Summary - VLE - University of Leeds

Summary
Technology within education is becoming increasingly important, creating new ways for children to
learn. This project looks at many areas surrounding the development of a multimedia tutorial, from
the pedagogical issues that are supported and the benefits of multimedia within technology, to the best
way to determine an evaluation criterion against which to test the final program.
The overall aim of this project is to design and implement a multimedia tutorial system, which will
teach aspects of the Key Stage 3 curriculum. Its objectives are to develop a tutorial that: •
Is interactive
•
Has different types of media integrated within it
•
Displays differentiation
•
Teaches ICT in a helpful, enjoyable way.
To complete these objectives a number of issues were examined. This report contains: •
Research into pedagogy, multimedia in education, Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI), to able
me to understand the ways in which children learn and therefore recognise how educational
technology can be beneficial in teaching.
•
Research into Roundhay School’s ICT curriculum, existing types of tutorials, design
methodologies and HCI issues, to enable the design of an appropriate program to be produced.
•
A review of software tools to find the most suitable package with which to implement the system.
•
Research into expert’s evaluation guidelines, which would allow a suitable criterion to be
designed, with which to assess the final tutorial.
•
Research into various methods of gathering user requirements and a conclusion of the results
collected from the informants of Roundhay School, to aid the design process.
•
Testing material, which the pupils and head ICT teacher from Roundhay School would use to
assess the tutorial.
•
A complete evaluation of Illuminatus OPUS Pro, to aid other students who may be considering
using this authoring package.
•
A full evaluation and conclusion of the tutorial, including ideas about future developments.
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Acknowledgements
Firstly I wish to thank my project supervisor Ann Roberts, who was always there to guide me through
the course of the project and give support when I needed it. I greatly appreciate her help in finding a
school, which was willing to let its pupils and head ICT teacher assist me in the development of the
tutorial.
I wish to express my complete gratitude to David Parkinson and the pupils from classes 7M, 7D and
7K, who contributed to the initial design and testing of the tutorial. They gave me valuable feedback
and criticism that was of enormous assistance, allowing me to thoroughly evaluate the tutorial and
recognise areas where there was room for future developments.
I also would like to extend my appreciation to Vania Dimitrova for giving me access to the CBL
library.
Finally I wish to thank my parents who were there to support me during the whole project.
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Contents
Chapter 1 – Introduction
1
1.1
The Project Overview ……………………………………………………………...
1
1.2
Aims and Requirements …………………………………………………………...
2
1.3
Schedule and Milestones …………………………………………………………..
2
Chapter 2 – Background Research
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
4
Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) ……………………………………………
4
2.1.1
Educational Theories and Pedagogical Issues………………………………
4
2.1.2
Advantages of CAI …………………………………………………………
5
2.1.3
Disadvantage of CAI ……………………………………………………….
6
2.1.4
Effectiveness of CAI ……………………………………………………….
6
Multimedia and its Role in Education ……………………………………………
6
2.2.1
Strengths of Multimedia ……………………………………………………
7
Tutorial Overview ………………………………………………………………….
8
2.3.1
Roundhay School …………………………………………………………...
8
2.3.2
Why ICT? ……………………………………………………………….….
9
2.3.3
Roundhay’s ICT Curriculum ……………………………………………….
9
2.3.4
The Tutorial Content ………………………………………………………..
10
2.3.5
Revisions to the Tutorial Content …………………………………………..
10
2.3.6
Delivery Medium of the Tutorial …………………………………………...
11
Evaluation Criteria for the Tutorial ………………………………………………
11
2.4.1
Introduction ………………………………………………………….……...
11
2.4.2
Determining an Evaluation Criteria ……………………...…………………
11
Examining Existing Tutorials ………………………………..……………………
12
2.5.1
The Tutorials ………………………………………………………….…….
13
2.5.2
Conclusions …………………………………………………………………
15
Chapter 3 – Methods / Approaches
3.1
16
Review of Methodologies …………………………………………………………..
16
3.1.1
16
Evaluating Methodologies ……………………………………………..…...
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3.1.2
3.2
The Chosen Methodology …………………………………………………..
18
Software Evaluation ………………………………………………………………..
18
3.2.1
Criteria for Assessing Software Packages ………………………………….
18
3.2.2
Review of Authoring Packages ……………………………………………..
19
3.2.3
Review of Alternative Software Tools ……………………………………..
22
3.2.4
Conclusions …………………………………………………………………
23
Chapter 4 – Design
4.1
24
Initial Research ……………………………………………………………………..
24
4.1.1
Interview with ICT Teacher to Research Problem …………………………
24
4.1.2
Investigations with the Pupils ……………………………………………....
24
4.1.3
Results from Research ……………………………………………………...
25
4.2
Content ……………………………………………………………………………...
26
4.3
The Interface ……………………………………………………………………….
26
4.3.1
HCI issues ……………………………………………………………….….
26
4.3.2
Storyboards …………………………………………………………………
28
4.3.3
The Design ………………………………………………………………….
29
Design of Testing Material ………………………………………………………...
32
4.4.1
Design of Testing Material for the Children ………………………………..
32
4.4.2
Design of Testing Material for the Teacher ………………………………...
32
4.4
Chapter 5 – Implementation / Development
33
5.1
Hardware/Software ………………………………………………………………...
33
5.2
The Tutorial ………………………………………………………………………...
33
5.3
Problems that Occurred …………………………………………………………...
35
5.4
Tutorial Use Guide …………………………………………………………………
36
Chapter 6 – Testing and Evaluation
6.1
6.2
37
Evaluation of Illuminatus ………………………………………………………….
37
6.1.1
Digital Workshop …………………………………………………………...
37
6.1.2
Illuminatus OPUS Pro ………………………………………………………
37
6.1.3
Reflections on Illuminatus OPUS Pro ………………………………………
37
Testing the Tutorial ………………………………………………………………..
40
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6.3
6.2.1
The Testing Scenario ……………………………………………………….
40
6.2.2
Testing the Children – Analysis and Results ……………………………….
40
6.2.3
Testing the Teacher – Analysis and Results ………………………………..
43
6.2.4
Summary of Results ………………………………………………………...
45
Evaluating the Tutorial …………………………………………………………….
46
6.3.1
Conclusions …………………………………………………………………
46
6.3.2
Reflections on the Use of Informant Design ………………………………..
47
Chapter 7 – Future Development
48
7.1
Improving the Tutorial – Minor Changes ………………………………………..
48
7.2
Improving the Tutorial – Larger Changes ……………………………………….
49
Chapter 8 – References
51
Appendix A – Reflections of the Project Experience and Meeting Objectives/Aims
54
Appendix B – Schedule Timeline for the Project
56
Appendix C – QCA Key Stage 3 Schemes of Work for ICT
58
Appendix D – Full Evaluation Criteria
59
Appendix E - A full Tutoring System (Ritter and Koedinger, 1996)
62
Appendix F – Methodological Framework (Scaife et. al., 1997)
63
Appendix G – Adapted Methodological Framework
65
Appendix H – Summary of Initial Research Questionnaire with Pupils
67
Appendix I – The Tutorial Content
68
Appendix J – Worksheet/Questionnaire used for Testing the Children
75
Appendix K – Questionnaire used for Testing David Parkinson
77
Appendix L – Tutorial User Guide
80
Appendix M – Summary Table of the Pupil Responses to the Testing Questionnaire
81
Appendix N – Examples of Completed Questionnaires Pupils and David Parkinson
83
Appendix O – Reference Letter from Roundhay School
93
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Chapter 1 - Introduction
1.1 The Project Overview
Pupils from Roundhay School at Key Stage 3 are currently taught Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) using topic booklets. This project aims to investigate Computer Assisted
Instruction (CAI) within education and discover whether multimedia tools are successful in helping
children to learn. An interactive, multimedia tutorial will then be developed, which will aim to assist
in the teaching of ICT in a more enjoyable way.
To assist in the reading of this project an overview of each chapter follows: After the introduction, Chapter 1 will outline the aims and objectives that the project hopes to fulfil. A
schedule will be included, which shows how the project was planned in order to reach the intended
goal, incorporating milestones.
Chapter 2 will look at the role of CAI within education and its effectiveness, based on current
educational theories. The strengths of multimedia within this context will also be assessed. It will go
on to introduce Roundhay School and its curriculum, explaining why the subject of ICT was chosen.
Any revisions made to the tutorial content will at this point be justified. An investigation of current
tutorial programs will be undertaken, to use as a reference for the development of this multimedia
tutorial. Finally an evaluation criterion will be established, against which the final tutorial will be
tested to show whether it has fulfilled its requirements.
In Chapter 3 the methods and approaches that must be employed to develop a successful multimedia
tutorial, will be reviewed. After presenting a general assessment of software methodologies, the most
suitable choice for developing educational multimedia software will be identified. Through research,
evaluation guidelines will be devised that will be used to compare different authoring and software
packages. This will determine the most appropriate tool with which to implement the tutorial.
Chapter 4 will discuss initial research carried out with the pupils and head ICT teacher of Roundhay
School. The results of which will be used to aid in the design of the tutorial. After that, the content of
the tutorial will be clarified and investigations into HCI issues which influence the design of the
software, will be presented. Testing material based on the evaluation criterion will be developed to
allow the final product to be analysed.
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The implementation will be documented in Chapter 5, including the difficulties which occurred whilst
developing the software.
Finally, Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 of the report will consider the testing and evaluation of the tutorial
and show the conclusions drawn from the results. An in-depth examination of the authoring package
used to implement the software will be carried out. Future developments will also be proposed which
consider improvements to the final product.
1.2 Aims and Requirements
The main aim of this project is to design and implement a multimedia tutorial system, which will teach
some aspects of the Key Stage 3 ICT curriculum. The tutorial will teach contents as discussed with a
local ICT teacher. Key issues for investigation are the effectiveness of CAI, pedagogy and the process
involved with developing an application.
The requirements are: •
To develop a working system which will teach parts of the ICT curriculum at Key Stage 3 level, as
required after discussion with a local ICT teacher
•
To research pedagogy, CBL and HCI issues, to enable an appropriate system to be produced.
•
To research the various tools available to gather user requirements using the appropriate methods
to describe them.
•
To research software tools to find the most suitable package with which to implement the system.
•
To evaluate the product once implemented, using a suitable criteria
1.3 Schedule and Milestones
The schedule for the project consisted of one timeline and five milestones see Appendix B.
Reaching the first milestone (Dec 2001) involved completing a literature background research, where
Computer Assisted Instruction, pedagogical issues and multimedia in education were examined. This
would allow me to address the issues involved in the development of a successful educational tool and
understand how a multimedia tutorial could aid the learning of children. This phase included
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gathering user requirements, which would aid the design process of the tutorial. An evaluation
criterion was also defined, which would influence the design and evaluation of the tutorial.
Getting to the next milestone (Jan 2002) entailed looking into HCI issues and software methodologies.
These were important factors that would influence the design of the tutorial that would meet the need
of its target users. The content of the tutorial was also addressed, to investigate which parts of the
tutorial were going to be interactive or non-interactive demos.
The next milestone (Mar 2002) was to design and implement the tutorial and this proved to be the
most time consuming phase of the project. A working multimedia tutorial was produced, which could
then be evaluated.
Testing and evaluating the tutorial was the penultimate milestone (April 2002) of the project and was a
very important stage. It supplied me with constructive feedback from the testers, allowing a complete
evaluation of the tutorial. This allowed me to understand how the tutorial could be improved and
developed in the future.
The final milestone (April 2002) was the completion of the project write up.
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Chapter 2 - Background Research
2.1 Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI)
The idea of integrating new technologies in the classroom is not a new concept. Throughout education
there have been numerous developments to aid learning, some of which have lived up to expectations,
others however have not been so successful. Before the 1980’s it would have been unusual to find a
computer in many schools, however today it would be expected that each classroom would have at
least one. In 1982 the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced its hardware scheme for
primary schools. By the time it ended in 1984, 24 000 computers had been provided, one to virtually
every primary school in the UK (Straker & Govier, 1997). It wasn’t until 1997 that the government
announced plans to part-fund the National Grid for Learning, a huge network that linked 32,000
schools across the country. “It aims to raise standards and give students the information and
communication technology skills required for a knowledge economy” (Cole, 2001).
With the development of technologies, especially the Internet, Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) is
the new concept that aims to aid or substitute some aspects of teaching. There are many different
terms to describe the software used for educational purposes, for example Computer Based Learning
(CBL), Computer Assisted Learning (CAL), Computer Based Instruction (CBI) and Computer Based
Training (CBT). For the purpose of this paper I will use CAI.
2.1.1
Educational Theories and Pedagogical Issues
Though many different types of media have been around and available to schools for a long time, the
educational revolution that would ‘reform’ teaching methods, never seemed to happen. Mayes (2000)
argues that the reason the influence of technology on education was not greater, was due to an overall
misunderstanding about learning,
“This (the ‘pedagogical heresy’) is the pervasive idea that the way in which information is presented
to learners is somehow all important ” (Mayes, 2000).
There are two educational theories that have had important effects on technology in education,
Constructivism and Objectivism. The following extract is taken from Reeves (1997) who summarises
these theories.
Objectivism
•
Knowledge exists separate from knowing.
•
Reality exists regardless of the existence of sentient beings.
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•
Humans acquire knowledge in an objective manner through the senses.
•
Learning consists of acquiring truth and learning can be measured precisely with tests.
Constructivism
•
Knowledge does not exist outside the bodies and minds of human beings.
•
Although reality exists independently, what we know of it is individually constructed.
•
Humans construct knowledge subjectively, based on prior experience and metacognitive
processing or reflection.
•
Learning consists of acquiring viable assertions or strategies that meet one's objectives.
•
At best, learning can be estimated through observations and dialogue.
In the past Objectivist methods and theories about the nature of acquiring and validating knowledge,
played a greater part in determining the role of computers in education. However Reeves & Harmon
(1994) propose a table of “Old and new pedagogical dimensions”, in which it is stated that
Constructivism is now the new epistemology. It “calls for a multiplicity of perspectives so that
learners have a full range of options from which to construct their own knowledge” (Reeves, 1997).
The idea of Learner Control allows the student to make decisions about which paths to follow through
an interactive environment and in which order to study the material. This view offers greater
opportunities for CAI and computing within education, for it supports and can encourage self-directed
exploration of an environment. A Constructivist’s idea of learning is to motivate an individual and
subsequently cause them to assign meaning to their past cognitive experiences.
2.1.2
Advantages of CAI
There are many different types of CAI, those that supplement the learning situation and those that
substitute for other forms of teaching; they can both be done through the use of tools such as tutorials,
games, simulation or drills. CAI can be used in any aspect of teaching, whether in industry to train
employees in new fields, (generally referred to as Computer Based Training (CBT)), or at university to
aid distance learning. However Spalter and Simpson (2000) state “the classroom remains the primary
venue for education and is likely to remain important into the foreseeable future”.
Probably one of the widely accepted and valuable assets of CAI, is the individual interactivity that is
available through its usage, which aids learning tremendously. When using any form of CAI, it is
impossible for a student to remain passive within the situation, for it is the student controlling the
software, be it anything from a game to a drill and the very involvement of this activity facilitates
learning.
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According to Geoff Drever (2001), a head teacher at Roundhay School, differentiation is the newest
“buzzword” in education, meaning the option to take many different paths to reach the same goal and
a great advantage of CAI is that it allows this to happen. A student for example, may proceed through
a tutorial at his own learning pace, which is especially profitable for both gifted and slower learners.
Many CAI tools, especially those that use multimedia, also allow for the user to choose the order in
which he wishes to learn the material. This enables a decision making process to be made regarding
which route to take, based on the learning possibilities available to the user from where they are
currently situated in a learning environment. Chambers and Sprecher (1980) state that this should
“result in more effective learning, according to the established theories of instruction”.
2.1.3
Disadvantage of CAI
There are few disadvantages of using a CAI approach to teaching, the main being the difficulties that
teachers and other educators have with accepting relatively untried methods in which they have no
personal area of expertise. This according to Chambers and Sprecher (1980) “arouses considerable
fear and antipathy owing to its heavy technological base”
The high cost of hardware and software is also an issue relating to CAI that is disadvantageous,
however when used to enrich or as a substitute for learning, it can be cost saving.
2.1.4
Effectiveness of CAI
Different investigators will define the effectiveness of CAI in different ways. To some it means the
degree of retention of information, to others it means the amount of learning that initially takes place.
Many are concerned with the change of attitude that the learner has towards a computer as an
instructional medium. It has been proven however, that CAI in many cases can improve the skills of
students. Chambers and Sprecher (1980) discuss the Chicago City Schools Project carried out in
America during 1971, which provided tutorial lessons in mathematics and reading to thousands of
inner city schools. The project is still continuing today and has had significant results; for example it
has increased the average reading ability from 5.4 months per 10 months of classroom teaching, to 9
months per 8 months of tutorial instruction.
2.2 Multimedia and its Role in Education
Multimedia holds great opportunities to improve the quality of education. It is defined most
appropriately by Schwier & Misanchuk (1993) when they state “multimedia is instructional, multisourced, segmented, intentionally designed, and coherent”. Multimedia is the use of sound, text,
video, graphics, animation and images to convey information and it is increasingly being used to
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provide Computer Aided Instruction. Najjar (1996) states that the great success of multimedia comes
down to the fact that, “people enjoy multimedia, prefer multimedia learning materials, and believe
that multimedia helps them learn”.
