Abstract:

With the development and accessibility of technology to every teacher and student, there is a growing interest in using digital methods for learning and teaching materials in education. Hence, technology opens new opportunities to provide students with different multimedia rich and interactive learning materials that enable students to be more independent in their learning and to develop their self-regulation learning skills. In the process of creating new ways of learning, it is crucial to get some insight into the usability of the developed solution, especially when we are using technology that learners are not yet familiar with. This way we can detect potential problems that do not derive from the learning material itself but are caused by the environment or the way in which the learning material is delivered. Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are fundamental determinants of user acceptance for formulating positive attitudes towards technology supported learning material and behavioural intention to use technology supported learning material. Further on perceived ease of use of the technology supported learning material plays a crucial role in effectiveness of learning because it directly and indirectly influences intention, affecting the likelihood of using the learning material.
The above topics are addressed in the Internal research project at University of Ljubljana Faculty of Education entitled Developing fundamental computing concepts, perspectives and practices in primary school students aged between 8 and 11 years in the form of online interactive Open Educational Resources (RKPP). The research project team constitutes of 3 researchers from University of Ljubljana Faculty of Education and 4 students of Computer Science and Mathematics from the same institution. The RKPP project aims to develop and promote didactically and pedagogically effective and useful learning material for primary school students from the field of Computer Science Education.
Developed learning materials were used in classroom teaching. Two units were selected to introduce students with the learning material through two 45 minutes lesson plans. In this paper, we present the results of students perceived usability of the website learning material and the learners' situational interest in such learning material. We complement the paper with output of the semi structured interview which was aimed to elicit the teacher's opinion on the perceived situational interest in the learning material among the students and the perceived usefulness of the website from the students' perspective. The results from the study will be further used to update and upgrade the technology supported online learning materials developed in a project. Based on the experience and feedback, we will develop guidelines and recommendations for the creation of such online learning materials.

Keywords:

Usability, situational interest in computer science, online learning material, technology supported learning.