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Top1. Introduction
As the Internet becomes more sophisticated, people are increasingly turning to it as a resource for learning. Indeed, many educational organizations now host websites. However, for these websites to be valuable, they need to be usable and appealing, in addition to being informative. Yet, while much research has been conducted into the operational aspects of cyberspace, such as web security (Dadkhah, Seno & Borchardt, 2017) and how virtual worlds can be integrated into learning websites (Griol and Callejas, 2017; Guzzetti and Stokrocki, 2013), less research has been conducted into subjective aspects. One subjective aspect that has receive some attention is visual appearance. Research in this area includes investigations into first impressions (Iten, Troendle & Opwis, 2018; Jiang, Wang, Tan & Yu, 2016); how online aesthetics affects people’s perceptions of product offerings (Wang, Minor and Wei, 2011); and the importance of aesthetics with respect to mode of use (Schaik & Ling, 2009). Although more research is needed in this area, a growing body of work suggests that aesthetics plays an important role in engendering user appeal online (Lopatovska, 2015; Chang, Chih, Liou and Hwang, 2014).
One factor that is well documented as having an impact on website aesthetics is visual complexity (Pandir & Knight, 2006; Michailidou, Harper, & Bechhofer, 2008). However, it should be noted that this finding is almost exclusively based on studies with adults. Indeed, few studies have involved children and little is known of the impact visual complexity has on children’s preferences towards learning websites created for them.
Another point that requires clarification is whether a correlation exists between a child’s aesthetic preference for a learning website and his/her learning motivation. Although learning motivation has been studied by numerous researchers, investigations have predominately looked at its relationship to non-aesthetic issues such as interest (e.g. Bergin, 1999; Pintrich, 2003), self-efficacy (e.g. Hidi & Renninger, 2006; Gaffney, 2011), and self-determination (e.g., Deci & Ryan, 1985; Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 1999). Few studies have investigated website aesthetics with respect to children’s learning motivation.
To address the gap in the literature, this study investigates visual complexity, aesthetic preference and learning motivation in the context of learning websites for children.