October 2012 Volume 15 Number 4 - Educational Technology ...

shown in the central part of Figure 2, were manifested via the three tasks that the users performed in the study. The
blue dotted arrows represent the RQ and the respective hypotheses in our research model.
Study Design
Design
Figure 2. The applied research model
The purpose of our study was to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed solution, Learn-B, in supporting non-formal
self-regulatory learning at workplace, based on our SRL@Work pedagogical model. We formulated our research
question accordingly, and used prototypes of the main functionalities of Learn-B to investigate it.
Due to the empirical nature of our research question, the study was designed with an exploratory focus in that users’
perceptions of the usefulness of Learn-B’s functionalities in conducting SRL practices were to be assessed. In
addition, to avoid users getting lost in the Learn-B environment and to support the usage of the functionalities we
intended to evaluate in this study without running an extended training session, we used a structured scenario to
guide the users through a number of tasks. A detailed description of these tasks is given in the Procedure sub-section.
Scenarios, in general, are used to present and situate proposed solutions in the practical context of end-users, and are
regarded as a very useful technique to visualize the consequences of the introduction and usage of an innovative
technology, tied to practical concerns from the end-users everyday life (Eisma et al., 2003; Carroll, 2000). Last but
not least, to advance the existing research knowledge related to supporting SRL in workplaces of different natures,
we aimed to have a user study with a sufficiently diverse sample of organizational contexts. With such a sample
inherently varied in terms of its data, we were able to analyze the resulting data in the way needed to address our
research question.
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