Learners'''' attitude towards learning the causeware funtioning in business through dyned software a survey evalution by the second year non English major students at Hanoi University of Business and Technology

THROUGH DYNED SOFTWARE: A SURVEY EVALUATION BY THE SECOND YEAR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY Thái độ của sinh viên đối với việc học giáo trì

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THROUGH DYNED SOFTWARE:

A SURVEY EVALUATION BY THE SECOND YEAR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY (Thái độ của sinh viên đối với việc học giáo trình “Functioning in Business” bằng phần mềm DynED: Một khảo sát đánh giá đối với sinh viên năm thứ hai

của trường Đại Học Kinh Doanh và Công Nghệ Hà Nội)

M.A.MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

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THE UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACUTY OF POST GRADUATE- STUDIES

****************************************

NGUYỄN THỊ NHƯ QUỲNH

LEARNERS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS LEARNING THE COURSEWARE “FUNCTIONING IN BUSINESS”

THROUGH DYNED SOFTWARE:

A SURVEY EVALUATION BY THE SECOND YEAR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY (Thái độ của sinh viên đối với việc học giáo trình “Functioning in Business” bằng phần mềm DynED: Một khảo sát đánh giá đối với sinh viên năm thứ hai

của trường Đại Học Kinh Doanh và Công Nghệ Hà Nội)

M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

CODE : 601410 SUPERVISOR: NGUYỄN BÀNG, M.A

HANOI, 2011

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vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the thesis 1

2 Aims of the thesis 1

3 Significance of the thesis 2

4 Scope of the thesis 2

5 Design of the thesis 3

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 4

Chapter 1: Literature Review 4

1.1 Courseware in Language Teaching and Learning 4

1.1.1.Definition of Courseware 5

1.1.2.Reasons for Courseware Evaluation 6

1.1.3.Role of Teaching Courseware in General English 6

1.1.4.Types of Courseware Evaluation 7

1.2 Courseware Evaluation Framework 10

1.2.1 Presentation and Organization of the Content 12

1.2.2 Evaluation of Learning 16

1.3 Dynamic Education 17

1.3.1.Introduction of Dynamic Program 17

1.3.2.Pegagogical Framework of DynED 17

1.3.3.“Functioning in Business” Courseware of DynED Program 21

1.3.4.The Role of DynED as CALL 23

1.3.5.Related Studies 23

1.4 Summary 23

Chapter 2: Research Methodology 25

2.1 An overview of current English Teaching and Learning at HUBT 25

2.2 Research Methods 26

2.2.1 Research Questions 26

TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com

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2.2.3 Research Instrument 26

2.2.4 Participants 27

2.2.5 Data collection procedures 27

2.3 Summary 27

Chapter 3: Data Analysis and Discussion 28

3.1 Results of the Content in “Functioning in Business” Courseware 28

3.2 Results of the Interactivity in “Functioning in Business” Courseware 30

3.3 Results of the Navigation in “Functioning in Business” Courseware 31

3.4 Results of the Feedback in “Functioning in Business” Courseware 32

3.5 Results of the Screen Design in “Functioning in Business” Courseware 33

3.6 Results of the Students’ Learning to“ the Courseware 35

3.7 Results of the Students’ Preference to the Courseware 38

3.8 Recommendations for material improvements 39

3.9 Summary of major findings 41

PART 3: CONCLUSION 43

3.1 Conclusions 43

3.2 Implications 44

3.3 Limitations 45

3.4 Suggestions for further study 46

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Learners''.attitude.towards.learning.the.causeware.funtioning.in.business.through.dyned.software.a.survey.evalution.by.the.second.year.non.English.major.students.at.Hanoi.University.of.Business.and.TechnologyLearners''.attitude.towards.learning.the.causeware.funtioning.in.business.through.dyned.software.a.survey.evalution.by.the.second.year.non.English.major.students.at.Hanoi.University.of.Business.and.TechnologyLearners''.attitude.towards.learning.the.causeware.funtioning.in.business.through.dyned.software.a.survey.evalution.by.the.second.year.non.English.major.students.at.Hanoi.University.of.Business.and.TechnologyLearners''.attitude.towards.learning.the.causeware.funtioning.in.business.through.dyned.software.a.survey.evalution.by.the.second.year.non.English.major.students.at.Hanoi.University.of.Business.and.Technology