Najjar (1996) discussed the results of the meta-analyses, which examined over 200 studies that
compared the learning of information through traditional classroom techniques and using multimedia
CAI. The results found that when information was presented via multimedia CAI, learning was higher
than when it was presented through traditional classroom methods.
For these reasons I decided to research further into the strengths of multimedia to decide how it can
benefit children within education and be used within my project.
2.2.1
Strengths of Multimedia
•
Mixed Media
•
User Control
•
Visualisation
•
Time Flexibility
•
Simulations
Mixed Media
The Dual Coding Theory proposed by Paivio (1986), states that humans deal with both language and
non-verbal actions simultaneously. Information is processed through one of two channels, a verbal
that deals with information such as text and audio and a non-verbal that handles information like
illustrations and environmental sounds. One big advantage of multimedia is that it allows for
Referential processing. This was summarised by Dabbagh (1999) as the simultaneous receiving of
information though both channels, which is then cross-activated in the two different memory areas.
This type of learning generally gives highest learning levels (Najjar, 1996). This was demonstrated in
a study carried out by Severin (1967) where animal name recognition in children, was highest when
they were given a picture of the animal at the same time as hearing a recording of its name (non-verbal
and verbal). This makes multimedia CAI one of the most beneficial tools for presenting information
through verbal and non-verbal channels, to encourage the highest learning levels.
User Control
There are many different types of multimedia packages that support the teaching of education, from
passively guided direction in constructed environments, through to adventure games and simulation.
One of the greatest benefits of these applications is the ways in which they teach, allowing for both
interactivity and differentiation in learning. We can place the user in a variety of contexts and then
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give them multiple views of the learning process, through which they can then come to comprehend
the world. They are forced to interact with the application as the content or direction of the program
changes in response to their input. As documented by Nulden (1999), Kendall et. al. looked at a
hypertext based Interactive Multimedia case, compared to a traditional case. They found “the use of
hypertext allowed students to navigate through the organisation, interviewing and examining
documents in the order they prefer rather than in the pre-described linear fashion.” (Nulden, 1999).
Visualisation
Multimedia software can be used to explain concepts that can be difficult to teach by conventional
methods. It can offer a way to visualise complex, abstract, dynamic or microscopic processes, which
would otherwise be impossible to comprehend. It also allows representation of 3D images
Time Flexibility
Multimedia packages can be used at a student’s own pace and in their own time when they wish to
learn. This benefits both slower and faster learners and also allows the user to repeat the lesson as
many times as they wish.
Simulations
In subjects that are hindered by the need for complex and expensive equipment to perform processes,
Multimedia packages can simulate these procedures, allowing a student to train how to do a
dangerous, expensive or difficult task.
2.3 Tutorial Overview
2.3.1
Roundhay School
Roundhay High School currently has about 1450 students on roll and is “massively over-subscribed
with first preferences” (Parkinson, 2002). Set in 24 acres of parkland, it comprises of 4 main
buildings, of which ‘The Mansion’ houses its new Learning Resource Centre and ICT Suite.
"Relationships between pupils and adults and amongst pupils and students themselves are very good".
"There is a strong sense of community within the school which embraces pupils from a wide range of
ethnic and social backgrounds" (OFSTED, 1999).
Roundhay seemed a perfect school on which to base my project research on. It comprises of students
from a wide social and ethnic background, therefore inevitably the pupils would have a mixed range of
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abilities. The pupils would benefit greatly from a multimedia tutorial, which they could work through
at their own pace and where they could choose their own paths to reach specific learning goals.
2.3.2
Why ICT?
It was decided to design and implement a Multimedia Tutorial that would teach aspects of the
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Key Stage 3 curriculum to pupils. I chose the
subject of ICT for several reasons.
•
Taking a Computing Degree, I would know the subject matter of the modules that the pupils
would have to take. It would therefore be easier and would produce a more successful result, to
design and implement a Multimedia Tutorial that taught this area.
•
Information Technology is a relatively new subject in education compared to others such as
English. It therefore makes sense that it is an area that would more likely need more support in
being taught.
•
Due to Roundhay’s recently addition of a new ICT suite (27 networked PC’s with shared CD
ROM facilities and increased Internet access), it seemed appropriate to emphasise the importance
of technology in education by concentrating on the ICT curriculum.
2.3.3
Roundhay’s ICT Curriculum
Roundhay’s ICT curriculum for Key Stage 3 is based on the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
(QCA) schemes of work, though perhaps not so adventurous. Key Stage 3 covers children from year 7
to year 9 (aged 12 – 14 years old), therefore the modules that are taught in ICT span a wide level of
abilities, where each year builds on the former to gather a greater understanding of the subject.
After initial discussions with David Parkinson, the head ICT teacher from Roundhay School, it was
decided a Multimedia Tutorial would be best suited to year 7. It is where the pupils are introduced to
many of the basic concepts of computing. This is supported by research showing that Multimedia
seems most effective for students who have little prior knowledge in the domain being learned, “this is
because the multimedia help low domain knowledge learners to connect the new knowledge to prior
knowledge” (Najjar, 1996).
The modules that are covered in year 7 of the ICT curriculum are: •
Introduction to PowerPoint
•
E-mail
•
Internet Introduction
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•
DTP introduction
•
Databases introduction
•
Word Basic
Currently the ICT curriculum is taught from booklets, which introduce the pupils to each topic. They
comprise of information about each topic and instructions that must be followed whilst using the
application. The pupils are then assessed through answering questions and carrying out tasks. After
each booklet has been completed, a project is normally set that is based on the topic that has just been
studied.
2.3.4
The Tutorial Content
After examining the work carried out by another student who developed a 2 day course in Computer
Based Design and Presentation Skills (Haggerty, 1998), it was decided that her ideas of integrating
separate skills into one complete project, would also work well for the Multimedia tutorial. That way
several aspects of the year 7 Key Stage 3 curriculum could be covered and give the pupils a chance to
really get used to using the Multimedia Tutorial.
I decided that the topics that were most suitable to integrate were: •
Internet Introduction
•
Word Basics
•
Introduction to PowerPoint
The Multimedia Tutorial would include a project option, which would collate the pupil’s knowledge
of the topics, so that they would be working in a staged process, leading to an achievable output. The
project option would be used after the pupil had completed all sections of the tutorial. It would ask
them to think of a subject that interested them and search for information related to it using the World
Wide Web (WWW). This would then be the basis for a presentation with handouts, which could be
completed in pairs to integrate group skills into the experience. The pupils would be asked to design a
presentation on the given subject using PowerPoint. This could be presented to the teacher and
perhaps the class too, if the pupils wished. Word would then be used to allow the pupils to create
handouts for the presentation. This type of project ties in with Units 1, 2 and 3 of the QCA curriculum
that the school follows, which can be found in Appendix C.
2.3.5
Revisions to the Tutorial Content
After discussions with David Parkinson, it was decided that the tutorial would be designed using three
topics from Roundhay Schools curriculum, Word basics, Internet introduction and introduction to
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PowerPoint. It would also have project option that would provide collaboration of the three topics.
However as the implementation of the tutorial proceeded, it became clear that with the time
restrictions imposed on the project, it would not be possible to successfully implement all three topics
to a high standard. The length of time that it took to implement each section of the topics took far
longer than initially envisaged. It was therefore agreed that instead of attempting to implement the
whole tutorial as in the initial design, a better alternative was to build only the Word and Internet
topics and the project option.
2.3.6
Delivery Medium of the Tutorial
After discussion with David Parkinson, it was decided that the tutorial would be delivered as a
CDROM rather than as a web-based program, as it was being specifically designed for Roundhay
School. A stand-alone program could be installed on Roundhay Schools network and be part of the
Year 7 desktop profile, which was only accessible to that age group. This would also prevent
congestion problems that could occur, when a whole class simultaneously tried to access the tutorial
on the World Wide Web (WWW). It also prevented problems involved with downloading large media
files from the WWW.
2.4 Evaluation Criteria for the Tutorial
2.4.1
Introduction
Evaluation is an important part of software development. Using an Informant design methodology as
discussed in 3.1, the user is asked to evaluate the design prototypes of a system, to find out if it meets
the user requirements. This kind of evaluation is summative and subsequently helps developers make
decisions on what to change and what works in a prototype. Evaluation must also be constant
throughout the design process in a formative sense, to guide development and identify difficulties that
arise. This is an iterative process, as the designer get closer and closer to the final working system.
2.4.2
Determining an Evaluation Criteria
Many theories and models have been developed, proposing separate evaluation criteria for different
projects. Kennedy et. al. (1998) outline an evaluation criterion, based on the common features of
many evaluation approaches from experts such as Hannafin & Peck and Reeves & Harmon, who have
provided much focus and attention to evaluation of CAI software. A formative evaluation was thus
classified in to three categories, Instructional and Conceptual Design, Interface and Graphic Design
and User Attitudes and Affect. These categories will be used to form the evaluation criteria, against
which the tutorial will be assessed. Alberta Learning (2001) has standards, which are used as generic
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guidelines for the production and evaluation of multimedia products, will also contribute towards this
criterion. The full criteria can be found in Appendix D.
Instructional and Conceptual Design
The following summarises the evaluation concepts of Kennedy et. al (1998). The Instructional and
Conceptual Design domain is made up of five criteria; Introductory Objectives and Directions;
Navigation and Orientation; Interactivity; Sequencing; Consistency between Learning Objectives and
Content of Instruction.
Introductory Objectives and Directions, is an important feature, for it is believed that new
information is learnt quicker when it is combined with previously held knowledge. This means that
within the tutorial, introducing background information about that area increases the potential for
learning.
Navigation and Orientation, allows the user to move within the program, so they can establish their
position and be aware of which paths will lead to required information.
Interactivity, can take several forms, from simple questions based on the content the user has just
been learning about, to manipulating the user interface in a specified way. It encourages a deeper way
of learning, where the user must concentrate on a task in order to proceed through the program,
causing them to reflect on the information they have just been presented.
Sequencing, relates to the flow of information presented to the user, it must be done in a logical order
that makes sense.
Consistency between Learning Objectives and Content of Instruction, refers to making sure the
introductory objectives are met through the content of the package.
Interface and Graphic Design
Interface and Graphic Design is concerned with the visual aspect of the program, where a complex
interface must be balanced against distracting the user. Evaluation criteria for this aspect of the
program looks at features of the interface such as colour, types of media, animation, graphics,
audibility, etc. These can then be evaluated by looking at usability, consistency, structure, relevancy,
usefulness and co-ordination. These features can also be evaluated though principles of ‘best practice’,
which are rules that have been determined though previous research, such as “it is generally accepted,
that dark fonts should be used on light backgrounds” (Kennedy et. al., 1998).
User Attitudes and Affect
User Attitudes and Affect is the final category, which considers the users perception of the program
either at a high level looking at it as a whole, or at a lower level evaluating elements of the program.
Issues such as usability, efficiency and enjoyability are broached to determine this.
- 12 -
2.5 Examining Existing Tutorials
The multimedia tutorial would be used to teach pupils from Roundhay School, how to use an
application (Microsoft Word) and a service (the Internet). Existing programs that tutored similar
topics were therefore reviewed, to see how the subject was taught.
2.5.1
The Tutorials
A tutorial can be developed to many different levels, depending on the user requirements and intended
learning objectives. As a set of instructions with screenshots about the application/service, a tutorial
would be quite a basic level program. It could advise the user how to complete a task, with the use of
graphics aiding the instructions. However as a plug-in tutor for an existing application, a tutorial
could be more complex; monitoring the user as they carried out a task and presenting appropriate
feedback.
Online Word Tutorial with Live Animation - (http://www.isds.bus.lsu.edu/cvoc/learn/introit/word/)
This online tutorial, produced by the Centre for Virtual Organisation and Commerce, contains many
different knowdules that are hyperlinks to a wide selection of tutorials, such as Microsoft Office
Basics, Word Tutorial 1, etc. Once a knowdule has been picked, a list of topics that can be further
selected appears. The current browser window is then closed and a vertical instruction panel is
opened, which explains how to complete a particular task. Each instruction panel also has a Quick
Way explanation as well as an Animation option that plays a demo of that task being carried out. If the
animation option is selected, another window appears to enable the demo to be viewed, see figure 2-1.
Animation
Window
Instruction
Window
Figure 2-1 Screenshot of the online Word Tutorial
Instructions coupled with either screenshots of the application or live animation, seem to be a
reasonably standard type of online tutorial. As research has shown in section 2.2.1, mixed media can
- 13 -
improve learning. Therefore the use of verbal written instruction and non-verbal material, preferably
animation, makes these tutorials quite effective.
Online Internet Tutorial with Screenshots - (http://www.worldsofsearching.org)
The Worlds of Web Searching is a web search facility designed for children, with an in-built tutorial,
see figure 2-2.
Figure 2-2 screenshot of an Internet Tutorial
It is made up of linked web-pages that contain instructions on how to carry out different types of
searches such as Sorted Subject, Boolean and Keyword. Screenshots are used in appropriate situations
to aid explanations. This tutorial, like the online Word tutorial uses mixed media and is therefore
quite effective, though it lacks the impact of animation. It uses large text that is easy to read and the
hyperlinks used for navigation purposes, use consistent underlined blue text.
A Plug-in Tutoring Agent
It was not possible for a plug-in tutorial to be tested and analysed, however Ritter and Koedinger
(1996) discuss the issues in building a learning environment, which incorporates an intelligent tutoring
program with existing software. They state that a learning environment for children should be able to
carry out certain functions; for example monitoring user actions and subsequently giving feedback to
the user through text/image/modifications of the existing software display.
They define the four parts of a full tutoring system as: A tool – software that is used to perform learning tasks in a specific domain.
A tutoring agent – software that monitors the users progress using the tool through the guidance of
semantic-level detail. It checks the user is doing tasks correctly and provides appropriate feedback.
A translator – provides communication by translating semantic-level detail between the tool and the
tutoring agent.
- 14 -
A Curriculum manager – decides which task should be presented to the user next.
A fuller description of a full tutoring system can be found in Appendix E.
Using Microsoft Excel as the tool, Ritter and Koedinger (1996) discuss the implementation of
designing a tool-tutor for solving algebra problems. Excel’s customisation mechanisms allowed them
to create a front-end to Excel called pseudo-Excel, which was identical to the application. Any
operation that was performed by the user in this interface produced an AppleEvent, (a semantic-level
detail), which was sent to the tutoring agent and described the user’s actions. Excel which is fully
scriptable through Applescript, allowed appropriate feedback to be sent from the tutor to the front-end,
which instructed it to do something, for example highlight a cell.
This type of tutoring system is very effective, for it intelligently guides the user through a task. It can
be designed to provide feedback after a request or through identification of an opportunity. The
feedback produced can be anything from displaying a message window to advise the user, to undoing
an action that has been wrongly executed.
2.5.2
Conclusions
After examining the different types of tutorials, it was decided that the plug-in tutoring agent would be
very successful to teach an application to children. It allowed the user to operate the actual application
to complete a specific task, guiding them appropriately until its completion. Interactivity was
supported, as was user control. However as the tutorial was designed to give feedback to the user,
rather than showing them how to do a task, it would not support mixed media in a very prominent
way. Also with the time constraints placed on this project, it would not be feasible to design and
implement a tutorial that could interact with Word in this way. Moreover it would be impossible to
develop a tutoring agent that interacted with the Internet through the use of semantic-level detail, in
the same way it did with an application. The Word and Internet tutorials, made up from instructions
boxes and screenshots/animation, had much potential for teaching children how to use both an
application like Word and a service like the Internet. It was however quite basic in its approach to
teaching and would not allow for much interaction with the pupil.
It was therefore decided that the tutorial would be developed as an independent program. The Word
section would mimic parts of the application, combining live demonstrations, with interactive
elements that allowed the pupil to operate the tutorial like it was Word. As the pupils would need to
search the WWW, this part of the tutorial could not be developed to mimic the Internet in the same
way as the Word section. It would therefore instruct the pupil to complete tasks on the WWW and use
questions to monitor their progress.
- 15 -
Chapter 3 - Methods / Approaches
3.1 Review of Methodologies
Multimedia applications are more frequently appearing in all aspects of our lives, from education to
entertainment. As technology improves, developers can produce more stunning, complex software.
However design methodologies do not appear to have developed at the same speed, with vastly
differing opinions existing between HCI specialists and Software Engineers, on what kind of
methodologies are suited to developing multimedia applications. The former prefer to resist defining a
specific process and the later prefer formal methods.
3.1.1
Evaluating Methodologies
It is clear however that many current methodologies do not fulfil the requirements needed to develop
interactive, user oriented applications. For example one of the most well known methodologies is the
Waterfall Methodology, which involves 6 steps from System Engineering, Analysis and Design, to
Code, Testing and finally Maintenance. It identifies the main steps that a software engineer would
follow to develop, produce and support an application. Though this methodology is not a strictly
linear process and developers can return to previous steps, it is designed so this does not happen.
