A CASE STUDY THAT SHOWS THE IMPORTANCE OF COLOR

IN WEB COLLABORATIVE EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT

Ana L. Dias

, Marcos A. R. Silva

, Junia C. Anacleto

Luciana M. Silveira

and Rosângela A. D.Penteado

Department of Computing, Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCAR), Brazil

Department of Technology, Technological University of Paraná (UTFPR), Brazil

Keywords: Common Sense, Colors, Emotions, Motivational Design Patterns, Web Project, Case Study.

Abstract: Collaborative learning supported by computers increases due to the tendency schools have to get assumed to

digital inclusion in curriculum and to explore this potential as an alternative complementary to the

traditional teaching methodology. According to this new practice the individual skills are valued and

contribute to build up learning, which belongs to the group. However, it can be seen that learning through

computing environment is not always effective because it can generate lack of motivation, little involvement

and collaboration. It is always difficult to engage apprentices in learning activities in order to motivate them

both to persist in challenging tasks and to value education, generally. This paper presents a Case Study

applied to a School that shows the colors and their meanings as cultural as a stimulus to motivation and

learning, through the application of Motivational Patterns in a Web collaborative educational environment.

1 INTRODUCTION

It is observed the growth of computers use and web

software adoption by institutions like elementary

and high-schools. In those institutions, the e-learning

supported by web tends to increase because Schools

want to use such environment as one more

educational tool and, in developing countries; they

need to use Information and Communication

Technologies (ICT) to promote digital inclusion.

Also, it is more and more necessary for Schools to

leverage the collaboration among apprentices in

order to develop learning activities on the web. On

the other hand, it can be seen that web collaborative

e-learning is not always effective, because it may

also generate lack of motivation, little engagement

and collaboration, once apprentices are not used to

used ICT in the School context of collaboration.

In order to change such scenario, many aspects

have to be analyzed. In this paper the importance is

taken to the motivational aspects that can lead the

apprentice to be engaged into the collaborative task

through the Web, considering the apprentices’

cultural values which interfere in the performance of

each apprentice. Therefore, this paper explore the

potential of color and their cultural meanings

expressed in common sense knowledge as successful

solutions to recurring problems of lack of motivation

once society and culture can influence on interface

development. Empirical results for the practical use

of color are shown exemplifying how colors and

emotions communicate in practice.

2 THE LEARNING SUPPORTED

BY COMPUTERS

The effects of computers at School depends on

several factors, but the generality of the research

points to the possibility of developing new cognitive

skills, including: greater responsibility for the work

of apprentices, new bonds of mutual assistance, and

new relations between educator-apprentice may

reflect the motivation of apprentices for learning

(Freire, 1981). However, even with the support of

the computer at School, some educators are many

difficulties in the classroom. There is a relative

consensus among educators about what is the main

problem of apprentices in School: the majority point

to the lack of interest.

There are some behaviours to motivation of

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L. Dias A., A. R. Silva M., C. Anacleto J., M. Silveira L. and A. D. Penteado R. (2010).

A CASE STUDY THAT SHOWS THE IMPORTANCE OF COLOR IN WEB COLLABORATIVE EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT.

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Computer Supported Education, pages 226-231

 SciTePress

apprentices in stimulating learning. Specifically, this

study focuses on the three models of behavior

identified by Clear and Kassabova (2005) combined

with those identified by Seifert (2004) (this paper

considers as motivational problems): I- Apprentices

act only to attain extrinsic motivation and hope that

the content learned is meaningful to them instead of

them even engage in the activity seeking a way to

make learning meaningful. II- Keep the enthusiasm

and involvement of apprentices in educational Web

computing environment so that they feel pleasure

and satisfaction during the proposed activity by the

educator, committed with the learning. III-

Apprentices are dependent on the motivation of

another participant who works collaboratively with

him, feeling a lot of guilt, despair, humiliation and

disappointment.

According to Stipek (1996), it is important to

consider several factors for the success of learning is

achieved. Among these factors are: the use of

technology in Schools, educators with knowledge of

the technologies involved, and the motivation of

apprentices to use new methods of teaching. Besides

these factors, it is essential to consider the

differences between apprentices that complicate the

definition of universal parameters that can be used to

motivate them.

