The NESTORE e-Coach: Designing a Multi-Domain Pathway to Well-Being in Older Age

This article describes the coaching strategies of the NESTORE e-coach, a virtual coach for promoting healthier lifestyles in older age. The novelty of the NESTORE project is the definition of a multi-domain personalized pathway where the e-coach accompanies the user throughout different structured and non-structured coaching activities and recommendations. The article also presents the design process of the coaching strategies, carried out including older adults from four European countries and experts from the different health domains, and the results of the tests carried out with 60 older adults in Italy, Spain and The Netherlands

Incorporating Heuristic Evaluation (HE) in the Evaluation of Visual Design of the Eco-Tourism Smartphone App

Heuristic Evaluation (HE) has proven to be important in the development of different computer systems but has not been incorporated in the development of eco-tourism smartphone applications. This results inusability issues that significantly affect user experience (UX) as discussed in literature. This study reports the HE in the design and development of Niranur Agro Farm (NAF) eco-tourism smartphone applications, which could improve UX. Eight experts participated in this study, utilizing the SMART mobile usability heuristic developed for mobile application and the severity rating scale to determine usability issues. The HE findings indicated that 22 usability issues were identified. One issue was rated 4 (catastrophe), four issues were rated 3 (major problem), twelve issues were rated 2 (minor problem) and five issues were rated 1 (cosmetics). Although there are issues rated as 4 and 3, the majority of the issues were considered to be minor (1 and 2 on the scale). Results indicated that it is crucial to incorporate HE into the design and development of the eco-tourism smartphone app to minimize the usability issues faced by users. It further validated that utilizing a specific heuristic for smartphone applications would ensure that all usability issues are correctly categorized and remedied

An examination of the effect of technology-based STEM education training in the framework of technology acceptance model

The aim of this study is threefold: (1) to present a valid and reliable scale in the framework of the Technology Acceptance Model; (2) to reveal factors affecting pre-service science teachers’ intentions to use technology-based STEM; (3) to examine the effect of technology-based STEM education training on pre-service science teachers’ perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitude, and intention. This study has two sections. Study 1 defined the reliability and validity of the Technology Based-STEM Intention Scale (TB-STEMIS) in the framework of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with pre-service science teachers in Turkey. Study 2 examined the pre-service science teachers’ intentions to use technology-based STEM and the impact of technology-based STEM education training on pre-service science teachers’ intentions concerning the TAM model. The results of the study revealed that the proposed model tested after STEM training is superior to the before STEM training. Findings also indicated that technology-based STEM education training had a positive effect on pre-service science teachers’ perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitude, and intention to use the technology-based STEM education. Finally, implications were discussed and recommendations were found for further studies in line with the limitations. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

Design and evaluation of mobile educational game using m-learning approach for secondary school students

Game-based learning is one of the most widely used methods in education nowadays. Starting with Personal Computer platform games, it has now spread its wings to the mobile platform. However, the studies to evaluate the user acceptance on the required design for mobile-based gaming applications are still not as much. Therefore, this study aimed to identify user acceptance on the characteristics of the design interface that are integrated with M-Learning elements. The characteristics of game design that has been obtained from an initial requirement are based on three main constructs namely interface design, information design and interaction design which are then integrated with the elements of M-Learning that has been identified to develop a mobile educational game application. The action game genre is selected based on user opinions from the pilot study while the acceptance model used as the basis of the study is from the UTAUT-EG acceptance model. The methodology of this study was done by combining the quantitative and qualitative data, where pre-test and posttest were conducted on this mobile game application to evaluate its effectiveness. The process started with the analysis of the game design characteristic based on users’ opinion. The sample of this study consist of 85 secondary school students in Form 5 who studied the topic of Novel Literature in the subject of Malay Language. The objective of this study are (i) to design the interface on mobile game-based learning by integrating M-Learning elements, (ii) to identify the user acceptance of the developed game application and (iii) to evaluate the design of the mobile game once it has been completed. Based on the user acceptance questionnaire that has been used, the study found that the mean value obtained from all factors of user acceptance is positive, overall exceeding 4.00 value. The user and expert ratings on the mobile game applications also showed positive appraisal for all rating constructs with the overall mean value is 4.25 for users and 4.36 for experts. t-tests that has been conducted shows that there are significant differences from user scores before and after using the game application. This study shows that the mobile games that have been developed have a positive impact on user acceptance upon the use of games in their learning. Furthermore, the integration of M-Learning elements was also noticed to have a valuable impact on this study. Thus, educational game designers need to pay close attention to the characteristics aspects that are appropriate before designing a mobile educational game interface that is accessible to the target users

Digital inclusion of nursing home residents: a usability evaluation of the digital kiosk siosLIFE™

The fast demographic ageing and technological progress are leading to a greater demand to develop digital solutions that can foster communication, information, and socialization of the elderly population. In the past decade, kiosks have been used to prevent digital exclusion and to promote the quality of life of this age group. This paper analyses siosLIFE™, a digital kiosk that is gradually getting attention from the public. The methodology adopted consisted in a usability test with guided tasks, using a cognitive walkthrough and think aloud protocol, with participants being residents from a nursing home. The results show that siosLIFE™ complies with some usability recommendations, but there are several improvements regarding the interface, contents, integration of support systems, and assistive technologies that can be made.publishe