Web Portal Characteristics: Children as Designers and Evaluators

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Large ◽  
Jamshid Beheshti ◽  
Valerie Nesset ◽  
Leanne Bowler
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Elementary School Students ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Canadian History ◽  
Web Portal ◽  
School Students ◽  
The Web

Two intergenerational design teams comprising respectively elementary school students from grades six and three, together with three adult researchers, designed two low-tech web portal prototypes specifically targeted at the students’ peers. These portals were subsequently converted into working portals that can be used to find information on the Web relating to Canadian history and deemed appropriate for an elementary school audience. This paper presents the evaluations of the two portals conducted by eight focus groups (four from grade-three students and four from grade-six students).Deux équipes intergénérationnelles de conception composées respectivement d’élèves de l’école primaire de sixième et de troisième année, de même que trois adultes chercheurs ont conçu deux prototypes de portails Web de faible technicité spécifiquement destinés à des élèves de cet âge. Ces portails ont été convertis par la suite en portails de travail pouvant être utilisés pour la recherche d’information sur le Web concernant l’Histoire canadienne et ont été jugés appropriés pour des utilisateurs de l’école primaire. Cet article présente les évaluations... 

Bonded Design

2011 ◽  
pp. 383-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Large ◽  
Valerie Nesset
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Elementary School Students ◽  
Design Process ◽  
User Involvement ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Canadian History ◽  
School Students ◽  
Working Together ◽  
Meaningful Role ◽  
The Web

It is hardly controversial to argue for user involvement in the technology design process: the issue rather is the extent of that involvement and whether or not this is related to the kind of user. In particular, can young children play a meaningful role in design, and if so, what should it be? Several design methodologies advocate a range of roles for children within the design process; this article presents a new such methodology, Bonded Design. Essentially, Bonded Design assumes an intergenerational team comprising adult designers and young users working together to produce a low-tech prototype. This team employs a variety of design techniques?conducting a user needs’ assessment, evaluating existing technologies, brainstorming, discussing ideas as a group, prototyping (for example, through drawings), and consensus building?to achieve its goal. Bonded Design emerged in 2003 from a research study to investigate whether elementary school students (specifi- cally in grades three and six) could actively participate in designing Web portals. To accomplish this objective two intergenerational design teams were established, each including children alongside researchers, which produced two low-tech portal prototypes (Large, Beheshti, Nesset, & Bowler, 2004; Large, Nesset, Beheshti, & Bowler, 2006, 2007). These prototypes subsequently were converted into working portals that received high praise in their evaluations by elementary school students. Indeed, one of these portals, History Trek, is now operational on the Web, providing access to information in English and French on Canadian history (http://www.historytrek.ca).

Bonded Design

2007 ◽  
pp. 73-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Large ◽  
Valerie Nesset ◽  
Jamshid Beheshti ◽  
Leanne Bowler
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Elementary School Students ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Web Portal ◽  
School Students ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Young Students

This chapter presents a new methodology, called bonded design (BD), for designing information technologies. It is especially suited to work with children, where designers and children collaborate in an intergenerational team to develop a low-tech prototype, over a number of design sessions, using techniques such as group discussions, critical evaluation of existing technologies, brainstorming, and prototyping. BD is compared with other user-focused design methods, and its unique features identified. Two case studies are presented in which designers worked with elementary school students, within the BD framework, to design two Web portal prototypes intended for young students to find information for class projects. The successful evaluation (using focus groups and an operational study) of working portals developed from these prototypes validated BD as a means to design technologies for young students.

Elementary School Students, Information Retrieval, and the Web

2009 ◽  
pp. 469-476
Author(s):  
Valerie Nesset
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Information Retrieval ◽  
Multimedia Information ◽  
Elementary School Students ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Information Resources ◽  
The Internet ◽  
School Students ◽  
Cd Rom ◽  
The Web

