Abstract:

Educational theories play a key role in attaining e-learning success. This contribution of theories is even more important for primary education which requires special attention since children possess childish behaviors.However, research shows that most e-learning systems lack theoretical foundations. We argue that these systems can be more effectively utilized by integrating educational theories. Therefore, we offer an e-learning system design framework based on learning and e-learning theories for primary education. The paper first discusses educational theories from different domains. Next, we provide an overview of how each theory can contribute toa successful e-learning system. Ethnographic Content Analysis (ECA) was conductedof the most renowned theories to construct this framework. Shortlisted theories belonged to domains of constructivism, early education, and e-learning. Design principles from each theory were extracted with the help of grounded theory methodology. These principles were mapped to e-learning system components including tasks, tools, and interfaces by performing thematic analysis.A comprehensive framework based on theoretical design principles was constructed. Lastly, the framework was validated by developing an e-learning system based on design principles. We evaluated students academic performance after they used the developed system for three weeks. Findings revealed that an e-learning system has great potential in primary education and can assist practitioners in achieving desired learning outcomes by integrating educational theories. It was also found that the sequence in which learning activities are performed can overshadow a systems performance and hence needs to be addressed for e-learning success. 

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