Just as with print resources, as the number of Web-based resources continues to soar, the need to evaluate them has become a critical information skill for both children and adults. This is particularly true for schools where librarians often are called on to recommend Web resources to classroom teachers, parents, and students, and to support…

This article reports the results of the third and final phase of a two-year research study on the impact of New York State's school libraries on student achievement and motivation. Results of phase I and phase II are briefly reviewed to provide the context for phase III methods and findings. Phase III comprised (1) qualitative research that…

Applying the expectancy-value theory of motivation to the Web environment, a site that stimulates the interest and curiosity of the user and provides meaningful content and activities may be considered a valuable Web site. The authors developed evaluation instruments that are intended for use by educators and students from grade one through…

Satisfaction is a construct that is important to the development of intrinsic motivation and the continuing effort to learn. Research that helps to identify those factors that contribute to satisfaction is useful in the design of electronic support systems for individuals and groups. This paper investigates the impact of "need for…

Discusses the importance of motivational effectiveness in Web design and highlights features of engaging children's Web sites. Describes the development of an instrument--the Website Motivational Analysis Checklist (WebMAC)--designed to evaluate children's Web sites using feedback from elementary school-age children. Discusses the procedures,…

The evaluation of World Wide Web resources has become a critical information skill for students. Because of the uniqueness of these resources, new tools are required that assess not only the content validity and mechanical functionality of a Web site, but also its motivational quality. This paper describes the development and validation of a set…

Research that identifies factors that facilitate information processing and enhance performance without reducing group confidence and decision satisfaction may influence future development of groupwork systems. This paper contains a review of the literature on cognitive and motivational issues in both group decision-making and learning contexts…

Reports on a study that explored the information locating and use activities, motivation, and learning patterns of children and adults using either a print or multimedia resource to complete an independent research task. Comparisons are presented between activities of print users and multimedia users, motivation in children and adults, and the…

This paper begins by describing the changing needs in the education of today's information technology (IT) professional. It presents a theoretical framework for using an experiential learning approach in the context of professional education in IT and information management and describes an instructional model that augments the principles of…

As the number of World Wide Web sites continues to grow at an explosive rate, the need for design guidelines also increases. Although there are a number of resources that provide guidance on structure and content, few address the motivational aspects of Web sites. The Website Motivational Analysis Checklist (WebMAC) was developed to help diagnose…