Zen and the Art of Web-Site Evaluation: Tools to assist in the successful

development of an e-learning portal

Damian GordonCiarán O'Leary

DIT e-Learning Research Group

Introduction

• Develop an evaluation instrument for students to use to rate the quality of websites

• Using third-level computer science students with excellent information age skills

• Why ? To help identify appropriate web-based learning materials when building an eLearning portal

Defining Quality

Defining Quality

• Pirsig - “Quality is a direct experience independent of and prior to intellectual abstractions.”

• Kitchenham – “Quality is hard to define, impossible to measure, easy to recognise”

• There are automated solutions, but we feel they are a quantitative approach to a qualitative problem

What are some of the dangers associated with DHMO?

• Death due to accidental inhalation of DHMO, even in small quantities.

• Prolonged exposure to solid DHMO causes severe tissue damage.

• Excessive ingestion produces a number of unpleasant though not typically life-threatening side-effects.

• DHMO is a major component of acid rain.

• Gaseous DHMO can cause severe burns.

• Contributes to soil erosion.

• Leads to corrosion and oxidation of many metals.

• Exposure decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes.

Information Age Skills

Information Age Skills

Information Age Skills

Information Age Skills

Information Age Skills

The Instrument

The Quest for Quality

Content

Content

Content• Site Title• Content Type (magazine article, tutorial, corporate web site etc.)• Topic(s) Covered• Covered comprehensively?• Bibliographical References?• Is the information practical?• Language of Site (English, Finnish, etc)• Does this site have information that other sites do not ?• Is it an independent site (not too many out links)?• Is it well cross-referenced (inter-linked)?

ContentSite Title

• Search Engines attach a great deal of significance

• Titles shouldn’t be too general e.g. instead of “The WWW” use

“A History of the World Wide Web from 1988 to 2001”

ContentContent Type

(magazine article, tutorial, corporate web site, etc.)

• Students are mostly interested in tutorial-type sites or sites with lecture notes on them (naturally)

• The right tools for the right job=> Government Web sites=> University Web Sites=> Corporate Web Sites

ContentTopic(s) Covered

• Compare this with title of site, do they match ??

• Some students give ‘table of contents’ of site

ContentCovered comprehensively?

Coverage

• How broad and deep is the coverage of a topic ?• Does it give the what, who, when where, why and how of topic ?• For new topics students are very interresting in finding site with

good coverage of of a given topic• Does it cover the entire history of the topic ?• If it introduces new terminology, is it explained (or even better,

linked to an explaination) ?

ContentBibliographical References?

Scholarliness• Scholarly articles always cite their sources (ot many pages cite their

sources)

• The language of the site will be that of the discipline being covered

• Student aren’t looking for this sort of page, they want tutorial-type info and then assume it is scholarly.

NOTE: Authors of quality information are more inclined to publish in some other form, such as books, journals, papers for recognition and/or financial gain. Thus, websites must vie with each other on the basis of being the most colourful and dazzling, or most technically advanced

ContentIs the information practical?

• This becomes the most important question once students are aware exactly what they are looking for

• Examples are sometimes too irrelevant to too complex

• It can often be very hard to find answers to specific questions

ContentLanguage of Site (English, Finnish, etc)

Nationality

• Cultural bias

• Variant spelling

• Variant terminology

ContentDoes this site have information that other sites do not ?

Differentiation

• More Comprehensive, more up-to-date

• QUOTES:– “Yes, it has more examples”, – “better examples”,– “takes a case study approach”

ContentIs it an independent site (not too many out links)?

Coupling

• We distinguish between two kinds of sites, ones that provide links to other resources (portals) and those that provide original information

• A good site should contain all the necessary information and not rely on external sources which may become uncontactable.

ContentIs it well cross-referenced (inter-linked)?

Cohesion

• Is there a menu bar on each page ? Is there a site map ?

