Tightly coupling authoring and evaluation in an integrated tool to support rapid iterative design of hypermedia systems

Presents a framework for the iterative design of hypermedia educational manuals (HEMs), implemented in a software tool that integrates authoring and evaluation support in order to speed up iterative design cycles. A unique feature of our approach is the automatic generation of a structural description of the HEM being designed and the automatic incorporation of interaction data logging elements in the HEM during the authoring phase. These are then used by an evaluation tool to provide redesign recommendations as well as statistical and structural analyses of the HEM based on users' interactions with it. Thus, the architecture of this tool embodies a tight coupling between the design of these manuals and the evaluation of their instructional effectiveness. An experiment was carried out in which a prototype HEM was created, tested with a group of students, redesigned based on analyses and recommendations provided by the evaluation tool, and then re-evaluated using data from a second group of students. This experiment showed that the integrated tool helps simplify the evaluation process and greatly improves the efficiency of iterative design cycles.