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Children's perception of motivational design elements in educational web sites
Author
Loh, Christian Sebastian Choy Yew
Supervisor
Williams, Michael D.
Abstract
Although motivation is an important aspect instructional design, few researches have looked into the effect of motivation in Web site design. Greater attention need to be paid to the motivational design aspects of Web sites (in addition to the commonly accepted evaluation criteria which normally evaluate for content accuracy), as the motivational aspect can be crucial motivating children to learn. The foundation of this study is built primarily upon the frameworks established by the expectancy-value theory, continuing motivation, Keller's ARCS model, and the Web site Motivation Analysis Checklist (or, WebMAC) developed by small in 1997.
This study builds on and extends the existing literature of motivational analysis of Web sites through the children's eyes. A new instrument called the Motivation analysis Rating Kit (or, M@RK) was developed to assess the children's perception of Web design elements (that most strongly relate to the motivational quality of educational Web sites) and the Web features (most preferred in cool Web sites) were examined. it measures the children's reactions along the four categories (defined by Small in WebMac), with the addition of a fifth category: "overall Perception". Participants were required to view three Web sites in one session. The research employed a repeated measures design on a single sample (N=71), with two within subject factors ('web site" with three levels, and 'motivational element' with five levels). Paired -sample t-test were used to compare student ratings among the various motivational elements.
Findings showed that children ranked the motivational elements in the following order (from most preferred to least): Meaningful, Engaging, Organised, Overall Perception, and Enjoyable. The "loading speed" of Web pages was found to be the most important (hygiene) feature in a Web site. Findings show that children are able to and do select Web sites critically. They seemed to be best motivated by Web sites that re high both the content and design elements.
This study builds on and extends the existing literature of motivational analysis of Web sites through the children's eyes. A new instrument called the Motivation analysis Rating Kit (or, M@RK) was developed to assess the children's perception of Web design elements (that most strongly relate to the motivational quality of educational Web sites) and the Web features (most preferred in cool Web sites) were examined. it measures the children's reactions along the four categories (defined by Small in WebMac), with the addition of a fifth category: "overall Perception". Participants were required to view three Web sites in one session. The research employed a repeated measures design on a single sample (N=71), with two within subject factors ('web site" with three levels, and 'motivational element' with five levels). Paired -sample t-test were used to compare student ratings among the various motivational elements.
Findings showed that children ranked the motivational elements in the following order (from most preferred to least): Meaningful, Engaging, Organised, Overall Perception, and Enjoyable. The "loading speed" of Web pages was found to be the most important (hygiene) feature in a Web site. Findings show that children are able to and do select Web sites critically. They seemed to be best motivated by Web sites that re high both the content and design elements.
Date Issued
1999
Call Number
LB1044.87 Loh
Date Submitted
1999