(400)READABILITY REVISITED: EDUCATIONAL WEBSITES IN THETWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

摘要

Teachers in K-12 classrooms in the United States are often directed by administration touse technology. Justification for this requirement is often promise of more efficientlearning, as well as teaching students twenty-first century skills. Schools spend millionsof dollars each year to equip schools with technological equipment to make this mandatepossible. The rampant use of the Internet as a source of educational multimedia is takenfor granted. Teachers direct students to websites full of flash and explosive graphics inhope that they will learn. Little consideration is given to whether or not the website is attheir students’ instructional or independent reading levels.Scholars must proceed in evaluation of both text and images on educational websites,because one of the most important tools for communication, the Internet, is rapidlybecoming more image- than text-oriented. These scholars must have good visualmemory and strong intuitive-associative thinking skills [19]. New and different digital toolsare urgently needed to help students read information via the Internet because they mustbe able to comprehend what they are reading [67]. Few studies exist evaluating howreadable educational websites are. Chen, Wong and Hsu [14] recommend criterion thatneed to be considered when educators make decisions on whether or not an instructionalactivity is to be conducted on the Internet. Information readability is listed as onecriterion, but little evidence exists to suggest it is placed very high in the websiteevaluation process.Educational websites on the Internet are rapidly becoming more pictorial than verbal associety moves into the twenty-first century. Readability can no longer be analyzed asstrictly a textual endeavor. Exploring how readability of educational websites for childrenon the Internet can be analyzed as rhetorical phenomenon, this paper begins to establishconventions for design of electronic media for improved use by both teachers andstudents.Readability of text on educational websites is evaluated using the Fry [28], FleschReading Ease [22] and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level [46] statistical readability formulas.Typography used on these websites is evaluated through familiarity, font style, contrast,alignment, line-length, letterspacing, leading, point size, styles, color, value, and textureof type. Visual images found on educational websites are examined through their nature,function, evaluation, actions, major features, subject matter, medium, forms, colors,organization, craftsmanship, and context.Creating readable websites for students is essential. This job goes far beyond simplecosmetics;planning and structuring, and production and evaluation of communication inwebsites must be evaluated. Visual communication designers of websites must work oninterpretation, organization and visual interpretation of messages. More attention mustbe given to interaction of the public and communication in the website, especially whenconsidering teaching students how to read. Sanders [61] explains that when the marketdrivenera of design gives way to the people-centered era, we must reevaluate the workand create new ways to empathize with needs of people, especially children.