TECHNOLOGY : Different Views on Teaching Multimedia Software Know-How

While consumers may be flocking to stores to buy multimedia software, they may not be so eager to learn how to create it.

So says Michael Brinda, president of Santa Ana-based New Horizons Computer Learning Centers, which has 53 centers that train people how to use computers and software.

Brinda said his training centers geared up for the age of multimedia--software that combines video, text, sound and graphics--by offering classes last year on how to use programs such as Macromind Director, which supplies tools for people to create multimedia programs.

But the “multimedia club” classes bombed and turned Brinda off to the unfulfilled promise of multimedia. The centers still teach a variety of computer training, but not with as much concentration on multimedia alone.

“I’d say multimedia is a real job mirage,” he said. “We were pioneers there and tried and failed. It was a flop. We finally killed it. We teach classes on using certain tools, but we don’t teach programming. That’s something we leave to the vocational schools or colleges.”

But John C. Stebbins, a principal of the multimedia company Digital Vision Design & Automation in Irvine, disagrees. He will teach the UC Irvine Extension program’s first-ever classes entitled “Introduction to Multimedia” for the spring semester. The classes are aimed at the masses, not just techies.

“You can learn anything if you have the desire,” Stebbins said. “To some extent, it’s true that only a few people can master it. But the people who have the passion and desire will learn it.”

Stebbins says the existence of multimedia user clubs and graphic arts computer classes and universities proves that there is a growing thirst for multimedia know-how.

Stebbins’ classes will meet on Mondays, May 16 to June 20; Wednesdays, April 6 to May 4; and Tuesdays, April 5 to May 3. The classes will be from 7 to 10 p.m. on the UC Irvine campus. The cost is $325.