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

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LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figures

Figure 1: Diagram of the Evaluation Framework

Figure 2: Video Interaction in DynED Figure 3: Sample of Vocabulary question in DynED Figure 4: Sample of sentence construction in DynED Figure 5: Record Manager in DynED

Tables

Table 1: Analysis on the Content in the “Functioning in Business” Courseware Table 2: Analysis on the Interactivity of the “Functioning in Business” Courseware Table 3: Analysis on the Navigation of the IMM Courseware

Table 4: The analysis of the feedback of the “Functioning in Business” courseware Table 5: Analysis on the Screen Design of the Courseware

Table 6: The analysis on the students’ learning towards the courseware Table 7: Analysis on Students’ Preferences towards the Use of “Functioning in Business” Courseware Compared to Traditional Methods of Learning

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PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the thesis

In the past, English lessons were normally taught through conventional classroom instruction, in which, most often than not, the teacher would be teaching in front of the classroom, while students were passive recipients of knowledge However, presently technology has had a great influence on the educational practices in the classrooms in which computer-based technology is very much in use to enhance instruction and transfer the focus from the teacher to the students in the learning process (Bork, 2001; Ertmer, Gopalakrishnan & Ross, 2001)

Incorporating technology in the classroom is beneficial to the students in a number of ways: assisting students‟ understanding of concepts, enhancing students‟ motivation in exploring, investigating, conjecturing, creating and discovering principles, and making generalization and connections (Wertherimer, 1990); engaging students involvement in the learning process (Guha, 2003) and motivating them

The advent of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has brought the concept

of Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) into the classroom CAI is a kind of instruction that exploits computer software to assist teachers to teach information or skills related to a particular topic (Roblyer, 2004), and students can interact directly with lessons programmed into the computer system (Smaldino, Russell, Heinich & Molenda, 2005) There are many types of software that teachers can use to develop their own teaching courseware

Studies demonstrate that the DynED software can be used to help improve students‟ achievement in English hence, to eradicate much English anxiety and fear of using computer software and learning English

2 Aims of the thesis

The purpose of this study is to evaluate a courseware for the Business Communications course The courseware is specifically known as “Functioning in Business” It consists of

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additional information on the subject and quizzes to complement the Business Communications course The objective is the evaluation of the courseware by the students and that of the researcher on its strengths and weaknesses of the courseware The study is conducted primarily to find out the attitude of students towards the use of the Business Communications courseware as a supplementary teaching/learning material in HUBT

3 Significance of the thesis

Many teachers often face problems and difficulties in teaching English namely due to shortage of instructional media, students‟ lack of understanding of the basic concepts of English, students‟ incomplete work and negative learning attitude Researchers have shown

that students also tend to „find school much less interesting than the myriad of devices they

carry in their pocket and backpacks‟ (Prensky, 2005) Thus, teachers need to find

interesting strategies and tools to make teaching and learning more effective and interesting to the students

Practically, the findings of the thesis will be of great use not only to the researcher but also

to the teachers who are teaching DynED software to students at HUBT Furthermore, the findings of the thesis will form a foundation toward improving the quality of the courseware which is currently in use for the students at HUBT

