User-Friendly and Learner-Friendly Courseware Design,
Development and Evaluation
By
Yasmine Howard BA BA (hons)
Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Dedication
To my beautiful mentor Dr Thao Le. Your encouragement, expertise and support inspired my journey. You offered me a beacon, and showed me the door at the end of the journey. I am
so grateful my path was led to yours. Thank you.
To my wonderful Angus Wallace. Your endless love, financial and emotional support made it possible for me to complete this study. You refuelled the beacon, kept it going when the light was dimming, and held my hand along the journey. This is our journey. We open the door
together. We shut it hand in hand.
To our little Siddhartha. Your endless love, fluffy wuffy humour, and protection kept me sane. You were the beacon when the light had gone, shouldered a responsibility humans cannot
be capable of, and carried me to the door when I had fallen. I love you.
To the participants in this study – students, academics and experts, who gave their time and attention to this study. Also, to participants on the international educational technology
Abstract
The design of eLearning courseware has become an important area of research within contemporary Higher Education. The literature and practice of designing eLearning indicates that the role of user-friendly and learner-friendly design as it applies to fully-online courseware is yet to be established. When it comes to user-friendly design, an established set of heuristics is still in development, as researchers’ investigate the impact an additional requirement of learning has on traditional user-friendly design. When it comes to learner-friendly design, there are still questions in regards to the features that contribute to effective pedagogical design. The design, development and evaluation of fully-online courseware based on a constructivist philosophy for ill-structured problem types, is yet to be discussed in-depth within the literature. In particular, it is not clear whether learners’ perspectives differ from that of academics and professional courseware designers. This thesis attempts to address these gaps in the literature through a mixed-methods approach. Firstly, a questionnaire survey is used to obtain statistical and open-ended data on teaching and learning online, user-friendly design, and learner-friendly design, from a range of students, academics, and professionals. Secondly, a fully-online prototype courseware on Intercultural Communication aimed at first-year university students, has been designed and developed by the researcher. A sample group of participants evaluate this courseware, through open-ended interview and email feedback. The results are bought together to present a range of contemporary perspectives on some specific aspects of user-friendly and learner-friendly courseware design.
Table of Contents
Statement of Material, Authority of Access--- 1
Dedication --- 2
Abstract--- 3
Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 Introduction --- 8
1.2 Teaching and Learning Online --- 11
1.2.1 Technological Revolution --- 11
1.2.2 Commercial Training Provider --- 13
1.2.3 Higher Education --- 14
1.3 Courseware Design --- 16
1.3.1 Definition --- 16
1.3.2 User-Friendly Design --- 17
1.3.3 Learner-Friendly Design --- 18
1.3.4 Moving Towards a New Design Model --- 20
1.4 Research Objectives --- 21
1.5 Research Methodology--- 23
1.6 Significance of the Research --- 24
1.7 Limitations of the Research --- 25
1.8 Ethics --- 26
1.9 Overview of Thesis --- 27
Chapter Two: Literature Review 2.1 Overview --- 31
2.2 Courseware Design --- 32
2.2.1 Courseware in Higher Education --- 32
2.2.1 User-Friendly and Learner-Friendly Design --- 34
2.2.3 Learning Management Systems --- 35
2.3 Learner-Centered Design--- 36
