European Journal of Education Studies ISSN: 2501 - 1111 ISSN-L: 2501 - 1111 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu Volume 3 │Issue 10 │2017 doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1034181 THE EYES HAVE IT: USING EYE TRACKING TECHNOLOGY TO ASSESS THE USABILITY OF LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS Christopher Jankovski, Damian Schofieldi School of Computer Science, State University of New York, Oswego, New York, USA Abstract: Twenty-six students from a sixth grade math class in Upstate New York received guardian approval to participate in a study that gathered data pertaining to student navigation ability, information retrieval ability, and satisfaction in regards to the Learning Management System (LMS) their school utilized. Data collection began with the researchers attending math classes for observation and to conduct cognitive walkthroughs with the students to gather information about their experiences and navigation through the LMS. An eye tracker and the associated eye tracking software were utilized to monitor and detect patterns of eye movements when the students were looking at a device screen. For this study, students were monitored by the eye tracker while they attempted to complete several tasks from the experiment. By measuring the length of time taken by students as they completed tasks on the LMS, quantitative data can be collected and used later in the experiment. After analyzing the time metrics and the eye tracking data produced and feedback given on the questionnaire distributed at the beginning of the experiment, a targeted LMS page was slightly modified in hopes to increase the effectiveness of the page, based on user interface design standards. Well defined organization, accessibility, and usability in an LMS is essential to allow learners to focus to be on their curriculums, and not how to access their assignments. An indepth analysis of navigation through an LMS will allow for a better understanding of how users interact with the structure of their curriculum in an electronic format. The study described in this paper intended to address the question of whether an LMS used Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 425 Christopher Jankovski, Damian Schofield THE EYES HAVE IT: USING EYE TRACKING TECHNOLOGY TO ASSESS THE USABILITY OF LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS in an elementary school setting can provide users with an interface that optimizes the accessibility and usability of their class materials. Keywords: learning management systems, eye tracking, usability, human computer interaction, education Introduction Knowledge is created where there is change; it is a complex process of the capability to produce, learn, and become skilled and capable in the use of new methods, not just obtain best practices as products (Fullan, 1999; Hall & Hord, 1999). In order to initiate the change processes, involvement must be encouraged. It is the duty of an organization to acquire knowledge among its constituents to become aware of the necessity for change (Fullan, 2001; Harvey, 2002; Kirkpatrick, 2001). Innovation is about discovery (Satell, 2013). In the past three decades, educators have developed their curriculums to meet the possibilities that come with instant access to resources, substantial increases to storage, unlimited bandwidth, and technology hardware diminishing in scale to become handheld portable devices – all relating to the improvement of learning (November, 2010). There is a pursuit to personalize learning for students through technological innovations due to its capabilities of being the component to accomplish the task (Gerger, 2014). Teachers and Instructors must encompass teaching and learning in the classroom. 21st century skills such as communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking (Bransford et al, 2000) must embrace the integration of technology to enable essential digital literacy skills including computer/technological literacy, information literacy, visual literacy and global awareness (Warschauer, 2006). It is essential for teachers and instructors to be receptive of new technology provided to schools to ensure it is used effectively (Carlson and Gadio, 2003) when implemented into current curriculum that has not achieved fluent integration to technology. Over the past several years, applying the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has been recognized for the significant role it has played in the improvement of education (Kangro and Kangro, 2004). Through observations, technology has been concluded to increase communication between instructors and students in and out of the classroom setting. Students generally have a better ability to grasp lesson material because of the technology used within the classroom. When using technology, students are encouraged to collaborate with their European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 10 │ 2017 426 Christopher Jankovski, Damian Schofield THE EYES HAVE IT: USING EYE TRACKING TECHNOLOGY TO ASSESS THE USABILITY OF LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS peers, provide helpful comments to one and another, and engage in rich discussions (Boticki et al, 2015). Fulton (1997) utilized the term, technology fluency, to describe the evolving definition of essential information students need to effectively utilize technology. Fulton’s research indicated that instructors model technology fluency in the classroom by applying technology to classroom tasks, utilizing technology throughout the curriculum, and facilitating teamwork and collaboration amongst the students. (Furio et al, 2015) claimed that due to technology, children have a larger variety of opportunities to investigate what they are learning from a multitude of different perspectives. Multiple studies have shown promising results when observing students utilizing technology within the classroom. A study conducted by Gerger (2014) stated that the level of engagement of students and their drive to accomplish educational tasks had increased within the classes that utilized technology. Results in another study showed that students are more engaged when technology is being utilized to perform learning activities (Lu et al, 2014). Pamela (2006) stated that the entire teaching body had an agreeing conclusion that ICT is a significant and valuable tool to enable them to better convey and present their learning material. Results further concluded that students observed in the study were more self-motivated and looked forward to go to classes where faculty conducted their lessons with multimedia rather than presenting material in a traditional or conventional method. Churchill and Wang (2014) concluded in a study conducted at a higher education level that due to the substantial positive results within research being developed around technology in education, that the possibility of technology being used as an instrument in primary schools could reinforce students’ learning process as a direct result of the high motivational effects recorded during their study. Education has been affected by ICT; it is affecting the way instructors teach, the way students learn, and the process in which research is conducted. A study conducted by (Yang et al, 2015) had stated that enabling access to information is an important technology learning impact. For viewing / downloading the full article, please access the following link: https://oapub.org/edu/index.php/ejes/article/view/1121 European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 10 │ 2017 427