Combining interactivity and improved layout while creating educational software for the Web

Two major attributes influence a project aimed at developing educational software: user interactivity and graphic design. These two attributes are not easily found within the same development tool. Moreover, sometimes the development tool is either very expensive to acquire or too difficult to use. This article aims to present a solution to the creation of educational development tools which emphasize the conjunction between interactivity and graphic design. The authors propose a methodology based on Web technology and an association between the Java programming language and the authoring tool Flash. In addition to fostering interactivity, Java offers development packages at no cost. The authoring software Flash is inexpensive and allows the creation of finely crafted Web pages with graphic animations and sound editing. This article describes the methodology that enables the association between Java and Flash components. This methodology was conceived during the development of a structural analysis educational software product specially geared to undergraduate engineering students. In order to ensure the understanding of our proposal, a specific example was created, along with sample pages that illustrate this methodology.