Application Usability
The Learners
Dick, Carey & Carey(2001) stated that for instruction being developed, it was important to get an abstract representation of the widest possible range of users through site visits,surveys,questionaire's and pretests of the target population(learners) or learner analysis. To understand the environment & setting where learners would be utilizing the new skill learned, on site visits,interviews,observations could be utilized for performance setting(environment) or context analysis.
To determine more about the target audience for our application, we conducted informal discussions and observations with teachers at Angleton High School, as well as survey 16 teachers from three different schools via Survey Monkey. The target population for this analysis and for the learning goal were secondary teachers. With this lesson, teachers can take the lesson that they have created, centered on technology with iPhone or iPad apps, and help their students improve learning.
In general the learner characteristics included some of the following:
Performance Context
By conducting interviews and evaluations, we were able to better understand the social and physical environment where these technology centered lesson plans would be implemented. In general the contextual characteristics included some of the following:
Applied Skills
Ogle(2002) summarizes formative evaluation tools in her dissertation on formative evaluation tools. Formative evaluations should be developed by designers in advance so they can plan together what they want to get out of the evaluation. It provides educators with information so they can make their instruction more effective and appealing.
Reviewing the results from our one on one evaluation led us to believe that the instructional materials and instructors-led instruction, while good, would benefit from more detail, more interactivity, more visually appealing graphics, and better navigation. We improved the introduction. pre-test and lessons 1,2,3 to add depth to the site which would allow this website to not only become a class on integrating apps, but also a resource with tools accessible to educators who wanted more information on direct application of apps in the classroom.
In general, learners were able to do the following:
Available Tools
Reviewing the results from our surveys and evaluations, users founds tools that we incorporated into instruction valuable in their overall understanding of iPad and iPhone apps and how to incorporate it into their lesson plans.
In general, learners were able to utilize the following tools:
References:
Dick, Carey & Carey(2001). Lesson 3 - Analyzing Leaners and Contexts.
Ogle, G. (2002). Towards a Formative Evaluation Tool. Retrieved from http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-04262002-161146/unrestricted/etd.pdf
The Learners
Dick, Carey & Carey(2001) stated that for instruction being developed, it was important to get an abstract representation of the widest possible range of users through site visits,surveys,questionaire's and pretests of the target population(learners) or learner analysis. To understand the environment & setting where learners would be utilizing the new skill learned, on site visits,interviews,observations could be utilized for performance setting(environment) or context analysis.
To determine more about the target audience for our application, we conducted informal discussions and observations with teachers at Angleton High School, as well as survey 16 teachers from three different schools via Survey Monkey. The target population for this analysis and for the learning goal were secondary teachers. With this lesson, teachers can take the lesson that they have created, centered on technology with iPhone or iPad apps, and help their students improve learning.
In general the learner characteristics included some of the following:
- Had familiarity with teaching
- Had familiarity with building lesson plans
- Had familiarity with utilization of technology and technology devices
- Liked the idea of technology apps but had not utilize technology apps for delivery
- Being able to manage and create lesson plans was a hi priority
- hi-level of enthusiasm to incorporate technology tools for learning into the lesson plan
- Preferred learning from someone who had demonstrated incorporating technology into lesson plans that had improved the learning process
- Varying degrees of comfort with using technology devices to promote student learning amongst teachers
Performance Context
By conducting interviews and evaluations, we were able to better understand the social and physical environment where these technology centered lesson plans would be implemented. In general the contextual characteristics included some of the following:
- Most schools had the infrastructure to support iPhone or iPad apps but not every teacher and student necessarily had access to the applications
- One to one interaction as well as group collaboration was obtainable
- Teacher's could instruct student to learn via lesson plans incorporating technology w/ in classroom instruction and utilization of technology tools
- adequate number of teachers for student population as well as principals and administration support were present but varied from school to school
- Instructors were able to run through the lessons online on a self-serve basis with some watching segments of the lessons over several days while others viewed the entire lesson over several hours
Applied Skills
Ogle(2002) summarizes formative evaluation tools in her dissertation on formative evaluation tools. Formative evaluations should be developed by designers in advance so they can plan together what they want to get out of the evaluation. It provides educators with information so they can make their instruction more effective and appealing.
Reviewing the results from our one on one evaluation led us to believe that the instructional materials and instructors-led instruction, while good, would benefit from more detail, more interactivity, more visually appealing graphics, and better navigation. We improved the introduction. pre-test and lessons 1,2,3 to add depth to the site which would allow this website to not only become a class on integrating apps, but also a resource with tools accessible to educators who wanted more information on direct application of apps in the classroom.
In general, learners were able to do the following:
- understand Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy and ISTE NETS-S
- able to build lesson plans that incorporated iPad apps that incorporated Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy and ISTE NETS-S concepts
- able to conduct and document research utilizing research and information fluency apps
- able to access and/or create an online communication and collaboration site to share their learnings
Available Tools
Reviewing the results from our surveys and evaluations, users founds tools that we incorporated into instruction valuable in their overall understanding of iPad and iPhone apps and how to incorporate it into their lesson plans.
In general, learners were able to utilize the following tools:
- Pre-Tests to assess their level of understanding before and after the lesson
- Lessons,videos and links to gain more understanding and insight into the subject
- Quizzes to assess their learnings and self-serve to go back and review concepts and ideas that were not clear
References:
Dick, Carey & Carey(2001). Lesson 3 - Analyzing Leaners and Contexts.
Ogle, G. (2002). Towards a Formative Evaluation Tool. Retrieved from http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-04262002-161146/unrestricted/etd.pdf