Evaluation of a hypermedia document as a learning tool

This paper describes a classroom-based experimental evaluation of an electronic history 'book' presented in a hypermedia environment. It was compared with a paper-based version of the same material. Observations of children's activities and interactions revealed that they had few problems using the hypermedia document as an information source and also rated it more positively, in terms of ease of use, than those children using the paper-based version. However, no significant differences were found between the two soups in the number of questions children completed and answered correctly, their interest in the material, and task difficulty. The implications of these findings and the role of evaluation in determining the educational value of computer-based activities are discussed.