September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland 1 What really makes students like a web site? What are the implications for designers of language learning sites? Jane Hughes, Claire McAvinia, Terry King Department of Education & Professional Development University College London [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
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September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland1
What really makes students like a web site?
What are the implications for designers of language learning sites?
Jane Hughes, Claire McAvinia, Terry KingDepartment of Education & Professional Development
September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland2
Overview of Presentation
• Context/background – ATLAS project (Arousing a Taste for
Languages at school)
• Description of work done
• Findings and possible implications
• Discussion and questions
September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland3
A levels and first degree take-up in MFLs in UK
• Good news or bad news?
• A level and first degree take-up– pre-Curriculum 2000– Post-Curriculum 2000
• Future unclear
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Research Questions, Project Aims
• ATLAS addresses decline in language study– Focus on school students (14-19)– Research attitudes, perceptions, experiences– Aim to motivate, create interest, enthusiasm– Less widely taught languages = fresh start
• Web-based tasters– Teachers develop with web designer– Language element but not beginners’ courses– Key points: interest, enjoyment, motivation
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Outline of Research
• Questionnaire 687 14-19 year olds, 9 schools– Covers language learning experience, opinions,
perceptions– Asked to identify a web site they liked – Asked to give a reason for liking it
• Focus group follow-up (Year 12 and Year 10/11)• Analysis categorised and identified themes• Students and teachers gave feedback on new
taster web site– Online (students); face-to-face (teachers)
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Problems Arising
• Anticipated problems with questionnaire – Identifying web sites: not a problem– Joke responses: a small number– Interpreting non-responses: for discussion
• Categorising reasons– Some unspecific praise: “it’s good”– Sometimes needed to refer to the chosen site in
order to categorise the reason: “it’s interesting”
• Context may have influenced responses• First focus group less successful than second
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• Search engines – eg. Google, Yahoo• Academic support sites – eg GCSE Bitesize• Enthusiasms – eg. music, sport, ornithology• Heritage – eg Armenian culture, Indian
dance• “Magazine” sites – eg BBC, Urban75• Games – to play and download• Shopping – eg fashion, unusual items• Communication – email, chat, text msgs
Questionnaire: range of sites
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Reasons given for liking sites
0
50
100
150
200
Series1
Support for study? Humour?
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• “Lots of text” off-putting (unanimous)• It was not quantity but arrangement of text that
mattered– small blocks, clearly headlined,separated– students wanted to scan, not read– “searching” the web page
• They liked lots of links – but wanted to know, before clicking on them, what
they would find
• This may explain why these two sites were nominated, despite having “lots of text” . . .
Focus groups - more detail
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BBC
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Urban75
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Appearance
• Colours and pictures – Students are sensitive readers of these– Eye-catching but “not too in-your-face”– Can colours be patronising? – Cartoons vs photographs? Space ships and
monsters?
• Layout– Simplicity and lack of clutter valued– One reason for liking Google more than Yahoo
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BBC
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Bitesize revision site
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Dislikes
• “Things that mess up your eyes”– backgrounds, blinking, flashing
• Annoying sounds, or music that can not be turned off
• Having to download helper applications– Flash and Acrobat Reader mentioned– “It doesn’t have to be all flash”
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Design questions• No gimmicks; but how to avoid ‘patronising’
design?• How much material in one place? How best to
manage text and links?• Unusual subject matter a strength but could
still include music, sport, fashion – how best to present this?
• Reflecting teachers’ interests, design ideas• Whether/how to include a gaming aspect?• Would our design align us with particular sites
that students liked/disliked?
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ATLAS taster site - homepage
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Russian taster – homepage
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Danish taster - homepage
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Russian Alphabet exercise
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Hot Potatoes for Danish
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Hot Potatoes for Polish
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Initial feedback from students
• MORE of everything– Interactions, pictures, information
• Most liked the look of the site– Colour again was cited often
• Most liked the map but not the space round it• Wanted pictures of people• Usability enhancement needed
– Clearer menus– More obvious links and headings– Possibly site map, drop-down menus
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Possible areas for discussion
• Web and visual literacy – huge range and changing– How can we take account of the speed of change in this area?– What are student bringing to their reading of web pages?
• Is this kind of information something that language teachers need to know?– Or is it up to technical staff or VLE designers to provide
templates?
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Future work
• Taster site to be developed further, responding to the feedback from students and teachers
• Pilot use in schools, November-December 2003
• Complete site in all partner schools, January 2004
• Site publicly available
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Thanks to the following• All the students who took part in the survey.• The school language teachers who helped
with the survey and gave us feedback on the web site.
• The UCL language teachers who developed the Taster courses. They are from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, the Department of Scandinavian Studies and the Language Centre.
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ATLAS - A Taste for Languages at School
• The ATLAS project is funded by – The Nuffield
Foundation
– CfBT Research & Development
– UCL
• Partner Schools:
– Ashcombe School, Surrey– City and Islington College,