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As new users from the non-technical community are attracted to multimedia (MM) computing, it becomes necessary to design a convenient and easy-to-understand logical structure that facilitates data transfer from the MM data repository to MM applications. A recently introduced layered formalism, which describes MM applications in terms of the data that they employ, provides a structure that interfaces MM data with MM authoring. Such a formalism together with a database of MM data objects is a convenient development environment for the creation of a variety of reusable and portable educational multimedia. The Layered Multimedia Data Model (LMDM) consists of four layers: the data definition layer, the data manipulation layer, the data presentation layer, and the control layer. As many MM compositions have interactive components, the LMDM supports the capability to express the effects of user-interaction. The layered structure of the LMDM allows the developer to pick and choose, by tailoring his or her own development system through personalized selection of tools for each of the layers. Moreover, the extensive browsing and score-keeping features greatly expand the number of different teaching styles and teaching strategies that can be implemented using LMDM. Tutorials can be developed in LMDM, that not only use the student's score to determine areas that need review, but other tutoring programs can check to see what material has been mastered and what requires more study. (AEF)