Online Decision Making and Web-Based Actions: How Does the Think-Aloud Methodology Affect Website Engagement?

• In Event: Roundtable Session 51
  In Roundtable Session: Online Teaching and Learning SIG Roundtable Session 4

Abstract

This study examined how thinking aloud affected elementary teachers’ online decision-making and web-based actions as they used of a professional development website. A methodology combining a retrospective think aloud procedure with screen capture technology was compared with concurrent and retrospective think aloud procedures. Elementary teachers from a large metropolitan area were assigned to one of the three think aloud conditions (N = 45), and their 20-minute navigations were captured using a screen recording program. Screen recordings were analyzed to determine the frequency of web-based actions. Results indicated that participants in the virtual revisit condition demonstrated both higher levels of engagement with the website and consistency between their verbalizations and web-based actions (p < .05). Implications are discussed.

Author

• Pamela Beach, University of Toronto - OISE