Despite the wide availability of computers to teachers throughout New
Zealand, and despite the strong philosophy supporting Internet use for
teacher development, the actual use of Internet websites aiming to enhance
teacher professional development is not high. The New Zealand website Te
Kete Ipurangi (TKI) was developed with the aim of connecting teachers to a
wide range of materials and information. Professional development of this
kind is well supported by many theorists as being able to break down teacher
isolation and build a supportive teaching and learning community. Websites
for teachers, such as this one, are beginning to develop on the Internet, and
their availability to all teachers is of no dispute. The extent to which they are
able to be easily employed by teachers as the resources they were intended
is, however, a matter only a few have investigated. This research studies
some of the navigation aspects of TKI and the usability issues which
influence the overall use of this website. Usability tests and a questionnaire
were utilised to examine the degree to which this website was usable for
teachers and the extent to which there were navigation issues for its intended
users. It found that use of TKI was constrained by teachers' own lack of
confidence and feelings of inability, as well as several navigation issues.
These issues centered on the language used in the website - particularly in
the headings; the search facility; the layout of the site; and the speed of use.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:canterbury.ac.nz/oai:ir.canterbury.ac.nz:10092/3156 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Graham, Frances |
| Publisher | University of Canterbury. Christchurch College of Education |
| Source Sets | University of Canterbury |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic thesis or dissertation, Text |
| Rights | Copyright Frances Graham, http://library.canterbury.ac.nz/thesis/etheses_copyright.shtml |
| Relation | NZCU |
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