In the early 1990s, numerous academic libraries adopted the web as a communication tool with users. The literature on academic library websites includes research on both design and navigation. Early studies typically focused on design characteristics, since websites initially merely provided information on the services and collections available in…

Purpose: Today's technology supports the design of more and more sophisticated interactive learning environments. This paper aims to argue that such design should develop from first principles. Design/methodology/approach: In the paper by first principles is meant: learning theory and principles of course design. These principles are briefly…

Letter names play an important role in early literacy. Previous studies of letter name learning have examined the Latin alphabet. The current study tested learners of Hebrew, comparing their patterns of performance and types of errors with those of English learners. We analyzed letter-naming data from 645 Israeli children who had not begun formal…

Art history is a hybrid discipline that combines the verbal with the visual, yet the limiting verbal approach traditionally has defined the field. Another problem at the university level is that different types of classes define visually literacy differently; for example, art education programs emphasize perceptual and cognitive angles while art…

Presents an investigation of the hypothesis that an increase in the salience of the total class dimension should improve class-inclusion performance. Subjects were 220 children in kindergarten through third grades. (SDH)

The analysis of logical and antilogical influences on preference made by Bradbury and Nelson is extended to a consideration of choices by children in kindergarten, Grade 4, and Grade 8. Conclusions are drawn concerning the dependence of intransitive preference on the collative variable of novelty in choice context. (Author/SDH)

Learner preferences for varying screen density levels were examined using multiple screen designs (high external validity) and single screen designs (high internal validity). Subjects were 23 graduate and 23 undergraduate student volunteers. When viewing multiple screens for each design in Study I, they indicated the highest preference for medium…

Two hypotheses in a study examining the influence of a dominant piece of art on the salience of a news story for readers, thus affecting their agendas, were as follows: (1) a story with dominant art will increase a reader's issue salience more than a story without dominant art; and (2) a story with balanced art will increase a reader's issue…

This paper summarizes a preferred design of organizational effectiveness studies of small rural school districts. The preferred design consists of five major and mostly sequential steps: (1) considering a large number of complex policy questions associated with the issue of organizational effectiveness efforts; (2) deciding on the technical issue…

This study examined learner preference for different typefaces and vertical spacing or leading in print materials used in independent study university extension courses. For several years, these materials were produced using 12-point Times font on the default leading provided by Microsoft Word 3.0 (approximately 12-point line). A questionnaire…

This report discusses the current state of research into the visual effects of screen layout design, i.e., the arrangement of design elements on a screen. First, two types of design elements are described: technical (those things that engineers work with and that users have little or no control over), and comprehensibility (those elements that a…

A look at the two dimensions of the structure of content for instructional purposes: 1) psychological; and, 2) logical. (HB)

When administrators at Worcester State College decided to build student housing at their formerly all-commuter school, they took pains to involve students and faculty in planning the project. The result was a 500-student village, comprised of 26 different "houses," which has proved very popular with students. (JG)

A matching task was presented to 120 subjects from 6 to 20 years of age to investigate the relative influence of dimensional salience and salience of variability on problem solving. The task included four dimensions: form, color, number, and position. (LLK)