Brown (1996) states that with interactive software, experts generally agree that an iterative approach is
required to develop an application with a strong user interface. The Waterfall Methodology would not
support this, as a user interface cannot be designed without repeated user testing. Another approach
such as The Spiral Model presents an approach where the project’s feasibility is assessed after each
cycle of the spiral. Prototypes and Waterfall methods are combined within this methodology, where a
prototype is developed which is slightly closer to the ‘operational product’. However it is not clearly
specified how this is done nor does it directly recognise the role of an HCI Specialist.
One methodology that seems to support the development of interactive software is User Interface
Design from a Software Engineer’s Viewpoint. Brown (1996) presents Pressman’s design process,
where an interface prototype is are built and repeatedly assessed until the designer is happy that it is
correct, see figure 3-1. The interface design is a separate task from the development of the programs
functional elements. However little detail is given as to the procedures to apply in each step of the
methodology. To build a successful interface, HCI Specialists prescribe “developing a prototype of an
interface that is evaluated and rebuilt and reassessed until the final interface has been designed”
(Brown 1996). The user is a vital part of this process and there are several design approaches within
the HCI community that support this, for example User Centred Design methodologies and
Participatory Design (PD).
- 16 -
Preliminary Design
Built Prototype 1 Interface
Built Prototype n
Interface
User Evaluates Interface
Design
Modifications
Evaluation is
studied by designer
Figure 3 - 1 User Interface Design from a Software Engineer’s Viewpoint
User Centred Design methodologies, concentrate on knowing the user and their characteristics,
allowing them to test prototypes of the design under development. They generally make a distinction
between the user interface and the functionality of the program. Cognitive Modelling doesn’t tend to
follow any particular methodology, the emphasis is on understanding the user and the way they see an
activity. If a correct model can be found then a design can be created which will suit the user.
Participate Design (PD) also does not support any particular methodology, the issue within it being the
quality of communication between user and designer. Its approach is to treat users as equal partners in
the design process, so a system can be jointly developed that suits their needs. Scaife et. al. (1997)
discuss the issues involving children as users, where the goal is to develop educational software, in
domains where they have little prior knowledge. Is it possible for children to contribute about the way
in which they are taught? Their approach to designing interactive educational software was to take a
stance between Participatory Design and User Centred Design, viewing the children as “native
informants”. They did not treat them as equal partners, realising they “neither had the time,
knowledge or expertise to participate in the collaborative model prescribed in PD approaches”
(Scaife et. al., 1997).
In the design of interactive educational technology, Druin (1999) discusses four different definitions of
the role that children could play. She proposes the child either as a user, a tester, an informant or a
design partner. In the role of user the child uses the technology under observation of adults, so future
technologies can be changed or influenced. As a tester the child evaluates prototypes of the product
and again is observed and asked for direct feedback. In an informant role the child is more involved in
the initial stages of design, perhaps being observed using existing technology, or taking part in
experiments with low-tech materials and then being interviewed. They contribute hints and ideas to
the developer throughout the process, and are used whenever deemed necessary no matter what stage
the design of the system is at. Finally as a design partner the child’s role is similar to an informant,
however they work as an equal partner with the design team through every stage of the process.
- 17 -
3.1.2
The chosen Methodology
Informant design seemed to be the most appropriate methodology suited to the development of the
interactive tutorial. It demonstrated a positive, successful way to create an interactive learning
environment. Using the framework proposed by Scaife et. al (1997), the Year 7 pupils of Roundhay
School would be used in the role of informants, to aid in the design and development of the tutorial
Refer to Appendix F for the full framework. It would not however, be possible to carry out the type of
activities and observations needed for the children to fulfil this role fully. The lack of resources,
professional skills and the time restrictions would prevent this type of interaction being possible.
Appendix G shows how the framework was adapted to fit what was achievable.
The role of the children within this process would be somewhere in between testers and informants.
Most of the interaction that took place with the pupils would be during the evaluation of the prototype,
where it would be possible to find out whether the system met the design goals. They would be both
observed during the testing and interviewed in pairs afterwards to find out the answers to questions
such as, ‘what they found confusing’ and ‘what they liked’. In the initial stages of design
questionnaires would be used to ascertain what they found difficult to learn in ICT and which concepts
were hard to grasp. The teachers would be used as informants/testers to see what they found difficult
to teach and also to evaluate the prototype. In this way ideas from both groups of informants could be
collaborated, to gather a more complete picture of the difficulties and problems with the current ways
of teaching and fuller criticisms of the prototype.
3.2 Software Evaluation
There are many types of software packages available on the market, which have been designed to
specifically produce multimedia software. These are generally know as authoring tools and allow the
user to design and implement anything from presentations to simulations, combining media’s such as
text, sound, animation, etc. There is other software packages that are not specifically designed for
producing multimedia software, but could be considered for the purpose of implementing a
multimedia tutorial, within this project.
3.2.1
Criteria for Assessing Software Packages
There are many software packages that could be appropriate to implement an interactive multimedia
tutorial. Choosing one of them involves trade-offs which Jamieson & Hosie (1992) summarise as: •
Productivity Vs Creativity
•
Power Vs Simplicity
•
Structure Vs Freedom
- 18 -
Guidelines must be established with which to evaluate the authoring packages. Using ideas from
Jammieson & Hosie (1992), Keep et. al. (2001) and my own ideas of what was needed from an
authoring package, the following criteria were determined: 1. Ease of use – how difficult is it to learn in relation to time restrictions?
2. Support and feedback – are there enough supporting documents and online/phone help facilities
available?
3. Pricing – is the cost suitable and is there a student version available?
4. Functionality – does it have sufficient functionality to implement the tutorial design successfully,
allowing for animation, user interactivity, etc.?
5. Minimum Hardware requirements – will it run on appropriate hardware at suitable speeds?
6. Navigational features – does it have sufficient features to allow navigation of the program, such as
a local map?
7. Structural paradigm – is the environment user friendly with adequate toolbars and dropdown
menus?
8. Linking Feature – can links be accomplished easily?
9. Media support – does it have support for sound, animation, video and any other required media?
3.2.2
Review of Authoring Packages
There are three main types of authoring packages, based around metaphorical designs.
Card based
These systems are based on cards or pages, which are stored up in stacks to make an application.
These cards are linked together by buttons which have simple programming functions built into them.
They allow for simple, flexible designs, however to use one to build a large system would be very
complex task.
Icon based
Similar to card-based systems, these packages use flowcharts with icons to control the application.
Each icon describes a different interaction structure and media. Again simple applications can be
developed easily, but more complex programs require greater skill.
Time based
These systems operate using a visual timeline, which is used to dictate when events will occur. They
are particularly suited to developing multimedia presentations and videos.
- 19 -
The authoring packages evaluated were: •
Toolbook Assistant II, Illuminatus – Card based systems
•
Authorware – Icon based systems
•
Flash, Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio – Time based systems
During the review of the authoring packages, a number enclosed in square brackets will denote which
point of the evaluation criteria from section 3.2.1, is being assessed.
Asymetrix Toolbook Assistant II (Card based)
Toolbook Assistant is designed to be easy to use. “Its intuitive interface is ideal for those who want to
create interactive e-Learning content quickly, without programming or plug-in's” (Asymetrix website, 2002).
Its features include: •
A navigation panel and predefined interactive objects, which can be customised. [6]
•
Wizards to help in the creation of certain facilities. ‘Book Specialist’ wizards, ”guide users
through a simple question-and-answer process to create the basic framework for each
presentation” (McBride, 1998). [2]
•
Assessment objects that require no programming, containing in built actions that can provided
user feedback. [2]
•
It supports a wide variety of media files such as sound, animation, digital video, streaming media,
and still images. [9]
•
Its current cost is ~£500 for the educational package. [3]
Toolbook Assistant II is designed as an easy to learn package [1], but is not the most powerful
authoring tool for creating highly interactive environment.
Digital Workshop Illuminatus OPUS Pro (Card based)
Illuminatus is a software package designed specifically for multimedia authoring. It works on a book
principle, with each publication being divided into 'chapters', which are further divided into 'pages'.
Pages are built up from existing components available from the resource galleries, or from external
sources, such as pre-created images, sounds or animations.
Its features include: •
Integrated timeline facilities to allow for customised video/animation. [4], [9]
•
A navigation organiser which is simple to use. [1], [6], [7]
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•
It is reasonably inexpensive, ~£120 for the student version with extra resources. [3]
•
It supports a variety of media files such as sound, animation and video. [9]
•
Sophisticated trigger facilities are available, for example collision detection and variable changed.
Also a wide range of action features are accessible which support many different media. [4]
•
It uses simple page based linking facilities. [8], [7]
Illuminatus OPUS Pro is a simple to learn for the production/development of basic publications.
However a steeper learning curve would be entailed in order to grasp the full concepts that the
package offers and produce a more complex publication. [1]
Macromedia Authorware 6 (Icon based)
Authorware 6 is designed to create compelling interactive media, both on and offline. It is the
“leading rich-media authoring solution for e-learning” (Macromedia web-site, 2002)
It features include: •
Media synchronisation – which allows synchronising of graphic and text events with time based
media such as video and audio. [4], [9]
•
It supports a variety of media files, audio, video and animation. [9]
•
Wizards and templates are provided to help with basic and complex facilities. [2]
•
It costs ~£210 for the student home user package. [3]
•
Easy to use, no need for a scripting language. [1]
•
Built-in button editors allow the creation of custom graphic buttons, check boxes, sounds, and
text. [4]
Authorware 6 has many advanced features, providing facilities to create complex applications,
however it is difficult to grasp, involving a steep learning curve.
Macromedia Flash 5 (Time based)
Flash is the secret behind many web-pages, adding dynamism and impact to them. Version 5, “With
a new interface, workflow improvements, sophisticated interactivity and enhanced text
handling…offers much for the developer - but less for the designer” (Arah, 2000).
Its features include: •
Improved and user friendly interface. [1]
•
It supports a variety of media files, audio, video and animation. [9]
•
It is relatively easy to set up simple animations with sound and interactive features. [1], [4]
- 21 -
•
Easy to learn but difficult to master [1]
•
It costs ~£210 for the student home user package. [3]
Though Flash 5 is quite simple to learn, the restrictions which the timeline imposes on the complexity
of the actions makes its usability awkward to a novice user.
Macromedia Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio (Time based)
Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio is the “Swiss army knife of multimedia development tools” (Stevens,
2001) and can be used in conjunction will all other Macromedia products.
Its features include: •
It supports nearly every media type [9]
•
Its stage metaphor is easy to grasp and use [1], [6]
•
Most 3D authoring tools will export to it [4]
•
It costs ~£30 for a licence under the Education Licence Programme [3]
•
It can create spectacular and complex applications [4]
Though Director is an amazing piece of software, with no other direct competitors due to the power of
its Lingo Scripting language, there is a steep learning curve to become familiar with its Lingo
commands
3.2.3
Review of Alternative Software Tools
There are many of alternative software tools available, which would allow for the successful
implementation of the tutorial. The software applications evaluated were: •
Microsoft PowerPoint
•
Microsoft Visual Basic
Microsoft PowerPoint
PowerPoint was originally designed as a presentation tool only, however can be thought of as a basic
version of an authoring tool. It allows the integration of a wide variety of graphics and multimedia
files from external sources, giving ‘slick and lively’ results. However it is still a presentation tool, the
animation and special effects going only so far.
It enables a user to create a number of slides, which can be combined into a slideshow. Text, images
and animation can all be added to each slide to give spectacular results. A main advantages of
PowerPoint is that presentations can be created very simply and quickly, operating in a similar way to
- 22 -
Microsoft Word and other office applications. It is also very accessible, available on nearly every PC
with a version of Windows coming as a part of Microsoft Office.
Microsoft Visual Basic
Visual basic is a rapid application development tool with a high level programming code, which
allows development of applications for Windows. It is a visual language that can be used quite easily
to develop interfaces, using a graphical environment with toolbars and click and drag facilities. It is an
event driven programming language where actions are initiated, by triggers such as using the mouse to
click a button. Visual Basic is made up of many sub-programs, where each object can be executed
independently yet at the same time be linked together in one way or another.
Visual Basic is reasonably straightforward to learn as the code is quite simple and much of the
programming is carried out using visual aids. It was not originally designed as a multimedia
development package, however enables text, graphics and animation to be integrated into its programs.
Like PowerPoint, Visual Basic is easily obtainable, coming as part of Microsoft Office.
3.2.4
Conclusions
PowerPoint is an excellent tool but designed mainly for presentation purposes. Though it has many
advantages, the disadvantages far outweigh them for it lacks any sort of interactivity, which is one of
the most essential features in the Multimedia tutorial.
Visual Basic is an excellent language to create a program and supported the use of multimedia,
however a software package designed specifically for authoring multimedia programs is a more
suitable option for the multimedia tutorial. The most appropriate of these seemed to be a card or icon
based system, which suggested Toolbook Assistant II, Illuminatus OPUS Pro or Authorware 6 were
the best packages. From the results of the software reviews, it was concluded that Toolbook Assistant
II was very expensive and therefore not a viable option. The complexity of its functionality may also
not have been high enough for the development of the tutorial. Authorware 6 was a rich and effective
authoring tool, however the learning curve associated with understanding its overall functionality was
too great for the time restrictions of this project.
Based on the criteria outlined in section 3.2.1, it was decided that the most appropriate development
tool was Illuminatus OPUS Pro. The technical sophistication of the software, catered for all the
requirements of the tutorial. In addition it was relatively easy to use, entailing a smaller learning curve
than the other authoring packages reviewed. Finally the price was also reasonable for the student
package.
- 23 -
Chapter 4 - Design
4.1 Initial Research
Research was carried out to identify the user requirements needed for the development of the tutorial.
Interview and questionnaire techniques were used to gather information about what areas of the
curriculum pupils enjoyed and which they struggled with.
4.1.1
Interview with ICT Teacher to Research Problem
Discussions were held with David Parkinson, head ICT teacher at Roundhay School. The topic
booklets, from which the Year 7 pupils are currently taught ICT, were also examined. David
explained that the ICT curriculum was quite flexible so the idea of combining several topics into one
tutorial was feasible. He agreed that a collaborative end project would be a good way for the pupils to
use the knowledge that they have learnt from the tutorial. It was decided that it would be preferable
for the tutorial to follow the exact content of the Internet Introduction and Word Basics booklets. The
demos and interactive elements of the program would aid the pupil and the onscreen instructions were
superior to paper booklets. David was of the opinion that the tutorial could be a realistic immediate
supplement and possible future replacement, to current teaching methods.
4.1.2
Investigations with the Pupils
Following the informant design methodology, which is the basis for the development of the tutorial,
initial research was carried out. Three Year 7 classes from Roundhay School were emailed with a
questionnaire, which asked them about learning ICT.
Devising a Questionnaire
After looking at Roundhay’s curriculum, as discussed in section 2.3.3, a questionnaire was devised to
find out what the pupils enjoyed, disliked, found easy and found difficult within ICT. The following
questions were asked: 1) Do you like learning about Information Communication Technology (ICT)?
2) What is the most interesting thing you have learnt about so far in the subject?
3) Which parts of the subject have you found boring, if any?
4) What topic in the subject have you found hardest to learn about so far?
Word Basics, Internet, Email, PowerPoint, Data Handling, Information and Presentation, Emind
maps
5) Do you find any parts of the topics very easy? If so which ones
- 24 -
6) Do you have a computer at home?
7) If so, what do you do on the computer, e.g. surf the Internet, play games, etc?
8) Do you use the computers in your spare time when at school, i.e. during lunchtime and breaks?
9) Which parts of using the Internet do you find hardest to use?
Reference web-sites, Encylodpedia web-sites, Maps on the Internet, Search Engines, Other
10) Which parts of Word do you find hardest to use?
Bullet points, Tables, Clip Art or WordArt, Headers and footers, Other
Results of Questionnaire
The results of the questionnaire are summarised below, however a full table of them can be found in
Appendix H. All the children enjoyed learning ICT. They generally found the Internet the most
interesting subject, however they seemed to like most of the modules. They found the topics
concerned with information handling and searching for information the most boring, though many said
they found no module uninteresting. Different pupils found some topics more difficult than others did.
In general Emind maps were found to be most difficult by all classes, followed by ‘Word basics’ and
‘Information and Presentation’. Many pupils stated they found a lot of the topics easy, especially
using the Internet, though David Parkinson did comment that some of the children tended to overexaggerate a little, about what they really knew. Over two-thirds of the pupils had a computer at
home, which they often used for playing games and surfing the Internet. This is possibly why the
majority of them did not use the schools computers, during breaks and lunch. The parts of Word that
the pupils said they found most difficult to use overall, were making tables, using bullet points and
using headers and footers. This was quite consistent over the three different classes. In general the
use of search engines was the part of the Internet that the children struggled with most, followed by
using encyclopaedic web-sites and online maps.
4.1.3
Results from Research
The results gave some insight into the areas that the pupils struggled with most when learning about
ICT. The parts of Word basic which therefore seemed most important to concentrate on were creating
tables, using bullet points and using headers and footers. It was necessary for these parts of the
tutorial to be interactive, for the research on multimedia discussed in section 2.2.1, showed that
“interactive multimedia can be a powerful learning and teaching tool because it engages multiple
senses” (Bass, 1997). Most of the pupils said they found using the Internet easy. However as David
Parkinson noted, children often exaggerate about their knowledge and some stated that they found it
hard to use search engines correctly. It was therefore important to concentrate on this topic within the
tutorial. It was decided that the tutorial would be designed with a mixture of demos and interactive
tasks, to allow for both support and interactivity within different areas of the topics.
