Website Game - 1st attempt

I've always struggled with actionscript but I decided to create a few simple Flash games for my website. I think this will make the website far more interesting and appealling. This has also given me the chance to challenge myself even more with this website as I want it to be the best it can possibly. I started by getting some help with basic actionscripting from my tutor and fellow interactive student. This is my first attempt at a game.

Artefact Two Evaluation

The topic of the practical research is ’How can the uses of interactive learning tools help to further understand and promote kinaesthetic and visual learning?’ The first artefact produced was an interactive flash-based learning tool. The user was asked to navigate through various pages of information in any order they chose and then complete a drag and drop game at the end to select true facts out of a selection of both true and false. The test was timed and after this was completed the user was asked to complete a short questionnaire to find out if they are a visual, kinaesthetic or auditory learner. The test was carried out on eleven people aged between 16 and 26 years old. This artefact was designed to find out if an on-screen interactive game would be an effective learning tool for visual and kinaesthetic learners. The on-screen game was scored out of six and although the results were varied between all three types of learner the highest results were achieved by visual and kinaesthetic learners and the lowest by an auditory learner. This appears to prove that visual and kinaesthetic learners have gained knowledge effectively through the use of this on-screen interactive learning tool. The timing of the test was less conclusive with both the lowest and highest time recorded being in the visual and kinaesthetic categories. This test would have been more conclusive if it had been carried out on more people and also if the game had been scored out of a higher number of points therefore giving more varied results.

Artefact Two Presentation

Exhibition Idea

I know it wasn't suggested in the lecture, but going with the Pop Art/ Warhol theme, i quite like the idea of the name SOUP. Soup is a mixture of all different things mixed together to make one thing, which is kind of like Multimedia with all different design disciplines making up one industry. The image below could be used, replacing the word 'tomato' with 'multimedia'.

Final Page Designs

I am really pleased with these designs, using my designs in Photoshop as a base I have started building my website using Dreamweaver. After discussion with my tutor I adjusted my design slightly; by moving the buttons slightly further down and to the left more room is created for the information and images and by lengthening the button bar under the header it becomes an underlining tool also and the page looks more structured.

Artefact Two

For my second research artefact I have decided to design a questionnaire and ask people (mainly multimedia students) to fill it out online. The questionnaire will be simple and quick to fill out as people often lose patience when filling out something very lengthy. I will be using an online tool called surveymonkey.com which allows me to design my questionnaire and provides me with a link to forward to people I would like to complete it. The website will also save the results of the survey for me which makes it simple to analyse. I feel that doing it online will allow me to collect a larger amount of results than I would be bale to by trying to find people face-to-face to fill it out.

The idea behind this is to find out a bit more about visual and kinaesthetic learners. The first part of the questionnaire will help me discover what type of learner the person filling it out is. The second is some quick questions including; favorite and worst GCSE subjects and why; what they think is most and least important when looking at a website to find information; anyway they think online information could be given more effectively. I am hoping to find some interesting correlations in the results that will help me decide where to go next in my research project.

Further Design Ideas

I got some great feedback from my tutor David and friend Camilla about my first website design. We discussed loads of different aspects of the design and just by changing small things such as the buttons it can make so much difference. I am so much happier with my designs now and am confident that these designs will work well for my website.

Artefact One Evaluation

The topic of the practical research is ’How can the uses of interactive learning tools help to further understand and promote kinaesthetic and visual learning?’ The first artefact produced was an interactive flash-based learning tool. The user was asked to navigate through various pages of information in any order they chose and then complete a drag and drop game at the end to select true facts out of a selection of both true and false. The test was timed and after this was completed the user was asked to complete a short questionnaire to find out if they are a visual, kinaesthetic or auditory learner. The test was carried out on eleven people aged between 16 and 26 years old. This artefact was designed to find out if an on-screen interactive game would be an effective learning tool for visual and kinaesthetic learners. The on-screen game was scored out of six and although the results were varied between all three types of learner the highest results were achieved by visual and kinaesthetic learners and the lowest by an auditory learner. This appears to prove that visual and kinaesthetic learners have gained knowledge effectively through the use of this on-screen interactive learning tool. The timing of the test was less conclusive with both the lowest and highest time recorded being in the visual and kinaesthetic categories. This test would have been more conclusive if it had been carried out on more people and also if the game had been scored out of a higher number of points therefore giving more varied results.

Artefact One Presentation

Website Design Idea

This is the first design idea for the homepage of my website, I do like it but I think it is too boring and lacks inspiration. I don't really like the background colour or the buttons so I think some playing about is needed with those. I do like the use of the colours from the logo for the buttons as this will make each section in the website clearly divided up. I like the header with the logo to the left and the size and font of the title, I think it needs to be separated from the main body of the page a bit more.

Site Map Changes

I received some really useful feedback during my proposal presentation. I discussed with my tutor David how the website would be better if it were less about a mass of information and more about the quality of the website. I have decided to adjust the site map as I think this will make the website far better. In the old site map the website contained three sections named foundation stage, key stage one, and key stage two, and then within each section having information on Literacy, Numeracy and ICT. In the new site map (please see below) the website will have just three sections named Literacy, Numeracy, and ICT, these sections will be less detatiled but will contain general information, hints and tips, and either links to games or an interactive game I have created myself. I would also like to make a Flash based game to be included in the PSHE section, such as a drag and drop recycling game. Time allowing, I would also like to have a healthy eating game and a interactive map fo the Newcastle section. I feel this will allow me to spend more time on the design and production of the website rather than taking a long time to source detailed information. The website will become far more interesting and will show the depth of my skills and knowledge in web design and interaction design.