Learning objects and engagement of students in Australian and New Zealand schools

Abstract

This paper reports on a completed field study that examined the usability and effectiveness of learning objects designed for Australian and New Zealand primary and secondary schools. It focuses on student engagement by observing the ways students interacted with learning objects and by listening to what they said about them. Questions that guided the field study included the following: Could the students use the learning objects easily? Did they enjoy the experience? Did they engage with the intended learning? These questions are examined with reference to students at different levels of schooling, and examples drawn from the fieldwork illustrate that, while some learning objects achieved their potential as engaging multimedia educational resources, others fell short. The paper provides a detailed examination of two learning objects to reveal what worked and what created barriers or subverted the intended learning. In particular, it explores interest, challenge and importance as elements that contributed to engagement and socially constructed learning.

Benefits of Digital Game-Based Learning (Dgbl) for English Learning.

“…Game designers can also put audio and visual content along with the text, to accommodate those who do not want to read or have lower reading skills. As mentioned by Lowe et al (2010), by combining audio-visual and text interface in games, students who do not want to read or has lower reading skills can count on the audio-visual instructions instead pushing themselves to read the text. Therefore, the disadvantages of so-called "weaker readers" will be mitigated, and the learning target can be reached by all students more easily.…”

Building Digital Skills at Primary School – Sormative Regulation and Pedagogical Practice in Bulgaria

“…As for reading, allowing students to search for additional lexical and contextual information related to the content may not significantly increase their reading comprehension (Sakar and Ercetin, 2005). Students may overlook the most important information when there is a lot of other distracting information on the computer screen (Lowe et al, 2010). Students' lack of existing knowledge and skills about computers and the Internet, or lack of access to computers and the Internet outside school, may create barriers for some children to use ICT for learning.…”

Ubiquitous Learning Environments and Technologies

“…Comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading. Digital content (e.g., multimedia) can help learners understand complex concepts, elicit higher self-motivation, and foster individual engagement in learning activities (de Jong et al 2010;Lowe et al 2010). Reading failure may lead to long-term learning difficulties and further engender a possibility of losing their confidence and learning motivation (Armbruster et al 2001;Nation et al 2002).…”