- 25 -
4.2 Content
The content of the tutorial was based on Roundhay’s ICT curriculum. Using the Word basics and
Internet Introduction topic booklets for guidance, the tutorial content was devised. Figure 4-1 shows a
flowchart, which demonstrates the basic structure of the tutorial. A full description of the content that
specifies which parts of the tutorial will be interactive or demos, based on research carried out in 4.1.3,
can be found in Appendix I.
Hom e
Project
Internet
Hom epage
W ord Hom epage
URL
Address es
Lo ad in g W e b
Bro w s er
Selecting &
Form atting
T ext
Opening a
New
Doc um ent
Navigating
W eb P age
Information
Searc hing
Logging In
and O ut
Information
W eb s ites
Ques tion
Page
Loading
W ord
Cut, Copy
and Paste
Clipart and
W ordArt
Searc h
Engines
Referenc e
W eb s ites
Bullets ,
T ables &
T ext Boxes
Headers and
Footers
Maps
Figure 4-1 Flowchart showing the basic structure of the tutorial
4.3 The Interface
4.3.1
HCI issues
Many Human Computer Interaction issues must be considered before a successful user interface can
be developed. The tutorial needed to be as user friendly as possible, the idea being that the child
should not need to learn how to operate it and therefore be able to concentrate on learning the content.
- 26 -
The user should intuitively know how to navigate the tutorial and be able to tell which buttons do what
action without much thought.
There are many basic rules to follow which will help in the design of a successful and user friendly
interface. These involve issues such as consistency, multiple paths and use of colour, etc. Najjar
(1992) and Waterworth (1992), discuss the primary guidelines for the design of an Interface, on which
this set of criterion is based.
Keeping the user interface simple - Give the user only what they need to do the task. Do not show
off multimedia capabilities and over clutter the user space.
Be uniform and consistent - Use similar objects to perform similar functions throughout the tutorial,
otherwise the user will easily get confused. This allows the knowledge gained from one area to be
used in another, without having to relearn commands. Objects, which perform the same action, should
be placed in the same position on each page. For example if the home button is in the bottom left of
the screen on one page, it should be situated in that position on every page. This allows the user to
learn the basic layout of the tutorial and therefore operate it more quickly and without frustration.
Let the user control the interaction - Let the user control what happens next in the tutorial, where
they want to go, what they want to see and when they want to stop seeing it. For example if the user is
watching a demo that they have seen previously, they should be able to stop it and move onto the next
stage of the tutorial.
Give immediate feedback for every user action - Let the user know that a command they have given
is working. For example when selecting a button, let them know they are in the right place by
changing the shape of the cursor when it is hovering over the correct place. This stops the user from
getting bored or frustrated.
Be constructive and positive in feedback - Make any feedback that is given to the user positive and
encouraging. For example if a question is answered wrongly by the user, give encouraging feedback
to help them to continue. If a question is correctly answered reward the user with further
encouragement.
Use familiar metaphors and introduce through experience - Use objects and actions that are
familiar to the user, to improve learning. For example if a calculation needs to be carried out,
displaying an image of a calculator with a touch sensitive key pad will automatically give the user an
idea of how to work it.
Let the user safely explore the content - Let the user navigate the interface without the worry of
damaging the tutorial by deleting something by mistake. They should be able to return to previous
screens without having to repeat the procedures that take them there. The user should be able to undo
actions that may not be easy to reverse and have to confirm any changes or deletions.
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Colour issues - It is believed that more washed out, pastel colours allow users to focus on objects
more clearly, providing a more anchored appearance on screen. High contrast foreground-background
colours should be used for text and lighter colours should be displayed on darker backgrounds.
Colour changes are attention grabbing therefore should be used to help users perform specific tasks
but otherwise be avoided. Similar colours indicate similar data e.g. red-orange, blue-violet, etc.
Likewise contrasting colours distinguish separate categories e.g. blue-yellow, red-blue-green, etc.
Use fonts that have serifs - Using fonts with serifs help users differentiate between letters, as does
using a mixture of upper and lower case letters.
Limit use of sound -Excess use of sound can be annoying to a user, therefore limit use of sound to
informing and not entertaining.
Use lower frequency sounds - High frequency sound can be annoying to a user therefore use lower
frequencies between 100 to 1000 Hz.
Let the user control sound volume quickly and easily - Users may want to alter sound levels for
personal preferences or to avoid disturbing those nearby, therefore allow the levels of sound to be
controlled easily and quickly.
Use large cursor picking areas - Use large enough areas for buttons and objects that need to be
selected, so the user can easily position the cursor over and select them.
Use consistent colours and shapes to designate touch areas -Make it clear which areas and objects
can be selected, using consistent colours and shape.
Provide backtrack facility - Provide a clear navigating system that allows a user to move backward
through the tutorial in case a previous screen be required.
4.3.2
Storyboards
Using the HCI criteria presented in section 4.2.1 as a design guideline, the interface was formed. The
tutorial was made up of three parts, the Site Map, the Instruction Area and the Viewing Area. An
example screen storyboard is shown in figure 4-2.
Figure 4 -2 Example Screen Storyboard
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The Site Map, always present on the left of the screen, allowed for simple, quick navigation around the
program. The Instruction Area situated at the bottom of the screen, contained the demo icon and
forward/back icons, providing backtracking/bypassing facilities. The Viewing Area contained the
representation of the application that was being taught, allowing for user interaction and demo
presentation.
4.3.3
The Design
For the background Colour it was decided that a pale, pastel blue/purple was quite a calming and nondistracting colour, however a wood effect was added to give a little more interest to it. The three
different areas of the screen were placed on separate darker panels that were raised. This broke up the
sections on the page so there was a clear definition between the Site Map, the Instruction Area and the
Viewing Area. For the text colour, pale yellow, orange and white were used. This is because as
section 4.3.1 shows, high contrasting colours should be used between the background and foreground.
Also these colours are lighter than the background and are therefore easier on the eye. The font used
was Times New Roman as it has serifs to help differentiate between letters and is also quite a simple
text that is clear and easy to read. Both upper and lower characters were used.
A sunken border was used for the Site Map heading to show it was not a button. The navigation
buttons were represented as open books. This would aid the user by drawing on the metaphor turning
a page, which it is easy to relate to. Due to a limited space, a font without serifs was used on the
buttons, otherwise it was difficult to read. The text colour on the navigation buttons was the same as
the Site Map title, to show which buttons related to this topic. Likewise the colours of the home icon
were reversed, to make it stand out as a link to a different topic.
The Instruction Area was made up of an instruction box and forward, back and demo icons. The
instruction box was created as a white, sunken panel with black text. This added to the book metaphor
to help to give the impression it was a page and subsequently a set of directions that were to be
followed. A font size of 10 point or above was maintained to ensure the text was easily readable. The
back, forward and demo icons were coloured a bright yellow to contrast with the background and
make them stand out. They were also given a textured effect to make them look more realistic. The
forward and back icons were shaped as arrows to emphasise their functionality, as were the demo
icons that were shaped like a piece of film roll.
The Viewing Area had a raised panel, which contained screenshots of Word and the Internet. This is
where the interactive tasks were completed and the non-interactive demos took place, see figure 4-3.
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Site Map
Viewing Area
Instruction
Area
Figure 4- 3 Example Screenshot of the tutorial
When the tutorial was initially loaded, the opening screen allowed the user to navigate to the Word
Homepage, Internet Homepage or Project Homepage. Once at the Internet or Word Homepage, a
further list of topics could be accessed from the Site Map. These topics could then be completed in
any order, though it was suggested that the user start from the top and work downwards. The Project
Homepage was designed to be accessed, after the Word and Internet tutorials were completed, for it
combines the two applications into one assignment.
Internet Section
Figure 4-4 shows a screenshot of the Internet section of the tutorial. The Internet section was designed
so the user could access the Internet following tasks, as stated in the instruction box.
Figure 4- 4 Example Screenshot of Internet section
Though a live browser could be run in Illuminatus OPUS Pro, it was not possible to implement a
program that could recognise what the user was doing within this browser and give relevant feedback.
Therefore to assess the user, a quiz page was devised, see figure 4-5, where the questions would test
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whether or not they had completed the tasks. After completion this screen could be printed out to
show to a teacher.
Figure 4- 5 Example Screenshot of the Quiz page in the Internet section
Word Section
The Word section of the tutorial was designed very differently to the Internet section, for Microsoft
Word could not be run within Illuminatus OPUS Pro. Consequently it was necessary to make the
tutorial mimic the application to an extent, so as to create the illusion that the user was actually using
Word, see figure 4-6. This was achieved by layering many different images from Microsoft Word on
top of one another. Each image had action properties, which were set to carry out certain functions.
Though this gave the required effect, it was impossible to implement all the functionality of Microsoft
Word. It was only possible to operate the program within the limitations of the design, rather than as a
whole application, see 7.2 for future developments.
Figure 4 - 6 Example Screenshot of the Word section
As the user can only carry out tasks specified in the instruction boxes, they do not need to be assessed
in the same way as the Internet section of the tutorial. Validation questions are not needed as the user
has no choice but to carry out the task, for it is all that is possible to do within the program. For
especially difficult areas within Word, demos are shown to aid the user, see figure 4-7.
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Figure 4- 7 Example Screenshot of a demo in the Word section
Project Section
The project section of the tutorial was created on one page. It explained about the collaborative
project, which should be undertaken after the Word and Internet sections of the tutorial had been
completed. It followed the same layout as the rest of the program, with the project instructions being
situated in the Viewing Area.
4.4 Design of Testing Material
Three Year 7 classes from Roundhay School and the head ICT teacher, David Parkinson, carried out
the testing of the tutorial. The methods for collecting the results from the testing, were questionnaire,
interview and observation. For the program to be successfully assessed by these informants two
questionnaires were devised, one for the pupils and another for the teacher. These were both based on
the evaluation criteria from Appendix D.
4.4.1
Design of Testing Material for the Children
A worksheet and questionnaire were created which explained to the pupil how to load up the tutorial.
It then asked them to play with the program and complete the questionnaire section. The questions
were derived from the User Attitudes and Effect section of the evaluation criteria. For the complete
worksheet and questionnaire see Appendix J.
4.4.2
Design of Testing Material for the Teacher
A questionnaire was produced for David Parkinson, where the questions were derived from the
Instructional and Conceptual Design and Interface and Graphic Design sections of the evaluation
criteria. For the complete questionnaire see Appendix K.
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Chapter 5 – Implementation / Development
5.1 Hardware/Software
The tutorial was implemented on a Dell P2, 233Mhz PC, with Windows 98 Operating System
installed. A print screen function was used to capture the screen shots of Microsoft Word and Internet
Explorer and they were then pasted into Paint Shop Pro 7 (PSP7) for editing purposes. PSP7 was also
used to create the wood effect texture for the background.
5.2 The Tutorial
It was necessary for the whole tutorial to be consistent therefore the initial task was to create a master
page, which would be the basic template for every other. This page contained the background panels,
the sunken header for the Site Map and a home button. Separate Site Map buttons were created for
the Word and Internet sections of the tutorial, which were then copied to each page within that section.
Navigation was carried out through paging, where an Actions property for each button was set as
trigger Left Mouse Click, action Go to Page.
Internet Section
The Internet Section was a less time consuming part of the tutorial to implement. Through Illuminatus
OPUS Pro, a browser window can be run to enable a user to view a live Internet page, whilst they are
connected to the Internet. To enable the tutorial to mimic loading a web browser, Properties were set
that allowed default Internet address to be inserted, which the browser window would automatically
connect to. Other Properties settings such as enabling the browser to be Initially Hidden were
selected. This allows an image of an Internet Explorer shortcut to be placed on a screenshot of a
desktop, which when double-clicked, triggered an Actions setting Show Browser.
As Illuminatus only displayed the live Internet page and not an actual browser, there was no way for a
user to navigate to a specified page, which was a necessary part of the tutorial design. To create the
impression of a working browser, a screen shot of a browser was used and the live Browser window
was placed over it. Where the address bar would be, a Text Input box was used, which allowed the
user to input text whilst the program was running. It was also possible to create a variable that stored
the user input. In the Actions setting of this Text Input box, a Keyboard Press trigger on the key Enter
was set and programming commands were implemented, see figure 5-1.
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Figure 5 - 1 Screenshot showing programming commands
An If statement was created which showed the browser window if the input stored in the variable
equalled a predefined URL address.
The design of the Internet section of the tutorial involved having a quiz page to test the pupils. It was
created in Illuminatus using a Question Wizard, which allowed different types of questions to be
selected. For the purpose of this quiz, text and number answer questions were used and all stored
within the same test so score variables could be manipulated. The question wizard stored the answer
to each question and associated a score with it. At the end of the test the score could be calculated, by
displaying the variable <TEST_SCORE_CORRECT>. To allow the user to check whether their
answers were right or wrong before calculating their score, each question contained a Text Input box,
which stored the user’s answer in a variable. Buttons were implemented that used If and Else
statements to display ticks or crosses according to what values these variables held.
Word Section
This part of the tutorial was extremely time consuming, for all demos and interactive elements were
made up of screenshots from Microsoft Word. For example the design of the Loading Word topic
required the user to be able to interactively load up Word through the Start Menu. Eighteen
screenshots of the Windows Start Menu and thirteen hotspots were used to allow the tutorial to mimic
this process. The hotspots were used as triggers, so when the cursor was over an option in the Start
Menu, it was highlighted and any related menu appeared.
The demos were created using timelines, which displayed a pictorial representation of action
sequences on a time graph, see figure 5-2.
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Figure 5-2 Screenshot of a timeline
For an object to be animated, its Action properties were set to Follow Path, where the animation
duration, orientation, speed, position and type could all be initialised. For a timeline to act like a demo
its Auto Start property could not be activated. Demo buttons were instead initialised to start the
timeline sequences.
Other animation techniques involved moving objects instantly, for example to mimic moving text
down a line by pressing the enter key. In cases such as this a trigger was selected that started an
animation action like Move Vertical. Many properties could all be altered to suit the required
movement.
5.3 Problems that Occurred
Several problems occurred during development. With Illuminatus OPUS Pro, there was no way to
create a personalised trigger. When trying to implement a facility that mimicked the selection of text
through mouse clicking and dragging, it turned out to be difficult. The nearest option involved using a
Multi-Trigger that would display the image of highlighted text, if either one of the two triggers were
activated. What was needed was a way to prompt an action such as displaying an image, in reaction to
two or more simultaneous triggers, for example Left Mouse Down and Mouse Over. After discussion
with the Digital Workshop Technical Support Team, it transpired there was no way they knew of to
initiate simultaneous triggers. This meant an alternative method had to be found. A Text Input box
was used as a substitute, for it could be highlighted in the same way as Word.
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Another problem came from implementing the text answer questions on the quiz page. It was possible
to set the answer to equal particular text or to contain that text. If the answer was set to equal some
text and the user accidentally put a space in front of their answer, the question would be classed as
wrong. Likewise if the answer was set to contain some text and the user entered a word that contained
the answer but within another word, then the question would be marked as correct. The best option
was to set the answers as equal to some text, however limit the input box size to match the character
length of the answer.
Problems occurred when trying to set the status of a button to mimic some of the toolbar icons. Using
the Bold, Italic and Underline icons as examples, four different statuses had to be captured for each
icon; these were normal, mouse over, button down-mouse over and button down-mouse exit.
Illuminatus allowed a different image to be displayed for each status the button was in, however the
button could only be set as a Push Button, a Radio button or a Push On/Push Off. The Radio buttons
were not a suitable option, for it was a possibility that all three icons could be pushed at the same time.
The Push button would mimic the icons correctly, except for the status of button down-mouse exit,
which could never be displayed. It would not be possible to click on the button once to display bold
text, then a second time to remove the bold text. However this process could be mimicked through the
use of two buttons, which swapped over on each press without the knowledge of the user. Finally with
the Push On-Push Off button, all four status could be shown. However it was not possible to set the
button triggers to carry out one action on button down, then the opposite one on button up. It was also
not possible to reset a button that had been pushed down to a pushed up status, consequently swapping
between two buttons was not an option. For the tutorial it was decided the Push Button was the best
choice to use.
A final problem surfaced when implementing the section of the tutorial, which explained how to draw
and format a Text Box. It was initially decided to create a demo which would show a Text Box being
drawn on the screen, however there was no functionality within Illuminatus OPUS Pro that would
allow this resizing action to be accomplished in a realistic way. An alternative suggestion was to
make this section interactive, allowing the user to draw the Text Box. This was also impossible to
implement in a successful manner. It was therefore decided that the Text Box would already be drawn
on the screen when the user entered this part of the tutorial, therefore eliminating the need for a
resizing action to be resolved.
5.4 Tutorial Use Guide
For the benefit of the reader, a use guide has been devised, to aid with installing and operating the
tutorial, see Appendix L.
