Building Hypermedia for Learning: a Framework Based on the Design of User Interface

Research in hypermedia electronic books is a relatively new field that addresses the problem of creating new effective learning environments. However, the lack of well-defined criteria for evaluation and the somewhat marginal effort devoted to the design of multimedia interfaces, has often resulted in the development of a set of multimedia/hypermedia applications which are of dubious value. Studies in HCI and user-centred design can help in the design of hypermedia systems in education. A well-defined set of guidelines, derived from user-interface evaluation principles, can support and guide the design phase and show how to implement the didactic functions effectively. The knowledge domain and tutoring strategy components are then integrated within this framework. The effectiveness of this approach has been successfully tested in the design of our hypermedia system SIDI. ——— * This work has been developed in the frame of the C.N.R. Progetto Finalizzato Sistemi Informatici e Calcolo Parallelo, Subproject 7 1 Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Tecnologie Didattiche e Formative, Via Ruggero Settimo,n.55, 90139 Palermo, Italy, Tel. +39 51 354449, e-mail: [email protected] 2 Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Informazione, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Piazza Porta San Donato, n.5, 40127 Bologna, Italy, Tel. +39 51 354449, e-mail: [email protected]