Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia
Volume 6, Number 2 1997
Articles
Multimedia Projection: An Exploratory Study of Student Perceptions Regarding Interest, Organization, and Clarity
Gayle J. Yaverbaum, Mukund Kulkarni, and Cynthia WoodPredominant Initial and Review Patterns of Navigation in a Fully Constrained Hypermedia Hierarchy: An Empirical Study
Robert E. Beasley and Michael L. WaughUnderstanding Navigation and Disorientation in Hypermedia Learning Environments
Paulo Dias and Ana Paula SousaIterative Design and Usability Assessment of a Materials Science Hypermedia Document
Ian I. Suni and Susan M. RossComputerized Adaptive Tests and Formative Assessment
Guglielmo TrentinCD Repurposing to Focus the Multimedia Experience for Health Education
Eunice M. Merideth and Pamela E. RichardsUsing Hypertext Functionality to Provide Understanding Support
Sergio Davalos
Abstracts
Multimedia Projection: An Exploratory Study of Student Perceptions Regarding Interest, Organization, and Clarity
GAYLE J. YAVERBAUM AND MUKUND KULKARNI
School of Business Administration
Penn State Harrisburg
777 W. Harrisburg Pike, Middletown, PA 17057, USA
GJY1@PSU.EDU
CYNTHIA WOOD
Penn State Altoona
Altoona, PA 16602, USA
Controversies about the impact of multimedia on learning proliferate throughout the literature. In spite of these controversies, increasing numbers of educators are considering ways to integrate technology into courseware, and they are especially concerned about how to practically approach the inclusion of multimedia. This study examines the views of students exposed to varied multimedia projections as part of the classroom experience. Asked to rank various screens, the students overwhelmingly support the integration of animation, music, and voice. They perceive screens to be better organized and clearer as these media are integrated with text and graphics. Additionally, they sense a heightened interest in the material being presented.
Predominant Initial and Review Patterns of Navigation in a Fully Constrained Hypermedia Hierarchy: An Empirical Study
ROBERT E. BEASLEY
Computer Information Systems Program
Union College, Barbourville, KY 40906, USA
Rbeasley@unionky.edu
MICHAEL L. WAUGH
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
mwaugh@uiuc.edu
The purpose of this study was to identify the predominant patterns of navigation that learners employ when studying a hypermedia lesson presented in a fully constrained hierarchy. It was found that the participants tended to employ a systematic, top-down, left-to-right (depth-first) navigation strategy to ensure full coverage of the lesson material initially and then covered the material in a much more spotty and less systematic manner during review. Rationale for these findings are provided which suggest that cultural, language, and/or other biases, the organization of the hypermedia application itself, and the goals of the learner all work together to influence how he or she will approach a hypermedia application in order to acquire knowledge from it.
Understanding Navigation and Disorientation in Hypermedia Learning Environments
PAULO DIAS AND ANA PAULA SOUSA
Institute of Education and Psychology
University of Minho, Campus Gualtar
4710 Braga, Portugal
pdias@iep.uminho.pt
asousa@iep.uminho.pt
Difficulties with orientation are common in hyperdocuments. This paper describes an exploratory study into the role of a navigation map, as a helping tool, during browsing processes. We tried to establish the influence of this navigational tool, provided by a hypermedia prototype, in retrieval tasks. Twenty-two students tested this prototype and some data were collected: scores obtained in a task-test and a record of the path followed by the subjects. With these data we defined a set of ratios as an attempt to understand the subjects’ browsing processes. Findings suggest that the map was not effective in the ameliorative role. Perhaps it is not wise to assume that a map that helps performance in a spatial context also forms an aid in a hypermedia environment under a nonhierarchical model.
