5,973 research outputs found
Browsing while reading: effects of instructional design and learners' prior knowledge
One of the key reasons that multimedia, and particularly hypertext systems, are gaining in importance is that they inspire hopes of optimizing learners' processes of knowledge construction. The present study is concerned with the respective influence of individual learner variables (i.e. particularly domainâspecific prior knowledge) on the use of different design attributes. Thirtyâsix university students worked through a hierarchically structured twoâpart hypertext about the psychology of memory under two experimental browsing conditions (reduced versus free browsing). Results show that deeperâlevel comprehension (i.e. structural knowledge) was predicted by the interaction of experimental condition and prior knowledge, but that simply retaining facts was not. Participants with low prior knowledge performed better on the comprehension test if they had worked on the version with reduced access. Moreover, the version with reduced access helped to reduce feelings of disorientation. The measure of disorientation also appeared to be closely linked with the individual's computer experience, selfâconcept of computer ability and subjectârelated interest. The main implications for educational practice relate to the design of an adaptive multimedia and hypertext learning system and the successful learning with it
Developing key concepts for the design of hypertext for printed books
In the modern world, computers and interactivity are becoming an ever-increasing phenomenon, but this means that the tactile appeal of the printed book is giving way to the increasing popularity of digital interactivity. This research explores how one of the integral concepts of computer interaction, hypertext, can be applied to the medium of print and the advantages that this can bring to the reading environment. The interaction used to read a printed book is different to that of reading material in an electronic form. Books are linear, moving forward, whereas electronic material is laterally associative. However, reading material in an electronic form, such as hypertext, allows the readers to customise and reorder knowledge for their own needs. In comparison, navigation of paper documents is aided by the information being fixed, and readers can easily refer to several documents simultaneously. The considerations that need to be made when combining the benefits of two such contrasting media needs careful attention. Six key design concepts applying hypertext methods to books are discussed to assist the production of effective reading media
Determination and evaluation of web accessibility
The Web is the most pervasive collaborative
technology in widespread use today; however,
access to the web and its many applications cannot
be taken for granted. Web accessibility encompasses
a variety of concerns ranging from societal,
political, and economic to individual, physical, and
intellectual through to the purely technical. Thus,
there are many perspectives from which web
accessibility can be understood and evaluated. In
order to discuss these concerns and to gain a better
understanding of web accessibility, an accessibility
framework is proposed using as its base a layered
evaluation framework from Computer Supported
Co-operative Work research and the ISO standard,
ISO/IEC 9126 on software quality. The former is
employed in recognition of the collaborative nature
of the web and its importance in facilitating
communication. The latter is employed to refine and
extend the technical issues and to highlight the need
for considering accessibility from the viewpoint of
the web developer and maintainer as well as the web
user. A technically inaccessible web is unlikely to be
evolved over time. A final goal of the accessibility
framework is to provide web developers and
maintainers with a practical basis for considering
web accessibility through the development of a set of
accessibility factors associated with each identified
layer
Reading a story. Different degrees of learning in different learning environments
he learning environment in which material is acquired may produce differences in delayed recall and in the elements that individuals focus on. These differences may appear even during development. In the present study, we compared three different learning environments in 450 normally developing 7-year-old children subdivided into three groups according to the type of learning environment. Specifically, children were asked to learn the same material shown in three different learning environments: reading illustrated books (TB); interacting with the same text displayed on a PC monitor and enriched with interactive activities (PC-IA); reading the same text on a PC monitor but not enriched with interactive narratives (PC-NoIA). Our results demonstrated that TB and PC-NoIA elicited better verbal memory recall. In contrast, PC-IA and PCNoIA produced higher scores for visuo-spatial memory, enhancing memory for spatial relations, positions and colors with respect to TB. Interestingly, only TB seemed to produce a deeper comprehension of the story's moral. Our results indicated that PC-IA offered a different type of learning that favored visual details. In this sense, interactive activities demonstrate certain limitations, probably due to information overabundance, emotional mobilization, emphasis on images and effort exerted in interactive activities. Thus, interactive activities, although entertaining, act as disruptive elements which interfere with verbal memory and deep moral comprehensio
