevance to cognitive learning theories is growing. Isolated facts and single perspective information inhibit their usefulness. Learners are actively responsible for the information retrieving process, since they are the ones to control their own instructional speed, amount of instruction viewed, and path forged based on their cognitive characteristics, styles, and needs.
Learners can annotate, modify, and delete stored information or create new information.
Thus, hypermedia systems foster cooperative learning. It incorporates text, graphics, video, sound, animation, and linkage between nodes of information. However, the development of effective hypermedia instruction must be based on theoretical and empirical research. The proceeding demonstrates how this interactive hypermedia program is grounded in research. The following exemplifies how learning strategy research was applied to the design of the cognitive tools and discusses their analogous relationship.