4 Scope of the thesis

In courseware evaluation, there has been a great number of criteria that should be taken into consideration such as: the content, the organization and presentation, the design factors, the pedagogical parameter, and so on In this study, the researcher focuses on the following criteria: content, interactivity, screen design, navigation, feedback, students‟ learning and preference towards the courseware Due to the limited scope of a minor thesis, research subjects are primarily confined to English students who have been learning the courseware for 1 year However, to ensure the validity and reliability of the given information, teachers‟ views, which are collected in an informal way through their observation and experience in working/talking with students, is also taken into account

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5 Design of the thesis

There are three main parts in this thesis: introduction, development, and conclusion

The introduction provides the rationale, the aims, the significance, the scope, and design of the thesis

The development consists of three chapters:

Chapter one presents a review of literature concentrating on the issues related to courseware evaluation It discusses the definition of courseware, the roles and types of courseware evaluation in language teaching and learning, and presents major issues in courseware evaluation including purposes for courseware evaluation, types of courseware evaluation, and courseware evaluation framework

Chapter two focuses on the methodology employed in this thesis including an overview of current English teaching and learning at HUBT, research methodology, and the data collection procedures

Chapter three discusses the findings of the study; points out the strengths, weaknesses of the courseware, and suggests the recommendations for the courseware improvement The conclusion provides a brief summary of all the major parts being present in the study, the conclusions drawn out and suggestions for further research

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PART 2: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature Review 1.1 Courseware in Language Teaching and Learning

As technology improves, computers are becoming more and more common, and in an increasingly diverse number of applications Moreover, not only have computers become commonplace, they have also become indispensable Without the computer, for example, many recent scientific researches would not have been possible Furthermore, the demanding on high-speed communication and the immediate accessibility to information

in different ways has fostered the advance for the development of computer technology

“These demands and technological advances have worked hand in hand to propel the art

and science of multimedia to a new level, resulting in products that weave together text, graphics, animation, audio and video.” (Norton Peter, 2001: 419) Therefore, computer is

considered as a tool to improve the quality of teaching technology Recently, the process of teaching with assistance of computer is known as Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) The philosophy of CAI is that the lessons allow the learners to learn their own using structured and/or unstructured interactive lessons

The use of computer as a teaching media provides several advantages, as stated by Sudjana

& Rival (2009:137) They are:

i) The role of computer will stimulate students’ motivation in learning process

ii) Color, sound, and graphic increase the students’ impression of realism iii) Students’ individual responses in learning activities will produce long term memory

They also add that computer as teaching media provides audio and visualization which helps students to recognize, enrich, and clarify the concept of the learning materials they are learning

In line with them, Mc Donough, et al (1994:211) stated that there are several advantages

by using computer as learning media, such as:

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i) Computer gives stimulus to the students’ learning process ii) Computer provides audio and visual effect which can catch students’ interest and

attention iii) Computer helps to recall and rebuild the concept of previous material iv) Computer activates students’ responses

v) Computer triggers interactive learning process, and computer also provides

learning sources which are easy to be modified

However, besides those advantages, Sudjana & Rival (2009:138) also explain several constraints of the use of computer as learning media as follows:

- The program, especially for teaching goal, is still less developed if it is compared with other goal

- The digital software used is usually not flexible to be used in every computer by comparing with the benefit itself

- Because the role of human user is still strongly demanded, the teacher should have high-technology skill, at least to operate the system and program of the computer itself

1.1.1 Definition of courseware

The term „courseware‟ was introduced by “SCORE! Educational Centers”, the pioneering developer that coined the term by combining the words 'course' and 'software' It was originally used to term any computerized packages of teaching-learning material that instructors could supplement to the main lessons Criswell (1989) distinguishes between two different definitions of the term, asserting that, in a narrow sense, courseware refers to programs that administer instructions, and in a wider sense, in addition to such programs, it relates to all handbooks, performance aids and course materials A courseware is regarded

in a wider sense as “any educational package including a number of lessons or courses

appended with tests, teacher's/ learner's manuals and guidelines available online and/or

on CDs and/or DVDs” (Mukundan & Nimehchisalem, 2008: 72)