3 COLORS AND CULTURE

Colors symbolically constructed in culture are

considered as a differential factor in the quality of

Web environments. It is important to study and

understand the meanings of colors, since these are

open to interpretation and therefore can vary from

culture to culture. In this context, this paper explores

the question of colors and their meanings based on

common sense, to support the design of educational

solutions that promote collaboration.

Common sense is defined here as a set of facts

known by most people, covering a large part of

human experience, knowledge of spatial aspects,

physical, social and psychological of day to day

human beings (Anacleto et al., 2006). This paper

uses the common sense of OMCS-Br Project, which

aims to explore the Web as a way of building a

knowledge base, through templates, as shows in

Figure 1.

To analyze the information collected by these

templates, it is being done a classification of

emotions, actions and objects (Dias, 2009). Figure 2

shows an example with the yellow color, where the

square shows the color to be analyzed.

Figure 1: Example of the templates.

Figure 2: Yellow color associated emotions, actions and

objects.

The variety of the colors seduces the people to

use exaggerated colors. To increase the security that

the designer has to manipulate and assign the colors

in a harmonious way in an educational collaborative

Web environment, this paper shows how to solve

some problems found in apprentices during the

learning through Patterns.

4 PATTERNS

This paper adopts the meaning of Pattern as

described by Alexander et al. (1977): "Pattern is a

solution to certain problem in a particular context."

The Motivational Patterns formalized in this

research (Dias, 2009), help designers choose the

right way the colors to be used in educational

environments, collaborative Web aiming to motivate

apprentices to collaborate with their colleagues. The

Motivational Design Pattern set created is based on

color has three Patterns: "Engaging in learning"

(P1), "Keeping engaged" (P2), "Engaging with the

group" (P3). In order to observe the use of the

Pattern, it was realized a Case Study with P2 Pattern

because it is related to educational environment.

Therefore, it is presented below.

Pattern name: Keeping engaged (P2)

Problem: To keep the enthusiasm and engagement

of apprentices in Web collaborative educational

environment so that apprentices (committed to the

learning) can feel pleasure and satisfaction during

the proposed activity.

Context: The Web collaborative educational

environment has been increasingly used as an option

A CASE STUDY THAT SHOWS THE IMPORTANCE OF COLOR IN WEB COLLABORATIVE EDUCATIONAL

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227

to improve teaching and learning.

Solution: To provide for the apprentices positive

emotions such as trust, energy and commitment

when using the Web collaborative educational

environment.

In order to help designers to develop web

interface taking into consideration this problem to

avoid it or decrease the chances of it happening, it

was analyzed all information related with colors,

obtained through OMCS-Br Project, to identify what

colors can be used in this case. According to

common sense base, Brazilians can feel both

excitement and joy (60%) when remember into the

yellow color.

After choosing yellow from common sense, it

was observed that some experts in the field

(Pastoreau, 1997; Silveira et al., 2005) also describe

that yellow color can transmit heat, light and fun,

besides being energy, active color transmitting

optimism. Using it concentration and ease of

communication can be improved using this color.

However, using a wrong way can bring sadness or

discouragement.

It is very difficult to use just one color to develop

the whole interface, then, the color schemes

presented below are based on the Color Application

Methodology (Silveira et al., 2005) to support the

implementation of the yellow color as a solution

The methodology is described in four kinds of

schemes, spinning the classic color wheel, such as:

Basic, Opposite, Analogous and Triad.

Basic Schemes:

Neutral 1: to choose a shade on the color circle, in

this case yellow, combined with shades of brown.

To use yellow and the interval between this tone and

its mixture with medium brown.

Neutral 2: to harmonize three shades of brown from

the fixed yellow tone and its composition with three

shades of brown.

Gray Colored: to mix yellow with medium gray

(50% black, 50% white), creating infinite ranges of

gray colored. You can use the two "ends" of the

palette, i.e., yellow and medium gray at the same

time.

Opposite Schemes:

Broken Tones: to use the yellow color and its com-

plementary color (opposite color to 180 degrees).

The palette is made of yellow toward its

complement, through the center of the circle, i.e.,

neutral gray.

Complementary: to work only with the chosen fixed

color, in this case, the yellow with its complement,

violet blue. This scheme, which does not pass

through the center of the circle using the gray,

differs from the broken tone.