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Chapter 6 - Testing and Evaluation
6.1
6.1.1
Evaluation of Illuminatus
Digital Workshop
Digital Workshop, the publishers of Illuminatus OPUS Pro, have their own ‘family’ of OPUS software
which is designed specially for teachers and students. They support ICT through all levels of
education, focusing particularly on younger children in primary school. For secondary school children
they provide OPUS and Paint Shop Pro, but they also state on their web-site that, “QCA schemes of
work for KS3 are confirmed, we shall be adding appropriate workbooks, sample projects and
resources to the product”. They have developed OPUS Max Creator, which is an authoring tool
designed specifically for 4-12 year olds and has three levels to suit different abilities. The
functionality of the levels is matched to the pupils according to age and the ICT QCA Schemes of
Work.
6.1.2
Illuminatus OPUS Pro
Illuminatus OPUS Pro is a card based authoring package, modelled on a book metaphor. Each
publication developed within the application is made up of chapters, which contain pages. This cardbased package is navigated using paging, where each button must be programmed by the user to
define the action it will trigger. It also has additional features that give it more functionality, such as
the ability to animate objects along specific paths, collision detection that can prompt the start of an
event and timelines that are self-contained sequences of actions. Databases are supported along with a
scripting language that is based on JavaScript.
6.1.3
Reflections on Illuminatus OPUS Pro
Illuminatus OPUS Pro was a very impressive authoring tool. I had no prior knowledge of using
software packages to design a multimedia environment, except for the initial software evaluation
carried out at the start of this project, refer to 3.2. Initially using the software was very simple. The
interface itself was very straightforward, with a toolbar of icons that allowed text, buttons, hotspots
and browser windows to be easily added to the page, see figure 6-1.
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Figure 6-1 Illuminatus OPUS Pro
As the implementation of the tutorial developed however, I had to go through a much steeper learning
curve to grasp the more complex functions that the program offered. Tutorials were available that
introduced certain aspects of OPUS Pro, however I found that the easiest way to learn the program
was through trial and error. The ‘help’ wizards were however invaluable.
When an object was drawn, it was possible to set its Properties and Actions. The Properties menu
contained several tabs that between them seemed to cover every possible property that would ever be
needed. Most options were chosen using tick boxes and it was very easy to understand what
functional each one had.
Figure 6-2 Button Properties Menu
One very helpful feature for a button was the option to set separate properties such as image,
according to the different states the object could be in, for example ‘Button Down’, ‘Mouse Over’, etc.
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This would allow the button to be highlighted when the mouse was over it or change colour when it
was selected, etc.
Characteristics such as enabling an object to have drag and drop qualities, allowing text to be input by
the user and varying the cursor style according to state of the object, were changed by simply ticking
boxes.
The Actions menu was managed in a similar way but used icons to represent actions and triggers. A
trigger which ranged from a Keyboard Press or Mouse Click, to a Collision Detection or Object Drop,
would set off an action that was linked to some media or facility such as video, animation, text,
storage, scoring, browsers, databases and many more. By clicking on each icon, it was put into the
object organiser that allowed the actions to be visualised.
Figure 6-3 Button Actions menu
More complex facilities were available which allowed variables to be created and some programming
functions such as If and Else statements to be implemented.
The Timeline facility within the tutorial was beneficial as it allowed demos to be created. A pictorial
timeline allows the visualisation of relationships between events and actions and can be easily
synchronised.
One of the only problem that I found with using Illuminatus OPUS Pro was the inability to make
personalised triggers. It was possible to have a Multi-Trigger that caused the same action to happen in
response to several different triggers. There was however no way to prompt an action, which reacted
to two or more simultaneous triggers. This meant I had to find alternative methods to implement
certain aspects of the tutorial.
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Overall Illuminatus OPUS Pro was an excellent program, allowing the successful implementation of
almost all the functions that were needed for this tutorial. It was a very sophisticated authoring
package, containing many additional features that I scarcely had a chance to investigate as they were
not needed for this tutorial.
6.2
6.2.1
Testing the tutorial
The Testing Scenario
The testing of the tutorial took place at Roundhay School on the 21st March 2002, where it was
arranged that three Year 7 classes of different abilities would act as informants and use the program.
Three methods were devised for collecting the results from the testing; by means of a questionnaire,
which each child was instructed to complete, refer to section 4.4.1; through observing each of the
children whilst they used the tutorial; by interviewing selected children about their experience. The
head ICT teacher David Parkinson also tested the tutorial, completed a questionnaire and was
interviewed about his opinions of the program, refer to section 4.4.2.
Class 7M Lower Ability – This was the lowest ability class made up of 16 pupils, two of which were
children with special educational needs, who had in-class support from a Special Needs Assistant. As
a whole they generally performed below the national expected standard for their age groups, some
having reading abilities up to seven years below this average. Due to the smaller size of the class,
each child had their own PC to work on.
Class 7D Mid Ability – This was the mid-ability class, which was made of 24 pupils. They generally
performed around the national expected standard, with a higher level of reading ability than 7M. As
this was a larger class most children sat in pairs at each PC, with a few either working on their own or
in a group of three.
Class 7K High Ability – This was the highest ability class, which was made up of 28 pupils. They
generally performed above the national expected standard, especially in terms of reading ability, with
some up to 5 years higher than their age groups expected average. Again being a larger class, most
children were sat in pairs at each PC, two or three worked on their own, and several studied in a group
of three.
6.2.2
Testing the Children – Analysis and Results
A summary table of the responses to the questionnaire is presented in Appendix M and some examples
of the questionnaire and the results can be found in Appendix N.
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Class 7M - were the first class that tested the tutorial. After handing out the questionnaire to each
child, I was introduced to the class by the head ICT teacher David Parkinson, then explained that they
were to play with the tutorial then answer the questions on the handout. A few of the children had
problems loading up the tutorial from the Start menu in Windows. When everyone had started the
tutorial, the children were initially observed to see what their first reactions to the program would be.
Most of them glanced at the opening screen, which contained a block of text that explained how to use
the tutorial and rather than reading it, tried to press the buttons; several of the children then asked for
help, stating that they didn’t know what to do. It was found that this lower ability class, due to their
poorer level of reading skills, could not or were not prepared to read the text on the page to find out
what to do, instead preferring to ask for help immediately.
After talking individually to many of the children and explaining to them how to navigate the tutorial,
they were again observed to see how they managed. Most of the children clearly understood how to
follow the directions in the instruction boxes and use the Site Map to move between different topics.
They all understood the purpose of the forward and back arrows, which showed the next or previous
set of instructions. Some of the children however still found it difficult to follow the instructions,
which asked them to complete tasks or told them information which was relevant to the topic. A few
of the informants had problems in grasping the idea that the tutorial did not mimic the functionality of
Microsoft Word or Internet Explorer’s, rather it tutored them on certain aspects of the software. They
expected the Internet section of the tutorial to act like a fully working browser. Likewise they tried to
operate the Word section of the tutorial as if it were the Microsoft Office application Word. For
example one child stated “it does not work” when he tried to use the Toolbars. It was discovered that
if the children were individually guided through one topic of the tutorial, they understood the
operation of the program more clearly and could then successfully manage the other topics.
Only a couple of the pupils in 7M completed the questionnaires fully. Most got bored with the
questions very quickly and would not attempt them, or answered with short yes/no answers. Of the
questionnaires that were completed, they gave the impression that the tutorial was easy to use, but not
exciting enough. Some pupils suggested that if they were to change anything it would be the
background. One girl mentioned the addition of pictures would be preferable. The response from the
individual interviews carried out, were far more successful. Talking to a child on a one-to-one basis,
allowed them to express their thoughts and opinions of the multimedia environment more clearly and
willingly. A common thought among the children seemed to be that the tutorial lacked any sound or
voice narration, “it would be better if someone said the words at the same time”, commented one boy.
This point was also backed up by David Parkinson, who told me that the pupils in 7M had low
concentration spans, making it difficult for them to read large blocks of text. The use of voice
narration, combined with highlighted text would greatly improve the child’s ability to understand how
to operate the tutorial and successfully follow the instructions.
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The facility that the pupils seemed to particularly enjoy using and find informative, was the demo.
Most of the class pressed each demo button more than once, using the back arrow to allow them to try
it again. It seemed one of the most successful ways to teach the pupils about an area, for it held their
attention, whilst showing them exactly how to complete a task.
Class 7D – were the next class that tested the tutorial. The pupils from this class started up the tutorial
with fewer problems than 7M. With a higher level of reading skills, they followed the instructions on
the handout they had been given with greater ease. The same procedure was followed with this class.
Observation of their initial reactions demonstrated that many pupils still needed help to understand
how to operate the tutorial. Once shown however, they found its operation much simpler than the
previous class. Many of the questionnaires were fully completed by the pupils of 7D and contained
very helpful feedback about the tutorial. Again it was a general view that the tutorial was easy to use
but could be more interesting. A few of the children understood that they were learning how to use an
application, therefore found it interesting for that reason. The lack of pictures and cartoons was a
repeated criticism of tutorial, as shown by one boy’s opinion, “I’d put a man in it, like the one from
Word”. To capture interest and maintain attention, there needed to be a more “fun” element within
the tutorial. The questionnaire results showed that the Clipart section of the tutorial that involved a
picture of a crocodile was found to be most interesting. This demonstrates that the use of pictures and
animation within education, are important in holding the interest of a child.
While being interviewed, two boys were asked “If you had to make this tutorial to teach a younger
brother or sister, what would you have in it?” They stated they would put in cartoons and animation so
it was more “exciting and like an adventure”. The demos were again successful and liked by the
pupils in this class, though when asked whether they preferred to watch a demo or try out a task
themselves, there was mixed reactions. Several preferred an interactive method where they could
experiment with the program and many the non-interactive approach of a demo, though most liked
both. One group of boys suggested, that it would be more helpful to be able to watch a demo and then
try it out themselves afterwards.
This class also agreed that the use of voice narration would be helpful in understanding the tutorial
better, where each word in the text was highlighted as it was spoken. Though most of the pupils coped
with the large blocks of text in the tutorial, a few thought there was too much writing and would have
preferred a larger font size.
Class 7K – was the final class that tested the tutorial. The pupils from this class in general had a
higher level of reading skills and coped very well with the text within the multimedia environment,
particularly enjoying the Navigating the Internet Question section. They all managed to start up the
tutorial without the need of assistance and worked their way through the topics with little or no
problems. Every pupil completed a questionnaire, which were very informative and contained helpful
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comments. Most of the pupils found the tutorial easy to operate. The instructions were straightforward
and they did not find the experience boring, as one group of girls pointed out, “it will help us to learn
in the long run”.
The main criticism from the pupils of this class was connected to the functionality of the tutorial. Like
the children in 7M, they also wanted it to act like Microsoft Word and Internet Explorer. Although
they quickly grasped that it would only tutor them on certain aspects of the software, they wanted to
be able to “do more stuff ”.
Another suggestion that transpired from the questionnaire results, was that some of the children
thought the tutorial lacked enough bright colours and sound, the addition of which would make it more
interesting and entertaining. One girl proposed that giving the background of each section and topic a
different colour or theme, would give the tutorial variation and therefore make it more appealing.
Many of the pupils in this class were interested in solving the questions about navigating the Internet.
During an interviewing with two girls, they complained that in order to complete the Navigating the
Internet “Quiz”, it was necessary to read a question, then go back to the Web Browser page to search
the school web-site for the answers. They suggested having the questions on the same page as the
school Web-site would be helpful, so both could be accessed at the same time.
6.2.3
Testing the Teacher – Analysis and Results
David Parkinson tested the system and gave feedback from his perspective as an ICT teacher.
Summarised below are his answers to the questionnaire. Refer to Appendix N to see the full
questionnaire results.
Instructional and Conceptual Design
Introductory Objectives and Directions
He found the tutorial content to be current, relevant to the curriculum and also free of errors with
clearly presented concepts. The learning styles were appropriate to facilitate student learning and the
concepts were relevant to age, ability and interest levels, however he found the vocabulary and amount
of text too difficult for lower ability pupils to read.
Navigation and Orientation
He thought it was easy to reach desired pages of the tutorial, with a clear and intuitive site map that
facilitated simple navigation.
Interactivity
The interactivity of the multimedia environment aided learning, however he thought it was not quite
compatible with the abilities of all the intended audience. He deemed that it had definite potential to
allow for opportunities for problem solving, exploring and experimenting.
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Sequencing
He agreed the tutorial was logical in its progression of learning and had a controllable learning pace,
providing facilities to allow the user to stop, move forward and move back, etc
Interface and Graphic Design
Visuals
He found the visuals to be appropriate to the learning outcome, objective and free from cultural bias,
with use of text, colour and other aids to communicate meaning. The fonts and graphics were legible
and of high quality, though perhaps needed the addition of more fun elements such as characters and
themes, to be make them more appropriate to the intended audience. The colours in his opinion were
suitable, taking into account common colour deficiencies. He considered the use of titles, sub-titles
and captions to be appropriate, though perhaps they could be improved.
Language
He thought the language was accurate with correct use of spelling and grammar. It was appropriate for
the higher ability classes in his opinion, however needed breaking into smaller segments for the lower
ability classes.
Overall Product
The style of the layout in his view was consistent and the visual content collated well. Any appropriate
functional data options were also available. The software itself permitted smooth operation, however
he considered it a little slow when the site map was navigated.
In general he was impressed with the tutorial, commenting that despite the limitations of time and
resources, a successful piece of software had been written, which had much potential. Having
designed and implemented software himself, he could also empathise with the hardships involved in
developing a system. He remarked that “a large amount of time can be spent by the programmer in
developing a good quality system, which is subsequently completed by an end user in a short space of
time”.
He particularly liked the use of the demos to show the children exactly how to carry out a task,
something that was impossible to do with the booklets that they currently use. The differentiation that
the tutorial displayed was another feature that impressed David. Due to the range of ability levels
within his classes, he believed that the facilities that allowed each child to navigate through the
multimedia environment, learning at their own pace was very beneficial.
David’s main criticism with the tutorial was that there was too much text for lower ability children to
cope with. Most of the children in 7M and several from 7D had reading skills, which were below the
national expected standard for Key Stage 3. This meant they had short concentration spans and found
it difficult to read large blocks of text. Therefore it was demanding for this group to read and
understand the instructions on the first screen of the tutorial, which explained its operation. He
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thought some form of voice narration would enhance the tutorial and make it more suitable for
children of mixed ability levels.
Another point that David made was the need for a more fun element within the tutorial. When
designing a topic booklet for the children of Year 7, he finds it is necessary to put cartoons and
pictures within the text, to help make it more interesting and keep the pupils attention. He emphasised
the importance of this and suggested that the addition of more pictures and animation, perhaps
introducing a main character or theme to the tutorial, would increase the child’s concentration span
and allow the program to hold their attention for longer.
A further idea suggested by David towards the improvement of the tutorial, was to use colour to aid
the student by drawing their attention to particular areas of the screen. He thought it would be
beneficial for the parts of the program that had already been accessed, to change to a different colour,
thus taking awareness away from that area.
Finally David mentioned one more detail that he thought important, which was the consistency
between aspects of the tutorial, such as how to load up Word and the school’s PC Desktop and Start
Menu layout. As the tutorial was designed as a piece of educational software to be used by many
different schools with different Desktop and Start Menu layouts, it would be advisable to include notes
for the teachers instructing how to set theirs up to match the tutorial. Alternatively some functionality
within the environment, which allowed the Desktop and Start Menu to be altered to look like each
school PCs could be included. This would allow the tutorial to mimic the school PCs, preventing
confusion when the children use the real software as oppose to the tutorial.
6.2.4
Summary of Results
The main criticisms of the tutorial are summarised below: •
There was too much text in big blocks, which lower ability classes found hard to cope with. Use of
voice narration, where the text is highlighted in-synch with the spoken word, would be a
successful development.
•
Though the tutorial was consistent in layout and colour, designed in accordance to the HCI
research that had been carried out, it lacked enough pictures and animation to hold the attention of
the pupils. The addition of different characters and themes within each section of the program
would vastly improve its attractiveness and sustain the interest of the pupils for longer.
•
There were not enough colours within the tutorial to aid the student, by drawing attention to and
away from particular areas of the screen. Colour could be used to represent parts of the program
that had already been accessed, thus taking awareness away from that area. Other colours could
then be used to capture the attention of the child when something new was being introduced.
•
The use of the Demos were proven to be a successful in helping the children understand how to
carry out a task, while also being fun and amusing. It was evident however, that many of the
- 45 -
children enjoyed carrying out a task themselves in an interactive environment. Producing a Demo,
followed by an interactive element, would improve the teaching methods of the tutorial.
•
The tutorial could only be operated in the way in which it had been designed to and was unable to
mimic the exact functionality of the programs upon which it was instructing. This confused many
of the children for they expected it to act like the application. The tutorial would perhaps be more
successful, if it had the functionality of an original program and gave constructive comments to
the user about their actions.
•
After the completion of an interactive task or demo, the user is required to press the forward arrow
button to move to the next instruction box. This sometimes puzzled the child, for they expected to
be presented with further set of directions immediately and often tried to follow the instructions
that they had just finished. It was therefore concluded, that it would be beneficial for the next
stage of the tutorial to automatically appear.
