HYPERTEXT COMPOSITION: ANALYSIS OF THE STUDENTS’ ACTIVITIES IN THE DESIGN PROCESS

Abstract

Navigation in hypertexts, the design of hypertext systems and hypertext writing with a pedagogical purpose have all become important objects of investigation in the educational field as well as in computing field. This study aims at arriving at a better understanding of what activities of hypertext composition can be effective to enhance students’ awareness of writing processes. The study examines how students constructed a hypertext and how they felt about the task. Twenty Computing Engineering students were invited to participate. During the process, the students were asked questions every 5 minutes. After that, they were interviewed. A systemic network was used to organize and give structure to the analytical categories. A model of the process was derived from the data in order to represent how the hypertext construction was undertaken by this group of students. It is concluded that it is important to rethink the impacts of planning, reading and testing activities in traditional writing process.