Cognitive accessibility to information on the Web: insights from a system for teaching and learning Architecture through the Net R. Corrao, G. Fulantelli Italian National Research Council Institute for Education and Training Technologies Via Ugo La Malfa,153, 90146 Palermo, ITALY e-mail: rcorrao,fulantelli @mail.itdf.pa.cnr.it, http://www.itdf.pa.cnr.it Abstract. The question of accessibility to the Web takes on a special meaning in educational settings where access to information requires cognitive elaboration of the page contents. It is, therefore, a matter of “cognitive access” to the Web. The main efforts of the designers of Web Based Instruction (WBI) environments to encourage cognitive access are usually aimed at the organisation and presentation of Web documents and at specific cues which can improve the user’s interaction, orientation and navigation through the pages. However, it is possible to improve this high-level access to the information by supporting study activities through specific “Working tools” which can be implemented in the Web environment. In this paper we report on the design solutions we have adopted to provide cognitive access to a WBI environment for university students studying Architecture and Town Planning. In particular, we introduce “Working tools” that can be used to support flexible and effective study activities. The adopted design solutions provide different classes of users (not only students) with different access facilities. Finally, it should be noted that the methodologies of the design of WBI systems should deal with this kind of high level access and support it through specific solutions at interface and implementation levels. 1. INTRODUCTION The Web is fast emerging as one of the most popular technologies for education. In fact, by considering at the Web as a rich hypermedia information system integrated with powerful communication tools 1 in the same learning environment [Ibrahim 95], we can identify several reasons to explain the instructional effectiveness of teaching and learning through the Web. However, accessing a rich information environment -even if it is integrated with effective communication tools- is not a sufficient condition for expanding knowledge and stimulating learning. In fact, from a pedagogic point of view, learning requires “a deep understanding of the subject content” [Alexander 95] through a cognitive re-elaboration of the information [Colbourn 95]. Therefore cognitive access is one of the key issues for learning and should be regarded as one of the most important learner needs a Web site for education should satisfy. Some design strategies can promote cognitive access to Web-based information. Research in this direction covers many aspects: from the hypertext organisation of the information for individual learning paths [Alexander 95, Oliver 96] to the use of multiple media sources; from the publishing formats to the design of interfaces to reduce the cognitive overload; from the required interaction [Jonassen 94] to the possibility of planning collaborative activities [Alexander 95]; and so forth. 1 inherited from the Internet, such as email, chatting, discussion groups and so on.