•
The Navigating the Internet “Quiz” could only be completed once while the program was
running. This allowed the user to move between the questions and the Navigating the Internet
page to search for the answers on the World Wide Web (WWW). It also meant however that if
the user completed the questions but did not score 100% and wanted to reattempt them, they could
not do so without exiting then restarting the tutorial. It would be more desirable if the user was
able to browse the WWW whilst viewing the questions concurrently and also have the facility to
restart the quiz.
6.3
6.3.1
Evaluating the Tutorial
Conclusions
The results gathered from the testing of the tutorial were promising overall and gave fascinating
feedback. David Parkinson was impressed by the program, but also gave me good constructive
criticism on how to improve it. He explained that the existing methods of teaching ICT using topic
booklets was satisfactory and a more suitable approach would integrate technology with the learning
materials. An intelligent tutoring system would enhance the learning process of a child, offering them
more control and differentiation. Repeated use of this type of teaching package would also give the
student more confidence in using technology. Though the tutorial may not currently be an
improvement over existing teaching methods, David thought there was much potential in its approach
He commented that with some minor changes it could operate as a successful educational tool, which
could aid or even replace existing practices.
The informant’s opinion of the tutorial was rather mixed, depending on which ability class they came
from. On the whole, most of the children enjoyed using it, though more so if they came from a higher
ability class, where they had a better understanding of how to operate it. Many pupils from the lower
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ability classes were initially uninterested in using the tutorial, however this was because they lacked
the knowledge to control it. Once given this knowledge the appeal was much stronger.
Testing the tutorial in a real case scenario, using children of different ability levels as informants, gave
me much more constructive feedback than could originally have been imagined. The pupils gave ideas
and responses that were invaluable and could only have come from the minds of children. Though
some of the pupils found the tutorial a little confusing, it was possible to discover why this was and
how it could be rectified, through the findings of the questionnaires and interviews.
The conclusions of the testing demonstrated that the tutorial had the potential to be a successful
alternative, to Roundhay Schools current methods of teaching ICT to Key Stage 3 pupils. Through
proficient testing and response techniques, constructive criticism was gathered that could be used to
improve the tutorial, making it a viable substitution or addition to teaching ICT at this level.
6.3.2
Reflections on the Use of Informant Design
Using the Informant Design method allowed for the development of a tutorial that had much potential.
If this project would allow for continuing iteration of the design and testing stages, as specified in
Phase 3 of the Methodological framework (Scaife, Rogers, Aldrich et al, 1997), a valuable educational
tool would have been developed, which would complement the needs of the user. Phase 3 involves
using low-tech materials to test the validity of design and cognitive assumptions within a project. This
stage of the framework provides insight into the informant’s motivational factors, which helps build
the interface and shape the design of the system. It was excluded however, due to restrictions upon the
children of Roundhay School and myself. The time and resources that would have been needed for it,
were beyond the scope of this project. This meant the tutorial was not yet a suitable alternative for
current teaching methods.
The pupils who tested the tutorial had already been taught its content, for it was based on the Year 7
curriculum that they had almost completed. They were therefore not the most ideal group to use as
informants, for as the research has shown (refer to 3.2), learning through multimedia is most effective
for those who have little prior knowledge in the domain being learnt. A more suitable informant group
would be pupils from different ability Year 6 classes, who had not yet been taught how to use the
content of the tutorial. Ideally the four phases of the Informant design would be followed more
closely to produce a tutorial which harmonised with the needs of the user. Testing could be carried out
using three different groups of children; a Control Group who were taught using the standard topic
booklets; Group A that were taught using the tutorial; Group B that used a combination of the two
mediums. The groups could then be assessed to determine which of them had understood and retained
the most knowledge about the software.
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Chapter 7 - Future Development
7.1 Improving the Tutorial – Minor Changes
In analysing the results from the testing, it was discovered that several small changes would improve
user interactions with the tutorial.
•
The Section of the tutorial that explains how to use a Text Box was not consistent with other parts
of the program. Due to the difficulties with implementing an interactive Text Box option as
discussed in section 5.3, it was only possible for the children to manipulate an existing Text box,
rather than create their own. Several of the pupils however were confused by the instructions and
attempted to click on the Text Box button to draw their own box. Making the instructions less
ambiguous and drawing attention to the existing Text Box would improve this area of the
program.
•
At the end of a demo or after a user had interactively completed a task, the existing instruction box
was displayed until the forward arrow was pressed. Some children found this puzzling, expecting
to be presented with further directions immediately. Altering this so that the next stage of the
tutorial appears automatically, would enhance the navigation of the program.
•
It transpired that when some of the children selected a topic from the Site Map, through
impatience they would click on the button more than once while waiting for it to load. As the
homepage button would appear in place of the topic button when the page was finally loaded, this
caused the program to load the topic page then immediately reload the home page. As it was not
feasible to speed up the loading time of a page, the solution to this problem would be to disable all
buttons until a page had been fully loaded.
•
After the completion of the quiz, many of the pupils wished to reattempt it, if they did not score
100%. It was not possible to restart the quiz without exiting the tutorial and restarting the whole
program, so an option to reset the quiz would improve its functionality.
•
Whilst observing the pupils within the multimedia environment, it became apparent that some
found it difficult to determine whether they were being asking them to complete an interactive task
or not. Including an icon or character, which told the user whether they could try out a task or
watch a demo, would be a useful supplement to aid their understanding.
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•
Though the pupils generally found it easy to navigate the tutorial, colour could be used to direct
them further. Darker colours could be used to shade buttons that have already been accessed
drawing awareness away from that area. Likewise brighter colours could be used to highlight areas
which require the user’s attention
7.2 Improving the Tutorial – Larger Changes
Using the various methods for gathering feedback from David Parkinson and the pupils, much
valuable criticism was collated that could help the tutorial to become an indispensable educational
tool.
Sound - Voice narration would be an important addition to the program, where each word in the text
was highlighted in-synch with the audio commentary. This is supported by a study, (Severin, 1997)
which demonstrates that learning is most effective when processed through verbal and non-verbal
channels referred to in 2.2.1.
The blocks of text within the tutorial could also be broken up into smaller sections, to allow the pupils
with lower reading abilities to manage it. Background music and sound effects would also help in
holding the interest of the user.
Graphics and Animation - The tutorial lacked enough fun elements to hold the attention of the pupils
for long periods of time. Introducing a main theme to the program and varying it according to its
different sections would provide a much more captivating piece of software.
Introducing an intelligent agent, such as a cartoon character that appears and provides guidance to the
user, would allow the tutorial to play a more supportive role to the child. Brna and Cooper (2000)
discuss how the introduction of intelligent agents can help boost the self-confidence of a child by
offering one-to-one support, which is not always available from the teacher. They state “Co-operative
technologies are married to intelligent ones such as ‘anthropomorphic’ agents”. This is demonstrated
for example by Microsoft’s ‘Office Assistants’, who can be changed to a range of different animated
characters and provide tips and help facilities to the user.
Demos with Interaction - The research showed that the informants had mixed opinions about whether
they favoured the demos or the interactive parts of the tutorial. Through discussion with the pupils
and David Parkinson, it was decided the best way to teach the user was through the combination of a
non-interactive animation, followed by an interactive facility. This would meet the needs of children
with different abilities, allowing them to view a demo then try a task out for themselves. An option to
bypass the demo would be made available for children with a higher level of understanding.
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Quiz Option - To successfully complete the quiz, the user had to navigate between the question page
and the browser page to search for the answers. For this reason the answers which where input into
the text boxes, were temporarily stored by the program when exiting the page. Once the quiz had been
completed there was no way to restart it to attempt it again. The tutorial would benefit from having a
reset facility that allowed the user to complete the quiz an infinite amount of times. The functionality
of the multimedia environment would also be improved, if the questions could be accessed at the same
time as browsing the Internet. This could be done by having a floating question menu, which could be
moved and manipulated whilst browsing.
Redesign and implement using a different authoring tool - The tutorial was designed to teach only
aspects of Microsoft Word to pupils, it therefore mimicked limited functionality of the software.
Research however illustrated that many of the children would have liked to be able to experiment on
the application itself, receiving feedback on the activities they performed within the program. For this
to be possible the tutorial would have to act as plug-in tutoring agent, refer to section 2.5.1. It would
communicate with the tool Microsoft Word, through a translator, receiving semantic-level details
from it that described user actions. This would allow the tutorial to give direct feedback to the user, in
response to their current actions. It would not be possible to implement such an environment using
Illuminatus OPUS Pro or any other multimedia authoring package. A future consideration for
extending this tutorial would be to use a more appropriate programming language.
Extended tutorial content - Two topics from Roundhay’s curriculum were implemented in the
tutorial, Word basics and Internet introduction. Due to the time restrictions imposed on the project
and the length of time it took to implement each section of the topics, there was not enough time to
implement any more of the curriculum, including the introduction to PowerPoint. As an addition to
this project, other aspects of the ICT curriculum could be integrated into the tutorial.
Change tutorial content -The content of the tutorial was based on Roundhay School’s KS3 ICT
curriculum. A further extension to this project would be to look at other subjects for which an
intelligent tutor could be designed. As much of the ICT curriculum involves the pupils having to learn
how to operate an application, there is limited scope for novel ideas on how to teach it. Other topics
within the national curriculum would allow for more creative suggestion and designs.
Alternatively in keeping with the theme of this project, a tutorial could be implemented which
instructed at a higher level of Information and Communication Technology. This would allow for
more complex functionality to be included during the development of the program, as the target user
would be at a more advanced stage of education.
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Chapter 8 – References
Alberta Learning, (2001), Production Standards and Evaluation Criteria for Multimedia Products,
Alberto Learning.
URL: http://www.learning.gov.ab.ca/ltb/RFP/Eval_Criteria.pdf [21st March 2002]
Arah, T, (2000), Macromedia lash 5
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Bass, R., (1997), A Brief Guide To Interactive Multimedia and the Study of the United States,
Technology & Learning.
URL: http://www.georgetown.edu/crossroads/mltmedia.html [25th March 2002]
Brna, P. & Cooper, B. (2000). Classroom Conundrums: The Use of a Participant Design Methodology.
In Educational Technology & Society 3 (4)
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Brown, J., (1996), Exploring Human-Computer Interaction and Software Engineering Methodologies
for the Creation of Interactive Software, ACM, May, in "SIGCHI Bulletin" Vol. 29, No. 1, pp 32-35.
Chambers, J. & Sprecher, J, (1980), Assisted Instruction: Current Trends and Critical Issues, ACM, pp
333, 336.
Cole, G., (2001), IT faces classroom test, Financial Times, 24 Feb.
URL: http://www.bibliotech.co.uk/press/rev_ft_25_02_01.html [1st December 2001]
Dabbagh, (1999), Instructional Technology Foundations and Theories of Learning.
URL:http://chd.gse.gmu.edu/immersion/knowledgebase/strategies/cognitivism/DualCodingTheory.ht
m [21st January 2002]
Druin A., (1999), The Role of children in the design of New technology, University of Maryland,
NEC ResearchIndex.
URL: http://citeseer.nj.nec.com/cs [22nd February 2002]
Haggerty, N., (1998), Development of a Two Day Course in Computer Based Design and Presentation
Skills for the School of Computer Studies Summer School, Final Year Project Report, Information
Systems, University of Leeds,
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Jamieson, D., Hosie, P., (1992), Selecting computer based authoring packages for training, Australian
Journal of Educational Technology, 8(2), 188-202.
Keep, C., McLaughlin, T., Parmar, R., (2001), The Electronic Labyrinth.
URL: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/elab/elab.html [12th March 2002]
Kennedy, G., Petrovic, T. & Keppel, M., (1998) The development of multimedia evaluation criteria
and a program of evaluation for computer aided learning, ASCILITE.
URL: http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/wollongong98/asc98-pdf/kennedypetrovickeppel.pdf [5th
January 2002]
Macromedia web-site, (2002), Macromedia Authorware 6.
URL: http://www.macromedia.com/software/authorware/ [4th January]
Mayes, T., (2000) Pedagogy, Lifelong Learning and ICT, A discussion paper of the IBM Chair
presentation, Research Centre for Lifelong Learning, Glasgow Caledonian Universities, pp.2.
URL http://www.ipm.ucl.ac.be/ChaireIBM/Mayes.pdf [20th November 2001]
McBride, J., (1998), ToolBook Assistant Simplifies Courseware Creation, ZDNet Reviews online, 23rd
Feb.
URL: http://zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,278627,00.html [10th February 2002]
Najjar, L., (1992), Multimedia User Interface Design Guidelines, Atlanta, GA: IBM Corporation, Sept
24
Najjar, L., (1996), Multimedia Information and Learning, Journal of Educational Multimedia and
Hypermedia, 5, pp 129-150.
Nulden, U., (1999), (PIE) Problem Based Learning, Interactive Multimedia and Experiential Learning,
Viktoria Institute and Dept of Informatics, Goteborg University.
URL: http://ara.informatik.gu.se/nulden/PDF/PIE.pdf [3rd January 2002]
OFSTED Report 108076, (1999), Roundhay School.
URL: http://www.rhsleeds.demon.co.uk/info/ofsted.htm [5th December 2001]
Paivio, A. (1986), Mental Representations, New York: Oxford University Press.
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Parkinson, D., (1st April 2002), Roundhay School web-site.
URL http://www.rhsleeds.demon.co.uk [3rd March 2002]
Reeves, T., (1997), Evaluating What Really Matters in Computer-Based Education, Learning with
software: Pedagogies and practices, University of Georgia.
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Reeves, T. & Harmon, W., (1994) Systematic Evaluation Procedures for Interactive Multimedia for
Education and Training. Reisman, S. (Ed.), Multimedia Computing: Preparing for the 21st Century.
Harrisburg, PA: Ida Group.
Ritter, S. & Koedinger, K., (1996), An architecture for plug-in tutor agents, Journal of Artificial
Intelligence in Education, 7, pp 315-347.
Scaife, M., Rogers, Y., Aldrich, F. & Davies, M., (1997), Designing For or Designing With? Informant Design
for Interactive Learning Environments, in Pemberton, S. (Ed.) CHI'97: Proceedings of Human Factors in
Computing Systems, New York: ACM, pp 343-350.
Schwier, R. & Misanchuk, E., (1993), Interactive Multimedia Instruction, Educational New Jersey:
Technology Publications, pp 4.
Severin, W., (1967), The effectiveness of relevant pictures in multiple channel communications,
Audio Visual Communication Review, 15, pp 386-401.
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Established Curricula: A Case Study, ACM, pp 117.
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Appendix A: Reflections of the Project Experience and Meeting Objectives/Aims
Reflections of the Project Experience
Through undertaking this project, I have strengthened many of my skills and learnt several lessons.
One issue that I would put much emphasis on, is the importance of project management and starting
early. Though I drew up a schedule that estimated how long each stage of the project would take, it is
very hard to accurately predict how long it will take to reach each milestone. I found certain areas
took much longer than I expected, whilst others where completed very quickly. It’s worth
remembering that throughout the project, that there will be times where you will have more
commitments such as coursework and this will effect how much time you can spend on your project.
Another point that I would stress is about implementing the product. I realised whilst developing my
tutorial that it is very easy to be over ambitious about what you will manage to create. I initially
designed the tutorial content using three topics, Word Basics, Internet Introduction and Introduction to
PowerPoint, with an additional project option. However as the implementation proceeded, I found the
length of time each section of the topics took to complete was far longer than envisaged. It was not
possible to successfully implement all three topics to a high standard, so I decided it would be more
preferable to concentrate on two, Word Basic and Internet Introduction and also the collaborative
project option.
I have enjoyed many parts of the project experience, especially testing the tutorial with the Year 7
pupils of Roundhay School. Before I worked with these children, I did not expect the testing of the
tutorial to be particularly successful. However I was astounded by the variety of feedback and
constructive criticism that it received. The students contributed many ideas and thoughts that I had not
initially considered. David Parkinson was also extremely supportive and helpful; suggesting possible
improvements and complimenting the parts of the tutorial that he thought were successful. It is a very
rewarding experience to see a product you have made, be used and enjoyed by its target audience.
Meeting Aims/Requirements
I have successfully met my aims and requirements, developing a working tutorial that is capable of
teaching pupils of Year 7, parts of Roundhay School’s ICT KS3 curriculum. Through researching
issues such as pedagogy and Computer Aided Instruction (CAI), I have been able to understand the
ways in which children learn and therefore recognise how educational technology can be beneficial in
teaching. Investigating HCI issues allowed me to design an interface for the tutorial that was suitable
for children to use, providing them with simple navigation facilities. Through interview and
questionnaires I have been able to collect user requirements for the tutorial, collating the results into
tables. These then showed the areas that the pupils struggled with most, aiding with the design of the
content and helping me to decided which sections should be non-interactive demos or interactive
- 54 -
tasks. A full software review was carried out, which looked at both authoring tools and alternative
software. This demonstrated the most appropriate tool with which to develop the tutorial. An
evaluation criterion was determined through the study of expert’s guidelines, giving a framework for
which to assess the tutorial against.