• Some websites require that you go back to the home page to get anywhere :-(

• A good site should find an appropriate balance between inward-pointing and outward-pointing links

Form

Form

Form• Is it intuitive to use?• Is there one main concept per page (with at least 5

pages)?• Is the layout (and interface) consistent throughout the

entire site?• Is the grammar, punctuation and spelling correct?• Is multi-media being used to assist learning?• Does the site present the information in ways that

other sites do not?

FormIs it intuitive to use?

Navigability / Ease-of-Use / Workability / Conviviality

• Qualitive assessment of site

• To help avoid ‘information overload’ always provide an index

• The simpler, the better. UI design, HCI design, Gestalt psychology

FormIs there one main concept per page (with at least 5 pages)?

Modularity

• Easier to design

• Easier to change a page

• Easier to find what you are looking for

Site FlowchartHomePage

Section1 Section2 Section3 … …

Page1

Page2

Page3

…

Page1

Page2

Page3

Page1

Page2

…

…

FormIs the layout (and interface) consistent throughout the entire

site?Navigability / Ease-of-Use / Workability / Conviviality

• Usually this is not the case, different types of pages may require different layouts, e.g. tutorials vs. assessments

• Stylesheets can help keep things looking similar

• QUOTES:– “Yes, makes it easier to use and find appropriate information”– “…the layout is confusing, as it is different for each topic”

FormIs the grammar, punctuation and spelling correct?

Accuracy

• International influence : regional spelling suggests regional terminology

• Very detrimental to a site’s credibility if not

FormIs multi-media being used to assist learning?

Interactivity

• Help us determines the teaching style of the web-site (purely instructional, behaviourist or constructivist)

• In this survey, most web-pages that the students evaluated were principally text-based some had applets or JavaScript for illustrating programming concepts, but students are mainly interested in getting the information in a text based format. Could be their vocabulary of the internet is mainly text-based and younger students will favour most audio/video based learning on the web.

FormDoes the site present the information in ways that other

sites do not?Differentiation Appeal

• QUOTES:

• “Yes, it’s more informal” • “Use of examples is great” • “The layout is spacious” • “teaching good website design by show bad websites”• “Exercises at the end of each page”• “Yes, boringly !”

Technical Features

Technical Features

Technical Features• URL of Site• Does the site work on all browsers ?

• Does it require any additional downloads ? • Is the site accessible ? Are there text/audio alternatives ?• Do the graphics take a noticeable time to load ?• Are all downloadables labelled with their sizes (e.g. Video

121Mbs) ?• Does the site provide a search function ?• Does the site provide additional technical features that other

sites do not (e.g. Bulletin Board, mailing lists, search facility)

Technical FeaturesURL of Site

Visibility

Search Engines are reducing the importance of URLs Top-Level Domains:

.com .edu .gov .net .org .tv .ie .uk .us .au .sa

Jakob Nielsen A URL should by easy-to-remember, easy-to-type and easy-to-spell

URLs that visualise the site structure

URLs that are "hackable" to allow users to move to higher levels of the information architecture by hacking off the end of the URL

persistent URLs that don't change

Technical FeaturesDoes the site work on all browsers ?

Compatibility

• Does it work on Internet Explorer ? Netscape Navigator ? Mozilla ? Opera ? Cello ? Emacs ? K-Meleon ?

• What about backwards compatibility ? Older versions of browers ?• Does it work for text-based browsers ? Lynx ? w3m ? EnterWEB ?

-- consider the emerging economies

• Problem include; frames, Javascript, applets…FrontPage.

Technical FeaturesDoes the site work on all browsers ?

Spot the Difference ...

Internet Explorer Netscape Navigator

Technical FeaturesDoes it require any additional downloads ?

Compatibility

• e.g. Java classes, Flash, Quicktime, activeX components, cosmo player.

• Students may not be allowed to install software on school computers, so should try to avoid an excess of technical wizardry.