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According to Gueulette‟s view, an educator refers courseware as “the actual instruction

involving both content and technique need in a CAI system; not to be confused with the software, the actual program that directs a computer’s operation.”(1982) Thus, there are

many ways to define a courseware because the objective and applicability can vary from one situation to another

1.1.2 Reasons for courseware evaluation

According to Haugland (1992), the type of courseware that brings impacts to students‟ computer experiences and even seems to determine whether they have developmental gains from these experiences Therefore, the courseware like any other resources must have a developmental approach to teaching and learning

It is very important to know whether the suitability of a particular courseware could meet the students‟ needs, its contribution to the students‟ performance and achievement, and it could act as a motivation tool

1.1.3 Roles of Teaching Courseware in General English Courses

Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) originates from Computer – Assisted Instruction (CAI) CALL means using computers to support language teaching and learning in some ways (Egbert, (2009)) The current philosophy of CALL puts a strong emphasis on students-centered material that allows learners to work on their own Therefore, CALL is purposed to facilitate language learning by using technology of computer More specifically, Levy (1997) states that CALL is digital software tool which

is designed to develop language learning and it also covers the application of the computer

in language teaching and learning Moreover, Ihsanudin (2009:8) in his research states that

“CALL is not focused on technology but on language learning The word assisted indicates

that technology only facilitates the language learning process A more accurate term for using technology in language learning might be language learning through technology reflecting the true position of language in such activity”

Soe (1998) says that there are three main roles of CALL in interacting with students:

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 Drill and Practice

Computer provides practice to strengthen the learning material, and gives feedback directly from the students‟ scores In this case, CALL plays a role as complement media in teaching-learning language process in classroom Moreover, this is very useful when teacher cannot interact with students individually

 Tutorial

Computer provides some information; moreover explains some addition concept to students through practicing In this case, CALL plays a role as material providers which have been adjusted to each student‟s proficiency individually

 Dialogue

In this case, students are more active in interacting with the computer Computer provides learning material, practice, and some feedback CALL in this role has been trusted as replacement enclosed traditional method which provides more effective

1.1 4 Types of Courseware Evaluation

When considering possible approaches to educational evaluation, there are four general types that are described in the literature Evaluation of language teaching materials/CAL (computer assisted learning) is in fact intimately linked with the authoring and dissemination process Thus approaches to evaluation reflect either what the authoring process seems to be before evaluation is considered, or else what the evaluators think it ought to be in order to make evaluation useful Another way of putting this is that evaluation can be designed for different purposes or roles:

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Summative evaluation The default "common-sense" view that tends to occur spontaneously to many people is that evaluation of CAL is rather like consumer reports on goods: the manufacturer designs and supplies them, then someone else does tests and produces reports to help purchasers decide which to buy This view of evaluation is linked to a view that CAL is produced like textbooks and other goods, and that evaluation is not expected to have any direct effect on the CAL itself by telling the authors how to improve it Nor is it expected to help consumers in how to use the product: only which to buy Thus this is a common view for perhaps these reasons: it fits the fact that a lot of CAL is produced like a lot of textbooks

by a very small team of authors with no spare resources for testing; it fits with a tradition in the literature for comparative experimental testing (which can compare two sets of teaching materials well); it fits the needs of new CAL users to decide what to buy; and more broadly it is analogous to consumer reports and how we encounter most of the things

we buy, which we are offered without being consulted about how we would like them designed

is After all, testing is part of all engineering, and feedback from students is also used by almost all lecturers to adjust their lectures and handouts The key point to realise when using it for CAL, is that such testing must be done in time to allow changes to the material

in the light of the results before the end of the development period This kind of testing is called formative evaluation, as it is used to modify ("form") the material

The most realistic, and so most helpful, formative evaluation would use real students in their normal learning situation This is likely to increase the time for the whole cycle of