In today’s modern world, elementary school students (aged 5 to 12 years) use computers for a wide variety of tasks. These include communication (e-mail, instant messaging, and chatrooms), entertainment (games, video, music, etc.), leisure (such as information relating to hobbies and general interests), and information retrieval to support class-based learning. Internet access is now very widely available from home, school, and public library. A major reason for accessing the Internet is to find Web-based information relevant to classroom learning activities. Undoubtedly the Web represents an enormous and potentially rich source of multimedia information on topics within the elementary school curriculum, but accessing this information does pose a number of challenges. We identify in this article three major problem areas that currently impede effective exploitation by elementary school students of Webbased information resources: information systems are not necessarily intuitive or straightforward for children to use; basic information literacy skills too often are inadequate; and too little content appropriate for young users is available on the Web. The first technology to gain popularity as a means for children to retrieve information was the CD-ROM. By the early 1990s, a wide variety of multimedia information resources targeted specifically at children were available in this medium. Many were children’s encyclopedias, designed to facilitate rapid retrieval of discrete information “chunks,” and often multimedia versions of an original print title. These CD-ROMs could offer an engaging, interactive experience for the young student. Although students were willing to explore and experiment with interfaces (Large, Beheshti, Breuleux, & Renaud, 1994; Large, Beheshti, & Breuleux, 1998), they were not necessarily effective at retrieving information from these CD-ROM titles (Marchionini, 1989; Oliver, 1996). In any event, regardless of its strengths and weaknesses as a classroom resource, CD-ROM technology proved transient and was quickly superseded by the expansion of the Internet and the rise of the Web. Yet the information retrieval problems revealed by CD-ROMs would continue to plague the Web.

scholarly journals LET’S TALK FOOD: ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF SCHOOL AND HOME FOOD ENVIRONMENT AND THE IMPACT OF THE HARVEST OF THE MONTH PROGRAM ON THEIR DIETARY ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Margolin ◽  
Keiko Goto ◽  
Cindy Wolff ◽  
Stephanie Bianco
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Elementary School Students ◽  
Healthy Eating ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Food Environment ◽  
School Students ◽  
Attitudes And Behaviors ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
The Impact

This study aimed to further knowledge about elementary school students’ views on food environment, and the effects of the Harvest of the Month (HOTM) program on their dietary attitudes and behaviors. Three focus groups were conducted with a total of 24 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students from low-income schools in northern California who received the National School Lunch Program and HOTM during the school year. Focus groups were tape-recorded, transcribed, and coded for specific themes. Following the intervention, participants expressed a desire for more healthy food options in the school cafeteria and wanted to receive more school and family support for healthy eating. The HOTM program created a positive environment that appeared to influence their dietary attitudes and behaviors, peer and family perceptions of healthy eating, and participants’ attitudes toward their schools. Specifically, cooking demonstrations, tasting activities, and take-home recipes provided them with a means to share with their parents what they had learned about fruits and vegetables. School food policy interventions may become more effective if they are combined with interventions based on nutrition education. Future research should focus on exploring effective and synergistic ways of implementing both types of interventions among children.

Children’s Web Portals: Are Adult Designers on Target?

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Large ◽  
Jamshid Beheshti ◽  
Valerie Nesset ◽  
Leanne Bowler
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Elementary Students ◽  
Elementary School Students ◽  
Web Portals ◽  
School Students ◽  
Student Focus ◽  
Groupes De Discussion ◽  
Groupe De Discussion

This paper evaluates a web portal designed for elementary students not by adult professionals but by an intergenerational team of grade-six elementary school students and the researchers. The evaluation itself was undertaken by a focus group of six volunteer students. It is compared with the evaluations made by other student focus groups of web portals also designed for children but this time by adults.Cette étude évalue un portail Web destinés aux élèves de l'école primaire, conçu non par des professionnels adultes, mais plutôt par une équipe multi-génération rassemblant des élèves de sixième année primaire et des chercheurs. L’évaluation a été effectuée par un groupe de discussion composé de six élèves volontaires. Elle est comparée aux évaluations réalisées par d’autres groupes de discussion composés d’élèves et portant sur des portails Web pour enfants conçus cette fois par des adultes. 

Developing School-Based BMI Screening and Parent Notification Programs: Findings From Focus Groups With Parents of Elementary School Students

2006 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 622-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha Young Kubik ◽  
Mary Story ◽  
Gayle Rieland
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Elementary School Students ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Healthy Weight ◽  
Message Content ◽  
School Students ◽  
Screening Programs ◽  
School Based ◽  
Physical Activity Environments

School-based body mass index (BMI) screening and parent notification programs have been advanced as an obesity prevention strategy. However, little is known about how to develop and implement programs. This qualitative study explored the opinions and beliefs of parents of elementary school students concerning school-based BMI screening programs, notification methods, message content, and health information needs related to promoting healthy weight for school-aged children. Ten focus groups were conducted with 71 participants. Parents were generally supportive of school-based BMI screening. However, they wanted assurance that student privacy and respect would be maintained during measurement and that BMI results would be provided to parents in a neutral manner that avoided weight labeling. They also believed that aggregate results should be disseminated to the larger school community to support healthy change in the nutrition and physical activity environments of schools. Implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed.

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