Technical FeaturesIs the site accessible ? Are there text/audio alternatives ?

Accessibility

• Very important -- many of the students surveyed were not farmiliar with the term ‘accessibility’ :-(

• The W3C (World-wide Web Consortium) has a body that coordinates this ;

WAI - Web Accessibility Initiative

Technical FeaturesDo the graphics take a noticeable time to load ?

Retrievability

Where did Boo go wrong?

•It demanded users have the Flash plug-in,

•then forced them to navigate pages of animation to get to the place where they could order something.

•It hid the navigation under cute graphics.

•It crashed browsers.

•It launched new windows at every opportunity.

•It demanded a fast connection (in theory 56k, but higher in reality).

•It blocked Mac users entirely

Some students feel that sites with no graphics are boring…you can’t please everyone

Technical FeaturesAre all downloadables labelled with their sizes (e.g. Video 121Mbs)

Accessibility

• Shows a consideration for your audience

Technical FeaturesDoes the site provide a search function ?

Searching

• Again, shows a degree of consideration for your audience

• Allows students to find information quickly

Technical FeaturesDoes the site provide additional technical features (e.g. Bulletin Board, mailing lists, search facility)

Differentiation Instruction Style

• Is the site purely instructional, do it have regular quizzes (behaviouristic) ? Interactive tools (Const) ?

• HTML tutorial should have HTML validator

• Tests, Demos, Notice boards, Discussion boards, Mailing lists, Drop down lists, Help files, User formatting, Shopping carts

Authority

Authority

Authority• Is it clear who the author(s) are ?• What organization do they represent ?• Can you contact either the author(s) or the organization ?• Is the organization or author(s) well-known ?• Date of finding site• Does the site have a date of creation and date of last update ?• Is this site linked to from anywhere ? If so is the parent site a credible

authority ?• Are there a lot of out-links ? What sort of sites do they go to ?• Is there additional authority information you can learn from the URL (e.g.

the page is part of a user’s site, it may be a temporary site, it may be a free site) ?

AuthorityIs it clear who the author(s) are ?

Objectivity Scholarliness

• Are there any political, ideological or other biases ?

• Is the researcher in the domain ?

AuthorityWhat organization do they represent ?

Objectivity Scholarliness

• As before, are there any political, ideological or other biases ?

• Is the organization in the domain ?

AuthorityCan you contact either the author(s) or the organization ?

Credibility

• Increases user confiedence

AuthorityIs the organization or author(s) well-known ?

Credibility

• Increases user confiedence

AuthorityDate of finding site

Currency

• For future reviews

AuthorityDoes the site have a date of creation and date of last

update ?Currency

• Students need to realise that if the author or sponsorship of the information is not clearly identified and if there is no indication of date of publication or update, then the materials should not be used.

AuthorityAre there a lot of out-links ?

What sort of sites do they go to ?Credibility

• It is important that links are not to sites with excessive advertising, irrelevant materials or legally compromising material

AuthorityIs this site linked to from anywhere ? If so is the

parent site a credible authority ?Credibility

• Again lends credibility, key factor in calculating importance of site in search engines

AuthorityIs there additional authority information you can learn from the

URL (e.g. the page is part of a user’s site, it may be a temporary site, it may be a free site) ?

Stability• www.cal2003.com

• www.comp.dit.ie/dgordon

• http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2003/0407/index.htm

• http://loginnet.passport.com/login.srf?id=2&svc=mail&cbid=24325&msppjph=1&tw=0&fs=1&fsa=1&fsat=1296000&lc=2057&_lang=EN

Outcomes• which features students like about websites

• identified and refined their information age skills

• which websites appeal to students

• a set of standards that can be applied when designing our own materials

• a corpus of websites that are rated, thus embodying Communal constructivism

Learning Styles

The Need for Standards

• Standard HTML Websites

• XML defined Websites

• META tagged HTML sites

• SCORM / AICC / IMG ...