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production, testing, and modification Feedback to developers from sites who are early users of the material is a helpful substitute that gets round this constraint Although this practice really means that users are running poorly tested software, and in effect doing the testing that producers should have done themselves, it is better than having no way of catching problems and improving the software It, in fact, corresponds to common processes in commercial software production, where producers keep track of users and collect performance reports in order to improve later releases of their software

More information on planning this kind of evaluation can be found in Alessi & Trollip (1991), and in McAteer & Shaw (1994) As noted above, the key constraint is planning to

do the testing early enough that changes can be made The reward is a significant improvement in quality of the end product Thus the main added result will not be a report, but the modifications to the design actually done

Illuminative evaluation

"Illuminative evaluation" refers to what might now be called loosely, and perhaps incorrectly, ethnography The basic idea is for the investigator to hang out with the participants (students, teachers, etc.) to pick up how they think and feel about the situation, and what the important underlying issues are Its importance is as an open-ended method that can detect what the important issues are, without which other methods often ask the wrong questions and measure the wrong things For instance most studies still fail to measure motivation in any way, yet much CAL would never be used if it were not made compulsory by teachers or experimenters However this is not a universal truth: in some cases students have a strong desire to use the CAL independent of coercion, in others they are indifferent and use it only under compulsion but without disliking it, in yet others they continue to express strong revulsion (even though educational tests show educational benefits) Illuminative evaluation is in effect a systematic focus on discovering the unexpected, using approaches inspired by anthropology rather than psychology

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Integrative evaluation The evaluation has done many classroom studies of CAL The kind of the study is of the real use of CAL as part of university courses, but with evaluators who can gather more and fuller information than a teacher alone can do through student verbal questions and standard course feedback questionnaires They began to argue that these evaluations served

a rather different purpose than was first envisaged They argue that for many teachers in practice, the question is no longer whether to use CAL or which package to use: this has often been decided already Instead, for them the question is how to make the best use of CAL material they are already committed to using Classroom evaluations typically give much information that can be used for this For instance if all students complain about some issue, or score badly on a quiz item corresponding to an issue, then teachers immediately respond to the evaluation report by adjusting in some way e.g making an extra announcement, or producing a supplementary handout Thus a major use of classroom evaluations in practice is to be formative, not of the CAL itself, but of the overall teaching and learning situation This of course can be and is responsive to local variations in how the CAL is used, and for whom It can be a significant help in integrating CAL material into varying local situations and courses

1.2 Courseware Evaluation Framework

The efficiency of a courseware depends on many issues In order to build up the evaluation instrument the authors attempted to integrate in a framework a number of important issues emerged from researches on instructional design and system evaluation the past fifteen years, and which should be considered from evaluators of hypermedia courseware (H.C.)(Georgiadou & Economides, 2000) It has to be acknowledged that this framework is relatively limited as there are numerous articles in the literature on instructional design and system evaluation However, the authors, in order to develop the framework, tried to review a large number of them and then to focus on the most often cited authors and articles Moreover, the framework is not rigid and therefore new parts could be added or existing ones could be altered as research advances in the area of educational hypermedia

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This framework is concerned with both social and practical acceptability of hypermedia

courseware, based on Nielsen‟s idea that “the overall acceptability of a computer system is

a combination of its social and practical acceptability” The term social acceptability is

related with the social basis of an educational system In cases when the basis is centred, then the software that provides high levels of learner control and undermines the teacher‟s authority is possibly socially unacceptable On the other hand, when the basis is student-centred, then a courseware that limits the student‟s potential for independent discovery is socially unacceptable Although computer-based education may not be able to adapt to every cultural norm, they should be designed to be as culturally sensitive as possible (Powell, 1993)

teacher-Given that a piece of hypermedia courseware is socially acceptable, its practical acceptability is examined through the evaluation of the following four sectors:

i) Content ii) Presentation and organization of the content iii) Technical support and update processes and finally iv) Evaluation of learning

