Master's
Thesis Project
Design of a virtual learning environment to increase learners' performance and attention
Mentor: S Karmakar and P Yammiyavar,
IIT Guwahati, 2012 to 2013
Design of a virtual learning environment to increase learners' performance and attention
Mentor: S Karmakar and P Yammiyavar,
IIT Guwahati, 2012 to 2013
Improve learner's performance and attention in virtual learning environment through navigational mechanism and perceived visual aesthetic.
∼ Navigations in e-Learning
∼ Multimedia learning
∼ Perceived visual aesthetics in e-Learning
After an in-depth literature review on how students’ interaction with the delivery media may affect his/her learning goals in a virtual learning environment, we constructed our problem statement to understand the impact of navigation and perceived visual aesthetic on learners’ performance & attention.
With the end in view, we came up with multiple concepts. Finally, we evaluated them using usability heuristics.
After evaluating multiple platforms through competitive analysis and finalizing the concept, we started to design in photoshop. We designed various screens having step navigation and vertical menu-based navigation with bright colours in the background to understand their effects.
We developed the final prototype using HTML, CSS, JavaScript and a few tech stacks.
Participants were randomly assigned into two groups to conduct a between-group study. The experimental and control groups have 10 and 9 participants, respectively. We used different tools to measure cognitive load, aesthetics, engagement, usability, learners’ performance, and willingness to continue to use. We also conducted eye-tracking (gaze point and heatmap) to understand the learner’s attention.
∼ Students of IIT Guwahati
∼ Sample Size: 27
∼ Age Group: 18 to 34 years (M = 24.22 & SD = 1.42)
We conducted the “Shapiro Wilk” test to check whether the data gathered from tools (NASA - TLX, CAes, EAes, Eng, VisAWI, SUS, WCU, and participants’ scores) are normally distributed or not. We found that data from all scales are non-significant and normally distributed as their p-value is greater than 0.05. We observed similar results in “Normal Q-Q Plots”.
“Levene’s” test of homogeneity of variance was carried out to satisfy the assumption of the t-test. Results from the "Independent Sample t Test" suggested that there is a significant difference in learners’ cognitive load (p = .004 < 0.05) and system usability (p = .01 < 0.05) between the designed virtual learning environment and traditional learning environment.
Gaze Point and Heat Map Analysis
We tracked gaze points for each participant and generated a heat map using an eye movement recorder to analyze learners’ attention.
Results suggested that step and vertical menu-based navigation can reduce learners' cognitive load and increase system usability of the e-learning environment. The designed interface (visual aesthetic) may also increase learners' span of attention.
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