Whist undertaking this project I have exceeded the initial requirements that were set out, investigating
other issues which would assist with the development of a successful multimedia tutorial. This
allowed the project aims to be accomplished more fully. The strengths of multimedia and its role
within education were studied. The results showed how multimedia could aid a child when learning
and in what ways the tutorial could be developed using multimedia. An examination was carried out,
comparing existing tutorials that taught about topics similar to those in my multimedia tutorial. This
allowed me to see the different levels that a tutorial could be developed to and conclude the best type
to base my tutorial upon. A review of design methodologies let me choose an approach, which would
be most suited to the development of a multimedia application for educational use. I carried out a
thorough evaluation of Illuminatus OPUS Pro, which was the software I used to implement the
tutorial. This will give other students who are thinking about using this authoring package, a true
reflection on its advantages and disadvantages. Specific testing material was designed for the pupils
and teacher of Roundhay School, from the evaluation criteria proposed at the start of the project. This
allowed the tutorial to be successfully assessed according to appropriate guidelines. The feedback
received from the testing, illustrated which parts of the tutorial that the pupils had difficulties with and
gave suggestions to improve the tutorial. This allowed me to look at future development for the
tutorial.
- 55 -
- 56 -
Resrach into software
methodologoies
Research into content of
tutorial
Research into which
software to implement the
system
Research into how to deliver
the software, i.e Web-based
or CDROM
Research HCI issues
Evaluation Criteria
Background research CBL,
Multimedia, pedagogy
Gather User Requirements
Tasks
Nov
1.2
Dec
Jan
1.1
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Appendix B: Schedule Timeline for the Project
Second Milestone
First Milestone
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Dec
Feb
Mar
Submit 13th
Apr
May
Submit 3rd
1.3
Postscript Project Report
Jan
Submit 1st
Submit 13th
1.4
Forth Milestone
Project Report for CSO
Nov
Third Milestone
Table of contents and draft
chapter
Mid-Project report
Deliverables
Project Write Up
Evaluating the tutorial
Testing the tutorial
Implement System
Design System
Tasks
Fifth Milestone
Appendix C: QCA Key Stage 3 Schemes of Work for ICT
Unit 1
Subject
Using ICT
Expectations
Most pupils will: use a multimedia authoring package to
organise, refine and present a set of linked multimedia
pages, which incorporate image, sound and text.
Unit 2
Information and
Most pupils will: use ICT to search several sources to find
presentation
information for specific purposes; select appropriate
information, checking it for accuracy and bias; use ICT to
structure, refine and communicate information; produce a
presentation using more than one format, which show that
they are aware of the needs of their audience.
Unit 3
Processing text and
Most pupils will: work collectively to organise, refine and
images
present a newspaper using a template designed through
analysis of audience needs; identify image requirements,
acquire and process images by the most appropriate
method; share information freely among the group; apply
their template and system to the production of further
printed output.
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Appendix D – Full Evaluation Criterion
Instructional and Conceptual Design
Introductory Objectives and Directions
Is the information relevant to the curriculum, providing complete and sufficient content?
Is the information current?
Is the information error free?
Are the concepts clearly presented?
Are the concepts and vocabulary relevant to age, ability and interest levels?
Are the learning styles appropriate to facilitate student learning?
Does the information recognise diversity and promote bias free viewpoints?
Navigation and Orientation
Is the navigation clear and intuitive (i.e. icons, menus and symbols)?
Is there a site map where necessary?
Is it easy to retrieve information and reach desired pages?
Interactivity
Is the interactivity compatible with the abilities of the intended audience?
Does the interactivity provide opportunities for problem solving, exploring and/or experimenting?
Does the interactivity aid learning?
Sequencing
Is there a logical progression of learning?
Is the pace of learning controllable, with pause, stop, forward and back options?
Consistency between Learning Objectives and Content of Instruction
Does the content clearly articulate the learning objectives?
Interface and Graphic Design
Audio/Narration
Is it clear and understandable to the intended audience?
Is it objective and free from cultural bias?
Are the style and the quality of the sound consistent?
Is the pacing appropriate?
Visuals
Are the visuals appropriate to the learning outcome?
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Is there use of text and other visuals to communicate meaning?
Are the visuals objective and free from cultural bias?
Are the fonts graphics and illustrations, legible and of high quality?
Are the visuals appropriate to the intended audience?
Is the choice of colour suitable and does it take into account common colour deficiencies?
Is there appropriate use of titles, sub-titles and captions?
Language
Is the language accurate with correct use of spelling and grammar?
Is the language appropriate to intended age group/audience?
Overall product
Is the style of the layout consistent?
Does the audio and visual content fit together?
Are there functional data entry/printing/downloading options?
Does the software permit smooth operation with minimal time delays?
User Attitudes and effect
Overall
Is the tutorial easy to use?
Did you enjoy using it?
Were any parts too hard or confusing?
Were any parts too easy?
Did the tutorial look nice?
Is there anything you’d change about how it looks?
Did all parts of it work?
Were any parts of it too slow?
Did you get bored with any parts of it?
Specifics
Was the navigation map easy to use?
Was it easy to get to where you wanted to go?
Were the instructions clear and easy to follow?
Were the buttons easy to operate and were they in the right places?
Were the non-interactive demonstrations helpful?
Was it helpful to be able to interact with the tutorial and do things it asked?
Was all the narration clear and understandable?
- 60 -
Was the text easy to read?
Did the colours in the tutorial look good?
Did you find it helped you understand Word?
Did you find it helped you understand the Internet?
- 61 -
Appendix E – A full Tutoring System (Ritter and Koedinger, 1996)
Ritter and Koedinger (1996), define a full tutoring system as being made up of four parts:
Tool
The tool is the software, which is used to perform learning tasks in a specific domain. For example
Microsoft Excel, which can be used to solve mathematical problems such as algebra. In order for
software to work with an intelligent tutor, semantic-level detail must be available from the application,
which monitors the user’s actions. These actions relate to the work accomplished by the user,
combining many user-interface actions into a single event. For example many user-interface actions
to describe the movement of one cell value to another, could be combined in terms of work
accomplished as, “Moved the value of cell R4C4 to cell R8C7” (Ritter and Koedinger, 1996). This
also allows application-specific objects to be referred to.
Tutoring Agent
The semantic-level detail from the tool guides the tutoring agent software, enabling it to monitor the
actions of the user. The tutoring agent can check the user is doing tasks correctly and provide
feedback to user, after a request or through identification of an opportunity. It generally has no visible
interface, though can display elements such as a help request menu or dialogue box for presenting
messages.
Curriculum Manager
The purpose of the curriculum manager is to decide which task to present to the user next. This
decision can be taken from a preset list or through matching a task to a user, etc.
Translator
The job of the translator is to provide communication between the tool and the tutoring agent. It
translates the semantic-level details from the former, into a form that the later can understand.
- 62 -
Appendix F – Methodological Framework (Scaife et. al., 1997)
Informant
Phase of Design /Design Team Input
Contributor
Specify learning goals; Identify teaching Teacher interviews
Phase 1 - Define
Domain &
Methods
Teachers
Problems
Children
practices /difficulties; Compare
Curriculum requirements
conventional &;multimedia materials
Teacher Panel
Explain difficulties with learning
Talk with pairs of children
particular topics for identified goals
in school context with
existing materials
Psychologists
Analyse learning goals
Cognitive-Developmental
analysis
Design team (all) Explore and define scope of interactivity Theoretical analysis of
external representations
Software/graphic
designer
Begin prototyping
Preliminary sketches and
ideas for representing
domain
Phase 2 Translation of
specification
HCI analyst and Target high-level functionality of
Cognitive and interactivity
psychologist
analysis
multimedia implementation
Software/graphic Turn requirements into software
Storyboarding, sketching,
designer and
scenario creation
specification and determine feasibility
HCI analyst
Phase 3 - Design
low-tech
Psychologist and Work to create low-tech materials
Cognitive analysis
materials & test Designer
Software/graphic Flesh out spec. and test design
Make low-tech materials -
designer
paper cut-outs, etc.
assumptions
- 63 -
Psychologists
Test validity of cognitive assumptions
and designer
Children
Phase 4 - Design
and test hi- tech
materials
evaluation
Provide insight on building interface and Design through scenarios,
motivational factors
Software/graphic Flesh out and validate design aims based
designer
Facilitate child design and
on output from above phases
games, etc.
Prototype hi-tech designs
using multimedia
programming environment
Psychologist and Test validity of cognitive and pedagogical Cognitive analysis and preHCI analyst
aims
Children
Evaluate interactivity and iterating designs Learning tasks
Teachers
, during and post-tests
Verify whether prototypes are an
Try out the prototype,
improvement over existing methods
suggest how could be used
in teaching contexts
- 64 -
Appendix G – Adapted Methodological Framework
Phase of Design
Informant/
Input
Adapted Methods
Design Team
Contributor
Specify learning goals;
Interviewing teachers,
Define Problem
Identify teaching practices/
Geoff Drever and David
Domain &
difficulties; Compare
Parkinson. Looking at
Problems
conventional & multimedia
National Curriculum
materials
requirements.
Explain difficulties with
Emailing the Year 7
learning particular topics for
Students with
identified goals
questionnaires about the
Phase 1 –
Teachers
Children
difficulties they have
learning ICT.
Me
Analyse learning goals
Analysing the above
results.
Explore and define scope of
Looking at interactivity
interactivity
issues within CAI.
Begin Prototyping
Preliminary sketches and
ideas for representing
environment.
Phase 2Translation of
Me
Target High-level functionality
Looking into HCI and other
of multimedia implantation
design issues.
Turn requirements into
Storyboarding, sketching,
software specification and
content description and
determine feasibility
flowcharts.
specification
- 65 -
Phase 3 –
This phase would be impossible to carry out, therefore would not be included
Design low-tech in the development process for the tutorial
materials and
test
Flesh out and validate
Implementing design,
Design and test
design aims based on
using multimedia,
hi-tech
output from above
programming environment.
materials
phases
Phase 4 –
Me
Children
Analyse validity of
Analysis during and after
cognitive and
the testing, collating and
pedagogical aims
concluding results.
Evaluate interactivity
Testing the children with
and iterating designs
the tutorial, using
interview, questionnaire
and observation to collect
results.
Teachers
Verify whether
Try out the prototype, use
prototypes are an
interview and
improvement over
questionnaire to collect
existing methods
results. Suggest how could
be used in teaching
context.
- 66 -
- 67 NO 30%
YES 70% Logging on, email
using the Internet
YES 80%
NO 20%
5. Do you find any parts of the topics very
easy? If so which ones
6.
NO 75%
YES 25%
NO 60%
YES 40%
8. Do you use the computers in your spare
time when at school, i.e. in lunch and
breaks?
NO 80%
YES 20%
Use Lotus Notes, surf the
Internet, play games
Play on games, surf the Internet Surf the Internet, play games,
do homework, use paint
programs
NO 20%
7. If so, what do you do on the computer,
e.g. surf the internet, play games, etc?
Do you have a computer at home?
YES 85%
NO 23%
NO 35%
NO 15%
YES 65% PowerPoint, Emind YES 85%
Maps, Email
Email, PowerPoint
Email 0%
PowerPoint 15%
Data Handling 10%
Information and Presentation 20%
Emind maps 45%
YES 80%
Internet 0%
Email 0%
PowerPoint 20%
Data Handling 20%
Information and Presentation 25%
Emind maps 25%
Internet 5%
Email 5%
PowerPoint 20%
Data Handling 0%
Information and Presentation 5%
Emind maps 35%
Word Basics
Internet
Email
PowerPoint
Data Handling
Information and Presentation
Emind maps
Word Basics 10%
Word Basics 30%
4. What topic in the subject have you found Word Basics 10%
Internet 0%
hardest to learn about so far?
3. Which parts of the subject have you
found boring, if any?
Surfing the Internet 40%
Desk Top Publishing 20%
PowerPoint 25%
Other 15%
Everything 30%
Surfing the Internet 50%
Other 20%
2. What is the most interesting thing you
have learnt about so far in the subject?
YES 100%
NO 0%
7K
Surfing the Internet 30%
Emind Maps 30%
Word 5%
Email 10%
Other 25%
None of it 30%
None 20%
None 40%
Data Handling 20%
Data Handling 35%
Presenting information 25%
Searching for Information 10% Searching for Information 25% Email 15%
Other 40%
Other 20%
Other 20%
YES 100%
NO 0%
7D
YES 100%
NO 0%
7M
1. Do you like learning about ICT?
2
Appendix H – Summary of Initial Research Questionnaire with Pupils
- 68 -
Other (please say what)
Which parts of Word do you find hardest to
use?
Using bullet points
Making Tables
Adding Clip Art or WordArt
Using headers and footers
10. Which parts of using the Internet do you find
hardest to use?
Using reference web-sites
Using encylodpedia web-sites
Using maps on the Internet
Using Search Engines
Other (please say what)
9.
7M
Using reference web-sites 10%
Using encylodpedia web-sites 30%
Using maps on the Internet 20%
Using Search Engines 40%
Other (please say what) 0%
Using bullet points 25%
Making Tables 35%
Adding Clip Art or WordArt 15%
Using headers and footers 25%
Other (please say what) 0
3
Using bullet points 20%
Making Tables 35%
Adding Clip Art or WordArt 5%
Using headers and footers 20%
Other (please say what) 20% editing
Clip Art
7K
Other (please say what) 0%
Other (please say what) 10%
Using reference web-sites 10%
Using reference web-sites 15%
Using encylodpedia web-sites 10% Using encylodpedia web-sites 25%
Using maps on the Internet 30% Using maps on the Internet 20%
Using Search Engines 50%
Using Search Engines 30%
Using bullet points 20%
Making Tables 25%
Adding Clip Art or WordArt 20%
Using headers and footers 25%
Other (please say what) 10%
making special effects
7D
Appendix I - The Tutorial Content
1
Internet Homepage
1.1
Loading Web Browser
Explanation what it is (non-interactive)
Explanation on how to load it and instruct to do so (interactive)
Give advice on browsing Internet (non-interactive)
1.2
Navigating Web Page
Explanation about viewing offline and instruct to load web browser (interactive)
Browse Internet and answer questions on Test Page (interactive)
1.2.1
Question Page
Explain how to answer questions and instruct to answer them (interactive)
1.3
ULR addresses
Explanation on URL’s and http (non-interactive)
Instruct to type in web address (Leeds Learning net), without http (interactive)
Further explanation about URL format, e.g. www, co, org, uk, etc (non-interactive)
1.4
Logging in and out
Explanation about restricted sites and login (non-interactive)
Explanation about logout with warning (non-interactive)
1.5
Information Searching
1.5.1
Explanation of information providing web sites e.g. reference, search engines
Instruct to go onto howstuffworks.com site. Click on link to “science and
tech”, then on “animals” (interactive)
Explanation about using the scroll bar and instruct to use link “how sharks
work” and answer question on question page (interactive)
Explanation about using the ‘back’ button and instruct to go back to start
(non-interactive)
Explanation about adding favourites and instruct them to do this
(non-interactive)
1.5.1.1 Question page
Explain how to answer questions and instruct to answer them (interactive)
1.5.2
Explanation about reference sites
Instruct to go to refdesk.com site (interactive)
Explanation about dictionary searches (non-interactive)
Instruct to search for the word Campanology in dictionary (interactive)
Explanation of encyclopaedia searches (non-interactive)
Instruct to follow link to “Encarta.com” (interactive)
- 69 -
Instruct to enter in Ancient Romans and search (interactive)
Explanation of problems and refining search (non-interactive)
Instruct to enter in Life in Ancient Rome and search and answer question on
question page (interactive)
1.5.2.1 Question page
Explain how to answer questions and instruct to answer them
(interactive)
1.5.3
Explanation of Search Engines
Instruct to go to altavista.com site (interactive)
Explanation of sites arranged by subject matter (non-interactive)
Instruct to follow links “shopping”, then “videos”, then “Shrek” and answer
question on question page (interactive)
Explanation of searching entire Internet, refining search and specifying context
(non-interactive)
Instruct to return to home page by using pop-up box (interactive)
Instruct to enter Mobile Phones in box and search to demonstrate too much
information and explain why (interactive)
Instruct to refine search with speech marks and answer question on question page
(interactive).
