Improving Learner Experience Within Educational Nooks in Digital Libraries

This chapter presents solutions for personalized observation and enhanced learning experience in digital libraries (DLs) by special smart educational nooks. Main factors related to the DLs user experience and content usability issues are considered. During the user experience design, the users' needs, goals, preferences, and interests have been carefully studied and have become the starting point for the new DLs functionality development. This chapter demonstrates several educational nooks or their components, such as learning tools in a digital library for fashion objects, a smart learning corner in an iconographical art digital library, an ontology of learning analysis method, and some educational games for art and culture in which authors are co-developers.

Information Literacy Education for First-Year Composition Students

This chapter describes how the researchers at a small private Master's level college examined how different delivery modes—face-to-face (F2F), hybrid, and online instruction—may impact first-year students' perceptions of their information literacy (IL) skills compared to their test-assessed information literacy skills using the students perception of information literacy-questionnaire (SPIL-Q) and information literacy assessment (ILA) instruments. These instruments were developed and deployed to international graduate business students in two previous studies: Michalak and Rysavy and Michalak, Rysavy, and Wessel. The students (n=161) in this study were enrolled in a first-year English composition course in the Spring 2017 semester. This iteration achieved an overall response rate of 87.04% (n=141). Overall, results demonstrated the greatest achievement were demonstrated by students in hybrid course sections.

A Prototypical Participatory Design-Process

Our economies and societies are changing, with significant effects on each individual, as they have to cope with increasingly complex and unpredictable working lives. Therefore, innovative digital learning applications that respond to their end user's needs and desires become inevitable. Whilst relying on user-centered design structures, the participatory design methodology provides a promising approach towards the creation of such a new generation of digital learning applications. After thoroughly outlining the research undertaking's rationale and following to a theoretical discussion, the author gives insights into the results of problem-centered interviews with digital learning and user experience experts that build the basis for the creation for a prototypical participatory design process. These findings primarily confirm the recent literature and provide, complemented by the created process, a sound basis for further theory-oriented, scientific discussions but application in practice as well.

Issues in Web-Based Learning

The purpose of this chapter is to review and critically evaluate some issues related to Web-based learning. The chapter begins with an introduction to the importance of using the Web in education; then it examines and evaluates such issues. Suggestions and solutions to these issues are offered. These issues are classified into theoretical and design issues. The theoretical issues include: (1) online interaction, (2) learner control, (3) disorientation and cognitive overload. The design issues include: (1) interface design and (2) content structure. The conclusion section summarizes the chapter and points out the importance of considering individual differences in Web-based learning systems design.

Open Source Online Learning in Rural Communities

Anyone is free to use open source software without the need to purchase the right to install it. Despite its appeal to school and technology leaders in rural communities, they are less likely to install it than others. In this chapter, three cases in which open source technology was installed to support teaching and learning in three rural communities are described. In each, the systems were deployed and refined using decision-making grounded in educational design research. The projects are detailed, and the method of technology planning is assessed. Unanswered questions are also addressed.

Ensuring Quality of Web Portals Through Accessibility Analysis

With the increase in number of electronic services being delivered through web portals, a lot of emphasis is being given to ensure the quality of web portals in terms of contents and associated design aspects. This has led to studies investigating various requirements of web users and to guidelines for quality enhancement in order to make web portals accessible to all irrespective of one's age, physical challenges, ethnicity, and level of literacy. In this chapter, the authors address the accessibility issues of web portals based on ongoing research. They analyze the accessibility in three levels (i.e., at the levels of authoring tool, web component, and user-agent). The contents of this chapter can throw light on the design aspects of web portals, web browsers, and media players to make them more suitable for users in general.

The Evaluation of Learner Experience in Serious Games

In this chapter, the topic of evaluating learner experience in serious games is discussed with respect to four different dimensions: gaming, learning, using and context with a special focus on using multimodal data. After reviewing relevant research fields, the steps involved in a serious games evaluation process is investigated and relevant evaluation studies are reviewed with emphasis on the use of different modalities for recording and assessing in-game interactions. Finally, a theoretical framework (LeGUC) is proposed defining parameters related to the four dimensions discussed which can be observed during evaluation studies of serious games and how they relate to logged in-game interactions. The framework is based on relevant literature as well as a conducted observational user study.

Student Learning and Engagement in a Blended Environment

The chapter investigated students' behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement, as well as their learning in a blended environment. A convergent mixed methods research design was used in which quantitative data (face-to-face attendance, online system login, and survey) were collected from 71 undergraduate students, and qualitative data (focus group interview) were collected from six of these students. These data were further analyzed and integrated. The quantitative results showed that students' online login, the behavioral engagement indicator, had a positive impact on their learning, which was supported by qualitative findings. Further analysis revealed the mixture of students' engagement, such as confusion vs. interesting feelings to online discussions and frustration vs. not much effort using the online system.

Analysis of Users in an Immersive Environment for Teaching Science

Virtual worlds can be considered immersive e-learning environments, whose characteristics of interactivity, immersion, and collaboration can be applied in different areas of teaching, such as in the field of sciences. In this way, this chapter presents the construction of a virtual world to aid in the teaching of sciences in which different types of learning materials and simulations were developed in the OpenSim platform. A group of sixth grade students used the immersive environment for a semester, being evaluated their learning through a pre- and posttest applied together with an analysis of their learning styles, being realized a correlation between the results obtained. Added to this, usability assessments with interviews about the environment was applied. The results demonstrated the potential of virtual worlds to contribute to the adaptation of the different learning styles in a class and their contribution to the improvement of the learning process.

Using Visual Design to Improve the Online Learning Experience

There is an abundant amount of literature on visual design principles, graphic design theory, and media theory. Yet very little is discussed, at least in a systematic way, about the process of making online courses aesthetically pleasing. A major obstacle to gaining such knowledge is the lack of understanding of applied definitions, conceptual ideas, and methods of creating online learning interfaces. In this chapter, the authors seek to clarify the process of using visual design to improve the online learning experience. The chapter concludes with strategies on how colleges and universities can help faculty and instructional designers learn visual design skills through the creation of a design studio.