Hypertext versus Footnotes: High School English Learnersâ Online Reading Recall
This study considers forty adolescent English Language Learners who read a passage online containing additional information available through either hypertext links or footnotes. Participants were attending a special high school for English learners at the time of the study. Two versions of the text were offered, one with hypertext and the other with footnotes, and participants were randomly assigned to the footnote or hypertext condition. Answers to multiple choice questions showed no significant difference between groups in recall of the reading under the two conditions, in contrast with an earlier study of learners in higher education settings whose recall of reading with hypertext was significantly lower than with footnotes. Learnersâ ratings of perceived comprehensibility of the 2 texts was also not significantly different. Additional interpretive data came from focus group interviews involving all of the participants
Flexibility and Interaction at a Distance: A Mixed-Model Environment For Language Learning
This article reports on the process of design and development of two language courses for university students at beginning levels of competence. Following a preliminary experience in a low-tech environment for distance language learning and teaching, and a thorough review of the available literature, we identified two major challenges that would need to be addressed in our design:
(1) a necessity to build sufficient flexibility into the materials to cater to a variety of learners' styles, interests and skill levels, therefore sustaining learners' motivation; and
(2) a need to design materials that would present the necessary requisites of authenticity and interactivity identified in the examined literature, in spite of the reduced opportunities for face-to-face communication.
In response to these considerations, we designed and developed learning materials and tasks to be distributed on CD-ROM, complemented by a WebCT component for added interactivity and task authenticity. Although only part of the original design was implemented, and further research is needed to assess the impact of our environment on learning outcomes, the results of preliminary evaluations are encouraging
The Impact Of Information Richness On Information Security Awareness Training Effectiveness
In recent years, rapid progress in the use of the internet has resulted in huge losses in many organizations due to lax security. As a result, information security awareness is becoming an important issue to anyone using theInternet. To reduce losses, organizations have made information security awareness a top priority. The threemain barriers to information security awareness are: (1) general security awareness, (2) employeesâ computerskills, and (3) organizational budgets. Online learning appears a feasible alternative to providing information security awareness and countering these three barriers. Research has identified three levels of security awareness: perception, comprehension and projection. This paper reports on a laboratory experiment thatinvestigates the impacts of hypermedia, multimedia and hypertext to increase information security awareness among the three awareness levels in an online training environment. The results indicate that: (1) learners who have the better understanding at the perception and comprehension levels can improve understanding at the projection level; (2) learners with text material perform better at the perception level; and (3) learners withmultimedia material perform better at the comprehension level and projection level. The results could be used by educators and training designers to create meaningful information security awareness material
Internet: Culture Diversity and Unification
Culture specifics of the Internet usage is analysed. The analysis done is a preliminary work for the application of the socio-historical theory of human mental development. The practice of the Internet usage is ambigious as it gives rise to both the unification and the diversity. The parameters analysed include the techniques of the hypertexts browsing,\ud
and the status/position/rank of the communicators - its influence on holding the floor and turntaking rules, the ways the emotions are expressed while Internet communication, and the way the English language serves the functions of world-wide medium
An Empirical Study on the Effectiveness of Multimedia Annotation to the News Listening Comprehension
With the continuous progress of science and technology, computers are more widely used in English teaching. In most English classes, computer aided learning and teaching has become an indispensable part of classroom activities. On the other hand, enhancing language skills through multimedia technologies become one of the scholarsâ concerns. English tests like College English Test (CET) is very popular among the Chinese mainland English learners, to whom the listening part is always the hardest section. Accordingly, how to improve their listening comprehension in the news section leaves us a hot debate in nowadays. For this purpose, through the investigation of how the news listening comprehension is subject to different modes of multimedia annotations, the paper tries to find out the correlation between the effectiveness of multimedia glossaries and listening comprehension of the Chinese mainland EFL learners and hopefully the study could inspire the language educators and other related professions
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