An Action Research Approach to the Design, Development and Evaluation of an Interactive E-Learning Tutorial in a Cognitive Domain
ARTICLE
Ruth de Villiers, University of South Africa, South Africa
JITE-Research Volume 6, Number 1, ISSN 1539-3585 Publisher: Informing Science Institute
Abstract
The teaching and learning of a complex section in Theoretical Computer Science 1 in a distanceeducation context at the University of South Africa (UNISA) has been enhanced by a supplementary e-learning application called Relations, which interactively teaches mathematical skills in a cognitive domain. It has tutorial and practice functionality in a classic computer-aided instruction (CAI) style and offers considerable learner control. A participative action research approach was used to design, develop, evaluate, and refine the application over a longitudinal period. In this process the application was formatively and summatively evaluated by different methods – questionnaire surveys, interviews, heuristic evaluation and a post-test. This article explains the purpose, structure, and operation of Relations and notes how the various evaluation methods resulted in iterative refinements to its functionality, learning content, and usability. The findings lead to reflection. Conventional computer-aided instruction and learning (CAI/L) has a role to play in the milieu of e-learning. CAI can present efficient instruction, motivate and engage learners, challenge them with meaningful exercises, and can support effective learning. The students requested more such tutorial and practice environments. Relations' greatest strength is its excellent diagnostic feedback, attested to by learners and expert evaluators alike. Courseware authoring systems have powerful facilities that can be used to judge the learner-input and provide appropriate, detailed, tailor-made feedback. This can be done in web-based learning (WBL) too, using specialized web-programming languages, but it is more complex. A further obstacle to the use of WBL at UNISA is that many UNISA students still lack broadband Internet access. The designer and developers of Relations used technology, not for its own sake, but rather to motivate and to illustrate concepts in ways that enhance cognition. Technology should be the medium and not the message. The blue-water recreational theme was well received by the majority of learners and expert evaluators, who acknowledged its role in providing brief interludes of diversion and relaxation in a demanding cognitive domain. The concepts of usability and interaction design from the discipline of human-computer interaction (HCI) are receiving increasing attention in the development of commercial and corporate software. It is equally important to produce usable applications in educational contexts where the users are not professionals in the workplace, but learners who must first be able to use and interact with a system before they can even commence learning. Many learners approach e-learning after exposure to commercial software. As far as possible, learning applications should use operations and key-presses that support the HCI principles of predictability and consistency with familiar systems. In certain respects Relations falls short in this respect, but it was found to be easy to learn and use. It adheres to the fundamental principle of internal consistency, where a system's own internal operations are characterized by predictability and visibility.
Citation
de Villiers, R. (2007). An Action Research Approach to the Design, Development and Evaluation of an Interactive E-Learning Tutorial in a Cognitive Domain. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 6(1), 455-479. Informing Science Institute. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/111433/.
Keywords
References
View References & Citations Map- Albion, P.R. (1999). Heuristic evaluation of educational multimedia: From theory to practice. Retrieved December 2005, from http://www.usq.edu.au/users/albion/papers/ascilite99.html.
- Alessi, S.M., & Trollip, S.R. (2001). Multimedia for learning: Methods and development (3rd ed.). Massuchusetts: Pearson Education.
- Baskerville, R.L., & Wood-Harper, A.T. (1996). A critical perspective on action research as a method for information systems research. Journal of Information Technology, 11, 235-246.
- Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2000). Research methods in education (5th ed.). London: RoutledgeFalmer.
- Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper& Row.
- Costabile, M.F, De Marsico, M., Lanzilotti, R., Plantamura, V.L., & Roselli, T. (2005). On the usability evaluation of e-learning applications. In Proceedings of the 38th Hawaii International Conference on System Science, 1-10. Washington: IEEE Computer Society. 477 An Action Research Approach
- De Villiers, M.R. (2004). Usability evaluation of an e-learning tutorial: Criteria, questions and case study. In G. Marsden, P. Kotze, & A. Adesina-Ojo, Fulfilling the promise of ICT (pp. 284-291). Proceedings
- De Villiers, M.R. (2006). Multi-method evaluations: Case studies of an interactive tutorial and practice system. Proceedings of the 9th Annual Informing Science+ IT Education (InSITE) Conference, June 2006. Manchester, UK. University of Salford. Available at http://proceedings.informingscience.org/InSITE2006/ProcDeVi225.pdfDick,B.(1999).Whatisactionresearch?RetrievedDecember2005,fromhttp://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/whatisar.html
- Dix, A., Finlay, J., Abowd, G.D., & Beale, R. (2004). Human-computer interaction (3rd ed.). Harlow: Pearson Education.
- Du Poy, E., & Gitlin, L.N. (1998). Introduction to research: Understanding and applying multiple strategies (2nd ed.). St Louis: Mosby.
- Hodges, C. (2004). Designing to motivate: Motivational techniques to incorporate in e-learning experience. The Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 2, 3.
- Jonassen, D. (1999). Designing constructivist learning environments. In C.M. Reigeluth (Ed.), Instructionaldesign theories and models: A new paradigm of instructional theory Volume II. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Keller, J.M. & Suzuki, K. (1988). Use of the ARCS motivational model in courseware design. In D.H. Jonassen, (Ed.), Instructional designs for microcomputer courseware. N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Nielsen, J. (1994). Heuristic evaluation. In J. Nielsen& R.L. Mack (Eds.), Usability inspection methods. New York: John Wiley& Sons.
- Preece, J., Rogers, Y., & Sharp, H. (2002). Interaction design. New York: John Wiley& Sons.
- Reeves, T.C., & Hedberg, J.G. (2003). Interactive learning, systems evaluation. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Educational Technology Publications.
- Reeves, T.C., & Reeves, P.M. (1997). Effective dimensions of interactive learning on the WorldWide Web. In B.H. Khan (Ed.), Web-based Instruction. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Educational Technology Publications.
- Squires, D. (1997). An heuristic approach to the evaluation of multimedia software. Retrieved December 2005, from http://www.media.uwe.ac.uk/masoud/cal-97/papers/squires.htm
- Squires, D., & Preece, J. (1999). Predicting quality in educational software: Evaluating for learning, usability and the synergy between them. Interacting with Computers, 11(5), 467–483.
- Wesson, J.L., & Cowley, N.L. (2003). The challenge of measuring e-learning quality: Some ideas from HCI. IFIP TC3/WG3.6 Working Conference on Quality Education@ a Distance, 231-238, Geelong, Australia, February 2003.
- Zuber-Skerrit, O. (1992). Action research in higher education. London: Kogan Page. De Villiers Biography Ruth de Villiers is a professor in the School of Computing of the University of South Africa. She has an MSc, an MEd and a PhD (Computer-Integrated Education). Ruth teaches courses in human-computer interaction, theoretical computing and e-learning. Her cross-discipline research areas– in which she also supervisors postgraduate students– are design, usability and evaluation of educational applications; e-learning in general; HCI education; and meta-research. 479
These references have been extracted automatically and may have some errors. Signed in users can suggest corrections to these mistakes.
Suggest Corrections to References