Learner Experiences in Autonomous Learning Environments: The Case of Two Different Learning Systems for Italian as L2

Introduction

The goal of the chapter is proposing a reflection about learners’ experience in linguistic online learning systems. The main objective of focusing on learners’ experience is creating learner-centered digital systems which may meet the needs of a proper acquisition process in a digital environment. A well-built learning environment, like a comfortable classroom, helps to create the best condition to learn.

Learners’ experience encompasses multiple and different dimensions, as a matter-of-fact students’ opinion on it influences their judgement on the effectiveness of e-learning quality (Alqurashi, 2018). Satisfaction is one of the most important variables to consider in order to assess learners’ experience. Several studies were carried out about the topic, especially after the last two years of pandemic which forced the world to move from a face-to-face education to a screen-mediated one (Agarwal and Kaushik, 2020; Dhawan, 2020; Kumar, 2021; Zannoni, 2020).

A technical and an emotional feature compose learners’ experience. The first is influenced by the platform’s easiness of use and includes the interactions with the interface and the contents inserted in the system. Being aware of the real interactions happening between human and machine factor is crucial to build and then improve the e-learning systems and contents’ organization (Kumar et al., 2021: 4).

Acknowledging learners’ experience is essential to improve engagement between students and systems. The chapter aims to illustrate the importance for teachers to observe students’ behavior and movements within the systems to reveal the real interactions between human and machine, as Ellis, Goodyear stated, “awareness of the student experience of the objects and artefacts in virtual learning space helps to demystify what and how students (should) study” (2016: 17). This will help the teachers and instructional designers to build learning systems able to meet students’ real needs.

Listening to the learners’ voices is a key factor to improve their acquisition (Alqurashi, 2018).

The contribution presents an application of a non-pedagogical tracking software used to evaluate usability and learner experience of linguistic digital spaces. It focuses on digital learning environments and explores the importance of good usability to enhance learner experience. It will illustrate the analysis of two different learning systems starting from the concept of learners’ experience including the technical, the emotional and the pedagogical purpose of the considered systems. This latter concept will be here considered in relation with students’ movements, preferred paths, and most visualized contents within the learning systems and not with learning’s results. These quantitative data will then be integrated with observations of the performance, a profiling and evaluation questionnaire. The study analyzed and compared environments from usability and engagement perspectives. Two different digital environments will be considered (WordPress¹ and Moodle²) related to the most widespread types of learning systems (CMS, Content Management System and LMS, Learning Management System³) - in which a learning path of Italian as a second language has been included – and compared according to their level of usability and engagement. Moreover, the research project here presented intends to place a special emphasis on the discipline taught. The study’s objective is the analysis of usability and engagement to improve the learners’ general experience.

The contribution intends to answer the following research questions:

• 1.

  How can teachers optimize learners’ experience within the learning environments?

• 2.

  How can teachers observe and improve the linguistic learning experience?

• 3.

  What kind of data does the teachers need to use?