Explanation about using operators e.g. + and – to refine search and shortening
words (non-interactive)
Instruct to find answer to a question by searching Internet (interactive)
1.5.4
Question page
Explain how to answer questions and instruct to answer them (interactive)
1.5.5
Explanation of Maps
Instruct to go to encarta.com and click on “encyclopaedia link” (interactive)
Instruct to find a detailed map of Kenya which is in East Africa and answer
question on question page (interactive)
Instruct to go to easymap.co.uk (interactive)
Instruct to clock on Yorkshire on the map, then enter your own postcode into the
GB Post Codes box (interactive)
Print out the map of your street (interactive)
1.5.5.1 Question page
Explain how to answer questions and instruct to answer them
2
Word
2.1
Loading Word
Explanation of what it is
- 70 -
(interactive)
Explanation of how to load it using Start Menu (interactive)
2.2
Opening a New Document, Entering Text and Saving
Instruct to opening new document using icon shortcut (interactive)
Instruct to opening new document using toolbar menu (interactive)
Instruct to enter in specified text e.g. “hi” and explain that it is set to default size/font
(interactive)
Instruct on use of spell check using Change and Ignore (interactive)
Demo of saving work (non-interactive)
2.3
Selecting and Formatting Text
Selecting text using click and drag (interactive)
Selecting a word by double clicking (interactive)
Triple click to select paragraph (interactive)
Demo of selecting text using shift key and cursor (non - interactive)
While text is highlighted, instruct to change all text to AGaramond (interactive)
Instruct to double click on 1st word and change text to Font Size 16 (interactive)
Instruct to Bold, then Underline, them Italic text whilst highlighted (interactive)
Whilst text is highlighted instruct to try out justifying text (interactive)
Demo to show how to change the colour of the text (non-interactive)
2.4
Cutting, Copying, Pasting and Undoing
Explanation about cutting and pasting text
Instruct to select 1st word then cut it using the icon shortcut (interactive)
Instruct to paste text at end of sentence (interactive)
Explanation about copying text
Instruct to select the word “Camel” then cut it using the icon shortcut (interactive)
Instruct to paste text after the word “Camel” (interactive)
2.5
Bullets, Tables and Text Boxes
Explanation of Bullet Points
Instruct to write some text and bullet it using the icon shortcut (interactive)
Instruct to press enter and write more text, and then click on the icon to get rid of t
the bullet (interactive)
Demo of changing bullet types (non-interactive)
Instruct to insert a table using Toolbar menu, after using enter to get to next line
(interactive)
Instruct to change number of columns and rows to 2 and 6 (interactive)
Instruct to enter in some text into the first cell in the tables (interactive)
Explanation of how to create text Boxes (non-interactive)
- 71 -
Explanation of text box states and instruct to write in text box and move it
(interactive)
Explanation of changing format of text box e.g. fill, line and style (non-interactive)
2.6
Clipart and WordArt
Instruct to move text down a line using enter then create WordArt by clicking on
icon shortcut (interactive)
Instruct to select Orange WordArt style, 3rd one down (interactive)
Instruct to change Font to Jazz Poster ICG and size to 40 (interactive)
Instruct to highlight text and enter in the word “DEMO” (interactive)
Explanation about moving WordArt (interactive)
Demo of how to shrink or stretch the object (non-interactive)
Instruct to put cursor at the bottom of the text and press enter (interactive)
Instruct to select Clipart icon and click on the Search-bar box (interactive)
Explanation about searching for keywords and demo of entering in “CROC”
(non-interactive)
Instruct to press enter then click on croc picture and insert picture, then close down
the box
Instruct to click on picture and change it to a watermark (interactive)
Instruct to use text wrapping to put watermark behind text (interactive)
2.7
Headers and Footers
Instruct to select header and footer using View option from the toolbar (interactive)
Instruct to enter some text in the header and use the switch option to see the footer
(interactive)
Instruct to enter text into footer, use the switch option to return to the header and
then close the header and Footer (interactive)
Explanation about viewing header and footers in lighter text colour.
3
PowerPoint (This was removed for the revised design for PowerPoint could not be included due
to time restrictions, see section 2.3.5)
3.1
Loading PowerPoint
Explanation of what it is
Explanation of how to load it (double click) and show icon (interactive)
3.2
Adding text to title screen
Demo of options to pick blank presentations and different layouts (non-interactive)
Instruct to click on top specified box and enter text (interactive)
Instruct to click on bottom specified box and enter text (interactive)
3.3
Formatting and Moving Text
Instruct to select text by clicking on border, explanation of border changing pattern
- 72 -
(interactive)
Instruct to change font of text (interactive)
Instruct to change text size by typing in number (interactive)
Instruct to change text size by using decrease/increase buttons (interactive)
Instruct to centre text (interactive)
Instruct to change text colour (interactive)
3.4
Changing the slide background colour
Instruct to select format then background (interactive)
Instruct to change background colour using “more colours” option (interactive)
Instruct to sample background colour using “fill effects” option using 1 colour, 2
colours and preset colours (interactive)
Instruct to change shading styles and pick a colour for background (interactive)
3.5
Changing the view
Explanation of changing the views of the presentation
Instruct to change to Slide view (interactive)
Instruct to change to Outline view (interactive)
Instruct to change to Slide Sorter view (interactive)
Instruct to change to Slide Show view (interactive)
3.6
Saving and Opening
Demo of saving presentation in user area and closing presentation (non-interactive)
Demo of opening an existing presentation if PowerPoint is not running
(non-interactive)
Demo of opening an existing presentation if PowerPoint is already running
(non-interactive)
3.7
New Slide 1
Explanation of different slide layouts
Instruct to select 2nd layout with bullets (interactive)
Instruct to add text in the title box (interactive)
Demo adding text to sub-title box, and instruct to press enter to get next sentence
bulleted (non-interactive/interactive)
Instruct to demote this text then press enter and promote the next line of text
(interactive)
Instruct to change size, colour, format and font of text (interactive)
Instruct to spell check the text (interactive)
Instruct to change the background of text (interactive)
3.8
New Slide 2
Instruct to select 4th layout with Text and Clipart (interactive)
- 73 -
Instruct to add text with bullets (interactive)
Instruct to double click on box indicated to add Clipart (interactive)
Instruct to select a category and insert an image by double clicking on it
(interactive)
Demo of the handles which modify size of picture (non-interactive)
3.9
Checking Presentation
Instruct to change to Slide Sorter view so as to select the 1st slide where the
presentation will start (interactive)
Instruct to click Slide Show button to view the presentation (interactive)
Demo of using Space Bar to move to the next slide and instruct to do it
(non-interactive/interactive)
Instruct to press Escape to exit presentation (interactive)
3.10
Special Effects
Explanation of transitions changing the way a slide opens (interactive)
Instruct to change to Outline view and select first slide (interactive)
Instruct to click on Slide Show on menu toolbar and then Custom Animation
(interactive)
Instruct to select an object of text and change Entry animation effect to Blinds
Vertical (interactive)
Instruct to click on Slide Show to view presentation (interactive)
Demo of presentation (non-interactive)
3.11
Timing
Explanation of setting up a timed slide show (interactive)
Instruct to select Custom Animation and choose Timing (interactive)
Instruct to double click on the title text and select Start Animation Automatically,
changing the number of seconds to 5 (interactive)
Instruct to click on Slide Show to view presentation (interactive)
Demo of presentation (non-interactive)
4
Final Project
Explanation of the Project as a collaborative task after the other tutorial topics have been
completed
Explanation of picking an interest and searching for information about it on the Internet
Explanation of using PowerPoint to create a presentation about the chosen interest (This was
removed for the revised design for PowerPoint could not be included due to time restrictions,
see section 2.3.5)
Explanation of using Word to create handouts for this presentation.
- 74 -
Appendix J - Worksheet/Questionnaire used for Testing the Children
Tutorial which will help you learn Word and the Internet
Getting Started
Load the Tutorial by going to the Start Menu, then follow Programs and finally Tutorial/
Using the Tutorial
The aim of this exercise is to find out what you think about this tutorial; what parts of it you like and/or
don’t like, etc. Follow the instructions in the tutorial and play around with it, then answer the following
questions.
Name:
1.
Is the tutorial easy to use?
2.
Did you enjoy using it?
3.
Is any of it hard to use or confusing, if so which parts?
4.
Are any parts too easy, if so which parts?
5.
Are any parts of it boring, if so which parts and why do you think they are?
- 75 -
6.
Are any parts interesting, if so which ones?
7.
Did the tutorial look good in your opinion?
8.
Is there anything you’d change about how it looks, if so what?
9.
Did all parts of the tutorial work? If not which parts?
10. Is the Site Map helpful/easy to understand and use? If not why?
11. Is it easy to get to the parts where you wanted to go?
12. Are the instructions clear and do you always understand what they are asking you to do?
13. Are the buttons easy to operate and do you feel they are in the right places?
14. Are the demos helpful?
15. Would you rather watch demos, be able to try things out yourself, or both?
16. Is the text easy to read?
17. Do you like the colours in the tutorial? If not why do you think you don’t and what colours would
you use?
18. Do you think the tutorial would help someone learn Word if they had never used it before? If not,
why do you think this is?
19. Do you think the tutorial would help someone learn about using the Internet if they had never
used it before? If not, why do you think this is?
20. Please write any extra comments you have about the tutorial; what you liked or didn’t like about
it…. and be honest!!
- 76 -
Appendix K - Questionnaire used for Testing David Parkinson
Instructional and Conceptual Design
Introductory objectives and directions
Is the information relevant to the curriculum, providing complete and sufficient content?
Is the information current?
Is the information error-free?
Are the concepts clearly presented?
Are the concepts and vocabulary relevant to age, ability, and interest levels?
Are the learning styles appropriate to facilitate student learning?
Does the information recognise diversity and promote bias free viewpoints?
Navigation and orientation
Is the navigation clear and intuitive (i.e. icons, menus and symbols)?
Is there a site map where necessary?
Is it easy to retrieve information and reach desired pages?
Interactivity
- 77 -
Is the interactivity compatible with abilities of intended audience?
Does the interactivity provide opportunities for problem solving, exploring and/or experimenting?
Does the interactivity aid learning?
Sequencing
Is there a logical progression of learning?
Is the pace of learning controllable, with pause, stop, forward and back options?
Consistency between learning objectives and content of instruction
Does the content clearly articulate the learning objectives?
Interface and Graphic Design
Visuals
Are the visuals appropriate to learning outcome?
Is there use of text and other visuals to communicate meaning?
Are the visuals objective and free from cultural bias?
Are the fonts graphics and illustrations, legible and of high quality?
Are the visuals appropriate to the intended audience?
- 78 -
Is the choice of colour suitable and does it take into account common colour deficiencies?
Is there appropriate use of titles, sub-titles and captions?
Language
Is the language accurate with correct use of spelling and grammar?
Is the language appropriate to intended age group/audience?
Overall product
Is the style of the layout consistent?
Does the audio and visual content fit together?
Are there functional data entry/printing/downloading options?
Does the software permit smooth operation with minimal time delays?
- 79 -
Appendix L - Tutorial User Guide
Installation
After inserting the CDROM, a set-up menu will automatically appear similar to a typical Windows
installation screen. Follow the set-up instructions to install the tutorial. An option at the end of the
set-up will allow desktop and Start Menu shortcuts to be created.
Using the Tutorial - General
The Tutorial is designed to help you learn about Word and the Internet. To use it, click on the buttons
in the Site Map, and follow the instructions in the boxes at the bottom of the screen. After each set of
instructions has been read and followed and/or a demo has been viewed, use the forward arrow button
to carry on with the tutorial. If you need to go back to any point in a topic, use the back arrow button.
Using the Internet Section of the Tutorial
To move to an Internet topic, simply click on the appropriate button in the Internet Site Map to the left
of the screen. This Map will always be on the screen so you can easily move from one topic to the
next. Some of the sections will ask you to answer a question. Simply click on the question button and
follow the instructions to do this. If at any point you wish to return to the Tutorial Homepage, select
the HOME button
During each tutorial topic read the instructions at the bottom of the screen, and try out the tasks when
directed. After you have done this you must click on the forward arrow to move you to the next set of
instructions. If at any time you wish to go back to a previous page, use the back arrow to do so.
Using the Word Section of the Tutorial
This is the Word Section of the tutorial. To move to a Word topic, simply click on the appropriate
button in the Word Site Map to the left of the screen. This Map will always be on the screen so you
can easily move from one topic to the next. Some sections of the topics will be made up of demos that
you can watch by clicking the demo button. Other parts will be interactive so you can try things out
yourself. If at any point you wish to return to the Tutorial Homepage, select the HOME button.
During each tutorial topic read the instructions at the bottom of the screen, and try out the tasks when
directed. After you have done this you must click on the forward arrow to move you to the next set of
instructions. If at any time you wish to go back to a previous page, use the back arrow to do so.
Exiting the Tutorial
To exit the tutorial program click on the EXIT TUTORIAL button on the Homepage.
- 80 -
NO 90%
which parts?
- 81 NO 29%
which parts?
wanted to go?
11. Is it easy to get to the parts where you
“Yes it is because you can”
NO 9%
NO 10%
“Quite easy”
YES 91%
“Its helpful and easy”
YES 90%
YES 100%
NO 0%
“It was fine”
“The project”
NO 24%
YES 76%
“I would make there a little man like on it
NO 23%
NO 89%
YES 87%
NO 5%
“The project bit was under construction”
YES 95%
YES 71%
Did all parts of the tutorial work? If not
10. Is the Site Map helpful/easy to
understand and use? If not why?
9.
NO 18%
how it looks, if so what?
8.
“The background needs more pictures”
NO 10%
YES 92%
“I liked the crocodile bit”
YES 11%
“The demos are good”
YES 90%
opinion?
Is there anything you’d change about
NO 22%
NO 28%
ones?
Did the tutorial look good in your
YES 78%
YES 72%
Are any parts interesting, if so which
7.
6.
“The text and the buttons were boring”
NO 40%
parts and why do you think they are?
“Logging in and out because everyone
NO 55%
YES 60%
NO 89%
NO 95%
Are any parts of it boring, if so which
“Homepage bit”
YES 11%
YES 5%
“Some parts like opening a new using the “Answering the questions”
“The School login bit”
YES 41%
5.
NO 28%
YES 8%
NO 25%
YES 10%
Is any of it hard to use or confusing, if so
3.
Are any parts too easy, if so which parts?
NO 14%
YES 72%
NO 20%
YES 75%
Did you enjoy using it?
2.
4.
YES 86%
YES 80%
1. Is the tutorial easy to use?
NO 92%
7D
7M
NO 13%
YES 87%
“No you have to jump backwards and
“Not sure”
NO 2%
“After the demos”
YES 98%
NO 25%
YES 75%
NO 15%
YES 67%
NO 33%
“I’d put more things for us to use”
“Yes the one about the crocodile”
YES 85%
NO 18%
YES 82%
“No cause you’re learning how to use a
NO 70%
“Easy because of the instructions”
YES 30%
NO 83%
YES 17%
“You need more instructions to answer
NO 91%
NO 30%
YES 9%
NO 11%
YES 70%
YES 89%
7K
Appendix M - Summary Table of the Pupil Responses to the Testing Questionnaire
- 82 -
20. Please write any extra comments you have about
the tutorial; what you liked or didn’t like about
it…. And be honest!
“I liked it”
“Could put in more stuff like pictures and
cartoons”
“Pictures would make it less boring”
“I didn’t really like the colours, think it should
be brighter”
“It was good”
“It could do with less writing”
“More brighter colour needed”
“Puzzles would be good”
“The graphics are a bit low key and it
doesn’t catch my eye”
“People need to experiment on the thing
but they cant cause it doesn’t all work”
“The demo is good for people who don’t
know how to do it”
“I liked the demos and the questions”
YES 82%
YES 84%
19. Do you think the tutorial would help someone learn
NO 18%
NO 16%
about using the Internet if they had never used it
“it has lots of information on how to do things” “Yes it is very useful”
before? If not, why do you think this is?
YES 75%
NO 25%
“Not really because it’s a bit boring”
YES 70%
18. Do you think the tutorial would help someone learn
NO 30%
Word if they had never used it before? If not, why
“It’s a bit confusing”
do you think this is?
YES 76%
NO 24%
“You should colour words in”
“DEMO 30%
TRY IT OUT 25%
BOTH 45%
YES 86%
NO 14%
YES 90%
NO 10%
YES 71%
NO 29%
“Some of the time I didn’t understand”
YES 51%
NO 49%
“They look good”
YES 70%
NO 30%
“It needs to be a bit bigger
DEMO 45%
TRY IT OUT 25%
BOTH 30%
YES 93%
NO 7%
“Yes they were good”
YES 91%
NO 9%
YES 84%
NO 16%
“Sometimes I’m not sure what to do”
7D
YES 61%
17. Do you like the colours in the tutorial? If not why
NO 39%
do you think you don’t and what colours would
you use?
“They needed to be brighter, I like the colour
blue and red”
16. Is the text easy to read?
15. Would you rather watch demos, be able to try
things out yourself, or both?
14. Are the demos helpful?
13. Are the buttons easy to operate and do you feel
they are in the right places?
12. Are the instructions clear and do you always
understand what they are asking you to do?
7M
“The text was a bit small”
“I was annoyed that if you made a
mistake on the questions you have to start
again”
“Each section could be different
background colour and texture”
“It would be good for beginners”
“I liked the idea, but takes too long to
load”
“It should have sound”
“The tests were interesting”
YES 88%
NO 12%
“Yes but should be able to do more stuff”
YES 71%
NO 29%
“No its too confusing”
YES 65%
NO 35%
“Would use more colours”
YES 78%
NO 12%
“Bigger text would be easier”
“DEMO 30%
TRY IT OUT 30%
BOTH 40%
YES 85%
NO 15%
“Yes they showed you what to do”
YES 87%
NO 13%
YES 80%
NO 20%
“Most of the time”
7K
Appendix N – Examples of Completed Questionnaires from Pupils and David Parkinson
- 83 -
7M Pupil
- 84 -
- 85 -
7D Pupil
- 86 -
- 87 -
7K Pupil
- 88 -
- 89 -
David Parkinson
- 90 -
- 91 -
- 92 -
Appendix O - Reference letter from Roundhay School
- 93 -