Multimedia means multi-tasking. (District plus: tips and ideas for successful district leadership).

Some educators say professional development is important to initiate multimedia projects. But students who have a knack for computers can act as teachers to other students.

"As long as one or two students are really exalted about it they will be key players and they will learn it in-depth," says Dan Van Antwerp, an English teacher at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Flemington, N.J., who teaches multimedia programs. "They will be able to teach other students. Even with my freshman, I will do a 15-minute introduction on PowerPoint and then they go ahead and play. Nine out of 10 times they learn by playing.... Most people learn by doing."

Van Antwerp adds that administrators should encourage an atmosphere that supports multimedia use. "You need two or three teachers that want to use it and that will get it rolling," Van Antwerp says. "In a lot of cases, the school has the equipment and only one person knows how to use it. It's that fear."

But Van Antwerp says the school also offers a Teachers Academy that includes courses on software and computer applications, such as how to create a Web site and how to use the Internet in the classroom. Teachers get credits for salary advancements or they get paid for taking such courses.