What Really Makes Students Like A Web Site

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

University College London

jane.hughes@ucl.ac.uk; c.mcavinia@ucl.ac.uk; terry.king@ucl.ac.uk

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

September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland4

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

September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland5

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

September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland7

• 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?

September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland9

• “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

September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland10

BBC

September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland11

Urban75

September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland12

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

September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland13

BBC

September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland14

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”

September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland16

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?

September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland17

ATLAS taster site - homepage

September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland18

Russian taster – homepage

September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland19

Danish taster - homepage

September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland20

Russian Alphabet exercise

September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland21

Hot Potatoes for Danish

September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland22

Hot Potatoes for Polish

September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland23

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

September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland24

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

September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland26

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.

September 3-6 2003 EuroCALL 2003, Limerick, Ireland27

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,

London– Cranford Community College,

Hounslow– Elliott School, London– Haverstock School, London– Haydon School, Pinner – Parliament Hill School,

London – Weald of Kent Grammar School

for Girls, Kent– William Ellis School, London