Enhancing the content and experience of Interactive Childrens Television. Interactive television (iTV) as a participatory, on-demand communication provides a unique opportunity to significantly engage, entertain and educate preschool children. Through considerable industry partner collaboration and participation, this project will evaluate three distinct interactive options produced from selected children's television programs with proven success in Australia. Usability studies employing a vari ....Enhancing the content and experience of Interactive Childrens Television. Interactive television (iTV) as a participatory, on-demand communication provides a unique opportunity to significantly engage, entertain and educate preschool children. Through considerable industry partner collaboration and participation, this project will evaluate three distinct interactive options produced from selected children's television programs with proven success in Australia. Usability studies employing a variety of surveillance techniques will evaluate content design and user response. Children's viewing habits will be evaluated within a social context (the home) and a mobile lab setting using qualitative and quantitative assessment. The results will identify effective ways to produce meaningful interactivity and will encourage future industry based research.Read moreRead less
Production Challenges in the On-Line Learning Environment. The shift of responsibility from teacher-centred learning to learner-centred learning has raised important questions of access for diverse groups in Australia and overseas. The project seeks to investigate new delivery mechanisms that respond to worldwide trends in virtual communities and self-directed learning. This research will explore the relationship between content pedagogy, use of technology, and work-related issues and expectatio ....Production Challenges in the On-Line Learning Environment. The shift of responsibility from teacher-centred learning to learner-centred learning has raised important questions of access for diverse groups in Australia and overseas. The project seeks to investigate new delivery mechanisms that respond to worldwide trends in virtual communities and self-directed learning. This research will explore the relationship between content pedagogy, use of technology, and work-related issues and expectations. It will adopt a qualitative and quantitative research methodology in identifying opportunities, producing a learning prototype, testing and trialing that prototype and applying research outcomes in the context of emergent new educational models that draw upon convergent media.Read moreRead less
A 'smarter image' for educational multimedia: Improving learning of dynamic content with animated and static graphics. Animated images were once used largely for entertainment but are now increasingly a feature of multimedia information and education systems. However, recent research casts doubt on animation's assumed superiority over static pictures for facilitating understanding. This project aims to find how animations should be designed, supported, and used in order to fulfill their vast pot ....A 'smarter image' for educational multimedia: Improving learning of dynamic content with animated and static graphics. Animated images were once used largely for entertainment but are now increasingly a feature of multimedia information and education systems. However, recent research casts doubt on animation's assumed superiority over static pictures for facilitating understanding. This project aims to find how animations should be designed, supported, and used in order to fulfill their vast potential for explaining and instructing. It will examine in fine detail how people with different backgrounds actually use animations when trying to comprehend familiar and unfamiliar topics. Research-based guidelines will be produced on how to design effective animations and animated-static graphic blends for use in multimedia. Read moreRead less
Facilitating the Lifelong Learning Needs of the Mature Age Community through Learning Object Technology. By understanding learner preferences, needs and requirements, it could be possible to provide opportunities in an online learning environment that will improve the quality, variety and relevance of learning for all. There could be particular benefits for mature-age learners. Curtin has begun to explore the benefits of reusable learning objects with current online learning management systems. ....Facilitating the Lifelong Learning Needs of the Mature Age Community through Learning Object Technology. By understanding learner preferences, needs and requirements, it could be possible to provide opportunities in an online learning environment that will improve the quality, variety and relevance of learning for all. There could be particular benefits for mature-age learners. Curtin has begun to explore the benefits of reusable learning objects with current online learning management systems. This project aims to define the use and application of learning object technology and applies a meta-model of pedagogical design to online learning environments. Outcomes will allow the applications of new methodologies for the effective implementation of complex, intelligent learning environments.Read moreRead less