International Usability, Design Guidelines and Effectiveness of a World Wide Web-Based Instructional Program for High School Students in a Cross-Culture Learning Environment
The recent growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) has resulted in a vast array of on-line courseware and educational Web sites. Unfortunately, as a large percentage of this information is written in English, non-English speakers are unable to access it. Information written in other languages is likewise unavailable to many native English speakers. Therefore, in order to maximize the usefulness of educational material on the Web, it is necessary to design and implement cross-cultural, bilingual or multilingual Web sites and instructional programs.
This study was designed to contribute to the area of bilingual learning on the Web. The researcher developed and evaluated three types of mathematics courseware: an English-only version, a Japanese-only version, and a bilingual version. While both the bilingual and English-only courseware enabled Japanese students with a basic knowledge of English to learn both quadratic equations and mathematical terms in English, the research found that the bilingual version was the most effective courseware for learning both mathematics and English simultaneously. Formative and summative evaluations were conducted in order to improve the program and determine the effectiveness of the bilingual courseware. As the courseware was implemented and evaluated, design guidelines were generated and the issue of courseware usability was explored
