How people acquire knowledge from a web page: An eye tracking study

Abstract

The article describes a pre-experimental research study that focuses on learning objects. Web objects that capture the attention of users and that characterize the content of a website were examined. The main goal was to identify the most relevant design of three web objects by using the eye-tracking tool Areas of Interest and feedback questioning as research methods. Eye tracking was used to gather data about students’ learning activity and questioning to gather students’ learning achievements. The eye movement analysis shows exactly in which order and how long participants spend on viewing selected items. In all three experimental stimuli, the majority of students started the learning process with a focus on the headline and headline and illustration (diagram), not on the box with information with written text. Heat maps and gaze plots document the learning process (Tobii Pro, 2017). As the findings of the learning process show, the students from the third quartile, which paid more attention to the learning process, achieved the best learning performance. The study contributes to our understanding of learning objects as small (reusable) “knowledge packagesâ€.

https://doi.org/10.34105/j.kmel.2018.10.020