Complementary Doubles: to find the

complementary color from the chosen color as the

main one, for example, yellow color, and find its

complementary color. From the yellow color move

clockwise, choosing the second successor in case of

color red, and then find the complementary color to

red, in this case cyan color.

Divided Complementary: to combine three colors.

For example, from the yellow color, to find the two

adjacent colors to the complementary color, i.e., find

the color before and after its complement.

Shock Schemes: to find, for example, from the

yellow color, the interval between complementary

color and its primary color which increases

brightness or other primary that decreases

brightness.

Analogous Schemes: To form schemes from

neighboring tones (similar color) in the color circle

until its complement. From two to seven tones can

be used to achieve harmony.

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Triad Schemes:

To employ three equidistant colors on the wheel

result in triangulations with the primary, secondary

and tertiary colors. Considering this Pattern, a

combination of primary colors (cyan, magenta and

yellow), since yellow is a primary color.

5 CASE STUDY

To make possible the Case Study, we applied the P2

Pattern in an educational collaborative Web

environment, known as Contexteller (Silva et al.,

2009). This Pattern was chosen because according

educators, the apprentices they have some

characteristics described on problem of P2. The

color combination chosen was the first scheme

presented in Analogous schemes.

Figure 3: Application of P2 Pattern in Contexteller.

Initially, we defined some practices, as follows:

Goals: observe, along with educators and

apprentices, aspects related to motivation and

engage in individual, group and collaboration among

apprentices. Hypothesis: the application of color

regarding their common sense meaning in Web

collaborative educational environments may reflect

positively on the motivation of apprentices.

Method: the Case Study was performed in a School

of the state of São Paulo – Brazil with 50 thousand

people.

5.1 Description of Scenario

It was used some computers with external mouse,

headphones headset with microphone, XP Windows

operating system and software to capture user

interaction. Figure 4 shows pictures of some

participants in the Case Study local.

Figure 4: Apprentices interacting with Contexteller and

answering the questionnaires.

5.2 Developing the Case Study

All users participating in the Case Study signed a

consent term to the development and dissemination

of results, but their names could not be identified.

Two groups, with 5 students, was selected to

participate in the Case Study by two teachers of the

school, because the Contexteller tool supports only

five apprentices working simultaneously.

The educator played with master role that was

responsible for presenting and lead the story, and the

apprentices were players who could continue the

story. The interaction between educators and

apprentices through the Game, lasted about 40

minutes for each group.

Educators and apprentices worked with the

interfaces changed, however, they did not know

about the differences of colors in order to avoid any

influence on the data collected. The interfaces

modified can be seen in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Contexteller Interfaces.

The same group was not used in both interfaces

to avoid prejudice or favor the second application

because of the apprentices´ knowledge obtained on

the environment with the first interaction. The Case

Study results will be discussed in the next Section.

5.3 Case Study Results

After the finished of the Case Study, has begun the

phase of data analysis. This section presents the

results, which were divided into four subsections

according to Methods used.

A CASE STUDY THAT SHOWS THE IMPORTANCE OF COLOR IN WEB COLLABORATIVE EDUCATIONAL

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5.3.1 Pre-Section Questionnaire

Before presenting the tool Contexteller to

apprentices, they were invited to fill out the

questionnaire Pre-session (in order to collected

according to the participant’s backgrounds, the

familiarity with computers, computer games, their

satisfaction to hear and tell stories), as in Table 1:

Table 1: Pre-section questionnaire answers.

Group 1: Gray Interface

Group 2: Interface with P2

They like Game that need to

use the imagination

They do not like to Game

that need to use imagination

They like to hear stories

because use the imagination

2 participants said they do

not like to hear stories

They do not like to tell

stories

They do not like to tell

stories

Familiar with the computer

and Internet

Familiar with the computer

and Internet

5.3.2 SAM Questionnaire

The Participants were invited to fill out the

questionnaire SAM (Self Assessment Manikin), to

record emotional responses taking into consideration

a variety of stimuli (Hayashi et al., 2008), after the

first contact with the interface of the Contexteller.

Everyone should express their opinion about the

interface, marking an option in every emotion

displayed: pleasure to displeasure, degree of arousal

and dominance to submissiveness. Figure 6 shows

the votes obtained. One apprentice marked the first

figure of the last column (the best pointing for the

degree of pleasure to displeasure) and so on, so that

the total of votes for each line resulted in 5, the total

number of apprentices.