2.3.1 Traditional Paradigm: Teacher-Centered Design --- 37
2.3.2 Emerging Paradigm: Learner-Centered Design --- 38
2.4 User-Friendly Design --- 39
2.4.1 Definition of User-Friendly Design --- 39
2.4.2 General Heuristics for Web Site Design --- 41
2.4.3 User-Friendly Design for Courseware--- 43
2.5 Learner-Friendly Design --- 47
2.6.1 Objectivist Epistemologies and Designs --- 51
2.6.2 Constructivist Epistemologies and Designs --- 52
2.7 Evaluation--- 61
2.8 Conclusion --- 62
Chapter Three: Research Methodology 3.1 Introduction --- 64
3.1.1 The Nature of Instructional Design --- 65
3.1.2 Purpose of This Study --- 66
3.2 Research Aims and Objectives --- 66
3.3 Statement of the Problem--- 67
3.4 Research Assumptions--- 68
3.5 Research Limitations--- 69
3.6 Courseware Evaluation --- 70
3.6.1 Development of the Courseware --- 70
3.6.2 Delivery of Courseware --- 71
3.7 Research Design--- 72
3.8 Software Engineering Approach --- 73
3.9 Quantitative Research Approach --- 75
3.9.1 Questionnaire data collection.--- 75
3.9.2 Participants--- 79
3.9.3 Procedure --- 79
3.9.4 Validity and Reliability --- 80
3.10 Qualitative Research Approach --- 81
3.10.1 Interview--- 82
3.10.2 Participants and the Process --- 83
3.10.3 Web Based Feedback --- 84
3.10.4 Validity and Reliability--- 84
3.11 Ethical Considerations --- 85
3.12 Conclusion --- 85
Chapter 4: Courseware Design 4.1 Introduction --- 86 4.2 Design Guidelines --- 88 4.2.1 Learner-Centered Design--- 88 4.2.2 User-friendly Design --- 89 4.2.3 Learner-Friendly Design --- 94 4.3 Courseware Design --- 98 4.3.1 User-Friendly --- 98
4.3.2 Learner-Friendly --- 100
4.4 Courseware Prototype --- 105
4.4.1 Introductory Pages --- 105
4.4.2 Login Page --- 108
4.4.3 First Time Tutorial Pages. --- 108
4.4.4 Homepage --- 113
4.4.5 Navigational and Learning Aids --- 115
4.4.6 Learner and Instructor Screens --- 119
4.4.7 Course Information Screen --- 121
4.4.8 Activities Screen --- 128
4.4.9 Communicate Screens --- 130
4.4.10 Resources Screens--- 132
4.4.11 Exit --- 134
4.5 Conclusion --- 135
Chapter Five: Quantitative Analysis 5.1 Introduction --- 136
5.2 Quantitative Research Objectives. --- 137
5.3 Tools and Techniques --- 139
5.4 The Sample --- 141
5.5 Data Analysis --- 144
5.5.1 Analysis of Perspectives of Teaching and Learning --- 145
5.5.2 Analysis of User-Friendly Design --- 148
5.5.3 Analysis of Learner-Friendly Design--- 155
5.5.4 Analysis of Behaviourist and Constructivist Designs --- 165
5.6 Discussion of Findings --- 179
5.6.1 Teaching and Learning Online --- 180
5.6.2 User-Friendly Design --- 182
5.6.3 Learner-Friendly Design --- 185
5.6.4 Behaviourist and Constructivist Designs --- 188
5.7 Conclusion--- 199
Chapter Six: Qualitative Analysis 6.1 Introduction --- 203 6.2 Qualitative Analysis --- 204 6.2.1 Qualitative Analysis. --- 204 6.2.2 Design --- 208 6.2.2.1 Open-ended Questionnaire--- 208 6.2.2.2 Courseware Evaluation --- .210
6.3 Results--- 215
6.3.1 Open-ended Questionnaire --- 216
6.3.2 Courseware Evaluation --- 271
6.4 Discussion --- 307
6.4.1 Teaching and Learning Online --- 308
6.4.2 User-Friendly Design --- 314
6.4.3 Learner-Friendly Design (incorporating behaviourist and constructivist-oriented designs) --- 321
6.5 Conclusion --- 332
Chapter Seven: Conclusion 7.1 Overview --- 333
7.2 Research Journey at its Conclusion --- 334
7.3 Limitations --- 336
7.4 Overall Discussion of Findings --- 337
7.4.1 Teaching and Learning Online --- 337
7.4.2 User-Friendly Courseware Design --- 340
7.4.3 Learner-Friendly Courseware Design --- 343
7.4.4 Behaviourist and Constructivist-oriented Courseware Design --- 347
7.5 Courseware Evaluation--- 351
7.5.1 Participants’ Attitudes to the User-Friendly Design. --- 352
7.5.2 Participants’ Attitudes to the Learner-Friendly Design --- 354
7.6 Future of This Research --- 357
7.7 Conclusion--- .360
Bibliography --- 362
