What’s in a Web Site? Student Perceptions

Abstract

Although motivation is an important aspect in instructional design, few studies have examined the effect of motivation in Web site design. Most of the existing Web site evaluation checklists evaluate for content accuracy but not the motivational quality of Web sites. For this study, we developed the Motivation Analysis Rating Kit (M@RK) to address motivational design elements and to assess children’s perception of Web design elements and the Web features they most prefer in “cool” Web sites. The research employed a repeated measures design on a single sample (N = 71) with two within-subjects factors (Web sites and motivational elements). Paired-sample t-tests were used to compare student ratings among the various motivational elements. Findings show that children are able to and do select Web sites critically. They seem to be most motivated by Web sites that are rated high for both content and design elements.