Figure 6: Gray Interface punctuation.

The points were made as follows: each circle

represents a value, the first round (from left to right)

is 1, second circle represents a value equal to 2, so

on until the last circle that is the value 9.

The result presented in the votes of the interface

seems to be consistent with information collected in

the Pre-section questionnaire, because most of the

apprentices said like stories, and the answers were

positives in pleasure to displeasure, degree of

arousal and dominance to submissiveness.

Apprentices in Group 2 also filled out a

questionnaire SAM. Figure 7 shows the total of

votes.

Figure 7: Interface with P2 punctuation.

If the votes of emotion Pleasure to displeasure

are added (Figures 6 and 7), whereas the values 1 to

9 as explained above, we can see that the Gray

Interface received 32 points while the Interface with

P2 received 34 points. These results, although

similar, showed evidence that the Pattern used

helped in motivating the participants.

For the emotion Dominance to submissiveness,

the Gray Interface received 36 points while the

Interface with P2 received 33 points. Comparing

these results with the videos collected, it was

observed that the apprentices, who used the Gray

Interface, were not collaborating with each other, i.e.

there was a greater individualism which may have

influenced a greater Dominance to submissiveness

because they were just thinking on their characters.

In contrast, analyzing the videos of the group using

the Interface with P2, it was apparent that they were

concerned to cooperate with each other and this may

have influenced to a lesser Dominance to

submissiveness, because when there is a

collaboration between a group, the control is more

dependent on all participants than just one.

5.3.3 Logs

To measure engagement, we analyzed the logs made

during whole contact with the Game in order to find

factors that could demonstrate the levels of attention

and interest of the participants. Thus, some

quantitative criteria were used to measure the

behavioral level of the participants: number of

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messages exchanged in the environment, the

message content and length of interaction

(individual and group), as shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Information obtained in the logs.

Group 1: Gray Interface

Group 2: Interface with P2

248 messages exchanged

233 messages exchanged

Participants were scattered,

always looking around and

smiling

The participants were more

focused both on the computer

and in history

The individual interaction

time was greater than the

time in groups, since most of

the time each participant

would like to solve the

problem of its form

The group interaction time

was greater than the

individual time, as in most

cases the participants trying

to get to a consensus on what

would be the best player to

solve the problem

In no time the participants

complained of problems or

difficulties in handling some

technology

In no time the participants

complained of problems or

difficulties in handling some

technology

5.3.4 Pos-Section Questionnaire

After using the tool Contexteller apprentices, they

were invited to fill out the questionnaire Post-session

(in order to collect not only information about the

experience but also the facilities and difficulties

perceived during the Game), as in Table 3:

Table 3: Pos-section questionnaire answers.

Group 1: Gray Interface

Group 2: Interface with P2

They liked to use the Game

They liked to tell the story in

Contexteller, confirming

their answers Questionnaire

Pre-section (They like Game

that need to use the

imagination)

They liked to tell the story in

Contexteller, contrary to their

questionnaire responses from

the Pre-section (They do not

like to Game that need to use

imagination)

They said that not remember

the best part of the story,

because all parties were

funny

They said that the best parts

were: cooperation and the

connection between the

participants

The Post-section questionnaire of educators is

also interesting. The educator felt satisfied when

interacting with apprentices to tell the history and

answered that the Contexteller allow the

apprentices´ expression and the collaborative work.

6 CONCLUSIONS

When a Web environment does not use any color

combination scheme, there is a possibility of this

environment´s colors do not help the learning

process, because they can disperser the

concentration of the users. In an educational

collaborative Web environment, the concentration

needs to be maximum because it is easier for the

apprentice to be seduced by what is happening

around him. Therefore, the ideal is both to have a

color combination scheme which shows out every

detail of the environment and to highlight the points

that should attract the apprentice’s attention.

In this context, this paper presented the results

obtained in the Case Study. It was interesting to note

that some data analysed, such as: concentration,

engagement and commitment to the development of

story, showed evidence that the Interface with P2

helped in the participants´ motivation. Finally,

another datum that we observed, related to designers

in Web environment development, was that it is

important more details about colors schemes and

theirs cultural meanings in order to help designers

chosen the best colors.

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