'Learning activity' as the basic structural element for the design of web-based content: A case study

This paper presents the design and the pilot evaluation study of learning activity-based, multi-media, multi-representational and multi-layered content for the learning of basic concepts of programming and C. This content is integrated into a web-based learning environment named L.E.C.G.O. (Zikouli, Kordaki and Houstis, 2003). This design was based on modern social and constructivist theories of knowledge construction. Thus, the content was organized in a holistic way, using the learning activity as its basic structural element. In particular, the whole information was organized in five layers, presenting: a) complex programming examples (1 st layer), b) simple programming examples (2 nd layer), c) broad information about programming in C (3 rd layer), d) fundamentals in programming (4 th layer) and e) broad information at various locations on the WWW (5 th layer). The data emerging from a field pilot evaluation study indicated better results in comparison to book-like content used in other learning settings such as paper and pencil and Turbo C.