Iterative Design and Usability Assessment of a Materials Science Hypermedia Document
IAN I. SUNI
Department of Chemical Engineering
Clarkson University
Potsdam, NY 13699-5705, USA
isuni@sun.soe.clarkson.edu
SUSAN M. ROSS
Department of Technical Communications
Clarkson University
Potsdam, NY 13699-5760, USA
In this paper iterative design, including formative evaluation, of an introductory materials science hypermedia document is described. Specifically, two assessments are reported, and the learner profile that emerged from those assessments has proven helpful in refining the prototype document. First, a detailed usability assessment was performed of the factors which affect student performance. The most interesting results are an 81.2% significant correlation between Kolb (1984) learning style preference and student performance, with divergers performing better than students who prefer other learning styles, and a positive correlation between self-assessed visualization ability and student performance. Most important, the students with the lowest self-reported visualization ability showed the largest improvement on a materials science posttest, eclipsing their initial deficit. Second, an assessment is reported of the material in a hypermedia document for which students have the greatest immediate recall. Students performed best on a question which asked about an industrial application, consistent with the idea that students process information deemed to be personally significant via more central channels than other information. The students performed worst on questions related to numerical problem solving. Suggestions to address this shortcoming are discussed, including the possibility of substituting an adaptive computer-control format for the complete user-control format currently employed.
Computerized Adaptive Tests and Formative Assessment
GUGLIELMO TRENTIN
Istituto Tecnologie Didattiche
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Via De Marini 6, 16149 Genova, Italy
trentin@itd.ge.cnr.it
The use of conventional tests in formative assessment, whereby each student is subjected to the same sequence of questions, has often proved unsatisfactory in terms of accuracy and flexibility. Research has long been oriented toward alternative approaches, such as personalized testing methods. The idea is to produce diagnostic evaluation tests that dynamically adjust to the examinee’s knowledge, offering diverse question sequences according to the responses given by the student along the way.
The development of personalized tests, however, is a highly laborious task and their management is just as arduous. In this respect, computers can offer valuable assistance both in the planning and development of tests and in their administration. After a brief overview of some different types of conventional and personalized tests, this paper will explore the theme of Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT), proposing a specific methodology for the management of diagnostic adaptive tests and a hypertext system supporting their production.
CD Repurposing to Focus the Multimedia Experience for Health Education
EUNICE M. MERIDETH
Department of Teaching and Learning
Drake School of Education, Drake University
Des Moines, IA 50311, USA
EM1661R@acad.drake.edu
PAMELA E. RICHARDS
Department of Exercise Science
Central College
Pella, IA 50219, USA
Richardsp@central.edu
Because humans and their needs are so diverse, health educators face a real challenge in providing educational opportunities for individuals to access reliable information in a subject-specific, interactive manner so that students perceive that they can analyze wellness concerns and exert control over many aspects of their health. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the repurposing of a CD-ROM health program to support a HyperStudio presentation of the eight principles of physiological conditioning for college personal health classes within a Structured Presentation Technology (SPT) methodology. Preliminary data from the use of multimedia teaching aids indicate that this interactive program positively impacts students’ learning by giving the user control over the learning path, supports higher order thinking skills, and provides the opportunity for individualizing information and progress. In addition, the health and fitness instruction within this program and repurposed CD has proven effective in that it imparts information with an instructor or as a stand-alone tutorial in an easy to understand, motivating format, yet it focuses that format so that time and resources are both optimized. Formal research results indicate that students rate the SPT approach higher than a 3.5 on a 5.0 Likert scale and the software higher than a 4.0 on a 5.0 Likert scale.
Using Hypertext Functionality to Provide Understanding Support
SERGIO DAVALOS
School of Business Administration
University of Portland
5000 N. Willamette Blvd., Portland, OR 97212, USA
davalos@uofport.edu
Thinking involves many cognitive processes. One important cognitive process is understanding. Before learning can take place, understanding must occur. Understanding is crucial in being able to relate and succeed in the world. There are several key factors that can account for effective understanding: use of prior knowledge, structuring of knowledge, associative access of knowledge, and the creation and storage of conceptual frameworks. This paper presents a computer-based information system developed to support information understanding based on a knowledge-structures format in an object-oriented, hypermedia context and on adding hypertext functionality to the hypermedia context.