The evaluation of the Hyper Apuntes interactive learning environment

Abstract

This paper describes the Hyper Apuntes evaluation experience. Hyper Apuntes is an interactive learning environment which teaches students the basic concepts of computer programming. The courseware basically consists of lecture notes and exercises; it provides students with the possibility of editing, compiling, running programs, and evaluating their learning performance. Hyper Apuntes was firstly adopted in a computer programming course at the Computer Science Department of the University Carlos III of Madrid. A sample of 40 students used the interactive learning environment for a term. The system evaluation was conducted over this trial period. The evaluation objective was to assess the Hyper Apuntes usability and utility, and to collect ideas and suggestions for improving the system. The results drawn from this experience indicated that students found it intuitive and easy to use. In addition, they affirmed that their knowledge and comprehension of the computer programming topics were considerably improved by using the tutorial. Although the final examination results were not as positive as expected, Hyper Apuntes emerged to be a useful learning tool. The Hyper Apuntes evaluation experience could provide useful guidelines for assessing other interactive learning environments.