Thesis-2004-Said.pdf (9.87 MB)
An experimental study to develop an engaging multimedia design model for children
thesis
posted on 2014-09-03, 11:46 authored by Normahdiah S. SaidMultimedia has enormous potential but there is still much to learn about what
works and what does not work for children. The aim of this research was to
develop a model for multimedia design that gives user engagement for children .
. "
A preliminary scoping study showed that children did realise the potential of
multimedia but did not like the design of the applications given to them. A search
was made for a multimedia application that fitted the 'wish lists' of the children in
the scoping study in order to identify a vehicle for. these investigations. The Sims,
a popular game about Life Management, where players play a major role in the
management of everyday family life (providing a place to stay, managing finance,
basic needs, moods and desires), fitted this description and was selected for this
purpose. Five experiments were conducted with children (9 to 14 years old)
varying the use of The Sims to test what really engaged them. An Engagement
Scale was created as a rating scale to measure engagement at five-minute
intervals. Other data to establish the degree of engagement was gathered
through video recordings and interviews.
The experiments obtained high levels of engagement for some conditions, for
example, simulation and construct conditions. From this the factors contributing
to engagement were identified. As a result a 6-component theory of engagement
was formulated as 'An Engaging Multimedia Design Model for Children'. The
model proposes that children need to be able to interact with the multimedia at
several levels to be engaged to it. The lowest level of interaction needs to give
immediate feedback as a result of the child's actions to support physical or motor
skills. The higher levels of inte,r action, however, need to support mental model
skills and goal achievement. In some cases goals set by the designer are
effective. In others the children need to set their own goals and levels of
aspirations. If the design features in the multimedia conform to these principles
the multimedia application will be engaging for children.
History
School
- Design
Publisher
© Normahdiah Sheik SaidPublisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Publication date
2004Notes
A Doctoral Thesis. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University.EThOS Persistent ID
uk.bl.ethos.418369Language
- en