All sectors are equally important, as hypermedia courseware has to be simultaneously pedagogically and technically sound Moreover, each sector includes a number of criteria that are incorporated in the evaluation instrument, which should be met in a satisfactory level, in order to characterize a piece of hypermedia courseware of high quality Furthermore, cost-effectiveness should always be examined when similar products seem to have the same educational value Figure 1 presents in a diagram the sectors included in the framework and the factors that are associated with them

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Figure 1 Diagram of the Evaluation Framework

Before presenting the evaluation instrument it is necessary to discuss the underlying theory

of the criteria used for the „presentation and organization of the content‟ and the

„evaluation of learning‟ sectors

1.2.1 Presentation and Organization of the Content

The factors associated with this sector are the pedagogical ones that are concerned with learning and instructional design theories and the interface design factor

i) Pedagogical Factor: This is a complicated factor as there are different beliefs of how

humans learn However, cognitive theories stress that learning is an active, constructive, cumulative, self-regulated process in which the learner plays a critical role Moreover, current instructional theory focusing on learner-centred approaches depends on information access and learning environments that encourage free interaction with information The agreement with the principles of an instructional design theory depends

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heavily on the subject matter In addition, teachers‟ belief is of great importance, especially

in cases when the hypermedia courseware is part of the curriculum

Nevertheless, the two core elements that are important in all educational settings are

„motivation‟ and „structure‟, which largely define the instructional nature of an information environment A typical way to motivate the learner is to inform him/her what she/he will achieve at the end of the instruction by stating the aims and objectives (Gagné, Briggs, Wager, 1988) As far as the structure of the hypermedia courseware is concerned, that is how to organise instructional information, this again depends on the subject matter However, in cases when the instructor wants to permit the learners to advance, review, see examples, repeat the unit, or escape to explore another unit, Jonassen (1992) suggested the network type or structured hypermedia as most appropriate Structured hypermedia consists of sets of nodes, each set accessible from any other set The node sets can be structured in any number of ways, such as node-link, hierarchical, network, depending on the nature of the processing the designer wants to elicit from the user The structure of each node set with the various options available within each set needs to be conveyed on every screen Another method for structuring the node sets is to combine related concepts, tie them together in an introductory block, and then permit access within the set only to concepts contained within the set

In hypermedia learning systems, another important element is „learner's control‟, which is primary in the design of interactive learning as it allows students to tailor the learning experience to their own individual needs However, there are dangers in surrendering too much control to the user, as low-ability students may get confused when control depends

on a wide range of options (Gray, 1989; Litchfield, 1993) The high level of learner control may result in disorientation and distraction The amount and type of learner control depends on the learner characteristics (age and cognitive capabilities), content, and the nature of the learning task (Poncelet & Proctor, 1993) Content that must be mastered and unfamiliar tasks often requires more program control, compared to content with no qualified mastery levels or familiar learning tasks Learner control is more appropriate than program control when learners are more capable and are familiar with the learning task Moreover, advice is provided to assist learners in making decisions and control is used

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consistently within a lesson (Ross & Morrison, 1989) In general, the more control is given

to the learners, the more feedback about their decisions should be given (Mcateer & Shaw, 1995)

Moreover, the issues of „accommodation of individual differences‟, and „cooperative learning‟ are highly important in the effectiveness of hypermedia-based learning In most education contexts learners are not homogeneous in terms of prerequisite knowledge, motivation, experience, learning styles and cognitive styles Also evidence suggests that when hypermedia-learning systems are structured to allow cooperation, learners benefit both instructionally and socially

ii) Interface Design Factor: Interactivity - Navigation - Feedback:

Interactivity in instruction comprises the nature of the activity performed by the technology and the learner, as well as the ability of the technology to adapt the events of instruction in order to make that interaction more meaningful (Reigeluth, 1987) It is important to design

as much meaningful interactivity as possible into instructional software (Orr, Golas, & Yao, 1994) The amount of navigational assistance needed is a function of the size of the knowledge base; the usefulness of navigational aids that are already part of the authoring software, and the types of links the software allows (Locatis, Letourneau & Banvard, 1989) Guidelines for increased interactivity were produced from researchers (Shneiderman & Kearsley, 1989; Tessmer, Jonassen & Caverly, 1989) and are used in the instrument as evaluation items in the relevant section

The basic factors that can determine the effectiveness of feedback are the type and frequency of feedback given and the delay between feedback and instruction (Jonassen & Hannum, 1987) Feedback is closely related with the issue of interaction, as action without feedback is completely unproductive for a learner Laurillard (1993) identifies two types of

feedback, „intrinsic‟ and „extrinsic‟ Intrinsic feedback is what given as a natural consequence of an action To illustrate the concept of intrinsic feedback Laurillard uses

examples of a child's actions while playing with water as the physical world responds to

the child's actions of filling, pouring, etc On the other hand extrinsic feedback does not

occur within a situation but as an external comment on it: right or wrong She suggests that

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extrinsic feedback is not a necessary consequence of the action, and therefore is not expressed in the world of the action itself, but at the level of the description of the action

In computer-based instruction, however, the intrinsic feedback relates to navigation and interactivity with the instructional program, and the extrinsic feedback relates to the

feedback on user's performance Schimmel (1988) identifies three types of extrinsic feedback:

a) Confirmation feedback that simply confirms whether a learner's answer is correct

or incorrect b) Correct response feedback that presents the correct answer c) Explanatory feedback, such as a step-by-step solution to an incorrectly answered question

Many actions require more extended extrinsic feedback than confirmation feedback

Simple answers such as right or wrong cannot provide any information about how learners should correct their performance A more helpful form of extrinsic feedback would give the learner information about how to adapt and correct their performance, such as correct response and explanation feedback

iii) „Screen design‟ is also an important evaluation factor Different screen elements should

be used to present stimulating information that will motivate and assist the learners in retaining and recalling the information The psychological limitations to consider when designing hypermedia learning systems include:

a) Memory load: i.e how many different control icons is it reasonable for learners to remember at any one time?

b) Perception: i.e what colours and fonts provide the best readability?, c) Attention: i.e how can the users' attention be drawn to information that is relevant, when there is a lot of different information on the screen?

A large number of screen design guidelines produced from several researchers on educational technology exist in the literature and the relevant items on the evaluation

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instrument are based on these (Morris, Owen & Fraser, 1994; Cox & Walker, 1993; Clarke, 1992; Mcateer & Shaw, 1995)

1.2.2 Evaluation of Learning

Marchionini (1990) argued that the interactivity of hypermedia systems provides learners with access to vast amount of information in varied forms, control over the process of learning, and the potential for collaboration with the system and other people Such empowerment of learners forces evaluators of learning to adopt a broad-based set of methods and criteria to accommodate 'self-directed' learning He proposes a 'multi-faceted' approach to the evaluation of hypermedia based learning that addresses both the outcomes and the processes of learning

The learning outcomes are evaluated through performance tests typically used to judge the

quality and the quantity of learning, which usually have the form of „pre-tests‟ used to determine learning outcomes prior to the intervention and „immediate‟ and „delayed post-

tests‟ to examine learning outcomes after the intervention The learning process refers to

the usability of a product and should be evaluated by observing and measuring the users attitudes Usability is usually associated with five parameters (Nielsen, 1990):

end-a) Easy to learn: Users can quickly get some work done with the system b) Efficient to use: Once the user has learnt the system, a high level of productivity is possible

c) Easy to remember: The casual user is able to return to using the system after some period without having to learn everything all over

d) Few errors: Users do not make many errors during the use of the system or if they

do so they can easily recover them e) Pleasant to use: Users are subjectively satisfied by using the system

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