Learner-Centred Design and Evaluation of Web-Based E-Learning Environments

Designing E-learning is a combination of pedagogical design, usability and information architecture. E-learning environments should have intuitive interfaces and clear information design, allowing learners to focus on learning. However, there is often a mismatch between what an on-line educator thinks the learner would learn, and what a learner thinks he will, and then has learned from the course. In addition, there is sometimes a mismatch between how an educator wants to teach and what is represented on the interface by the instructional designers. Such mismatches affect the learner's experience and his motivation for E-learning. In this paper, we will first discuss the source and nature of these mismatches. Next, we will discuss whether usability techniques in the HCI literature are appropriate for evaluating E-learning environments for the learner experience. We will then propose a combination of requirements elicitation and usability techniques for learner-centred design and evaluation of Web-based E-learning environments. The proposed methodology is based on our experience of conducting empirical studies for evaluating user-system interactions in E-Commerce contexts

eLEM: A novel e-Learner Experience Model

Many e-learning artefacts have been developed and promoted based on their ability to enhance learning and e-learner experience. However, there is a lack of precise definition of what the e-learner experience implies and associated models to inform this experience. This paper introduces a novel e-Learner Experience Model (eLEM) along with its roots in: (i) e-learning domain research, and (ii) user experience/usability. It also proposes a definition for the e-learner experience model based on the particularities of e-learning. eLEM has been derived based on a state of the art literature review and consists of a number of constructs along with measures of their effectiveness in evaluating the e-learner experience in an e-learning environment. eLEM has been comprehensively evaluated using a set of sufficient and representative case studies. It has also demonstrated modelling the e-learner’s experience in various contexts and identified four key challenges for further research. Finally, the eLEM has been integrated with the HeLPS e-learning framework and contributed to validating its process-centric models

A COMPREHENSIVE FRAMEWORK FOR DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF M-LEARNING APPLICATIONS

Human-computer interaction (HCI) communities and Mobile Learning Communities (MLCs) are well aware of the challenges that mobile devices impose when it comes to conducting proper usability and user experience evaluations for M-learning applications. So far there has been limited research on finding appropriate design and evaluation frameworks/methods that can be applied to the usability and user experience of M-learning applications. This thesis proposes a robust framework for mobile learning design and evaluation based on a mobile learning project that developed M-learning apps to train employees in the workplace. Cognitive tests (pre-test/post-test) questionnaires, usage data, and follow-up interviews were used to collect qualitative and quantitative data on learning effectiveness and learner experience with the application. The experimental results and analysis of the collected data demonstrate that the newly proposed framework is a robust framework that can help in designing an efficient, effective and user-friendly M-learning applications that are geared towards creating a better user learning experience.NPRP grant # 4 - 125 - 5 - 016 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation)

User experience improvement of japanese language mobile learning application through mental model and A/B testing

Advances in smartphone technology have led to the strong emergence of mobile learning (m-learning) on the market to support foreign language learning purposes, especially for the Japanese language. No matter what kind of m-learning application, their goal should help learners to learn the Japanese language independently. However, popular Japanese m-learning applications only accommodate on enhancing reading, vocabulary and writing ability so that user experience issues are still prevalent and may affect the learning outcome. In the context of user experience, usability is one of the essential factors in mobile application development to determine the level of the application’s user experience. In this paper, we advocate for a user experience improvement by using the mental model and A/B testing. The mental model is used to reflect the user’s inner thinking mode. A comparative approach was used to investigate the performance of 20 high-grade students with homogenous backgrounds and coursework. User experience level was measured based on the usability approach on pragmatic quality and hedonic quality like effectiveness (success rate of task completion), efficiency (task completion time) and satisfaction. The results then compared with an existing Japanese m-learning to gather the insight of improvement of our proposed method. Experimental results show that both m-learning versions proved can enhance learner performance in pragmatic attributes. Nevertheless, the study also reveals that an m-learning that employs the conversational mental model in the learning process is more valued by participants in hedonic qualities. Mean that the proposed m-learning which is developed with the mental model consideration and designed using A/B testing is able to provide conversational learning experience intuitively

Human Factors and Innovation with Mobile Devices

Advancements in technology are a significant driving force in educational innovation, but a strong focus on technology means that human aspects and implications may not be given the attention they deserve. This chapter examines usability issues surrounding the use of mobile devices in learning. A key aim is to empower educators and learners to take control of personal devices and realise their potential in relation to teaching and learning. The background section reviews the development of usability studies and explores why mobile device usability presents specific new challenges. The impact of changing requirements in education, and new visions for ways of thinking and competences that learners should be acquiring, are also examined. Finally, the chapter provides a set of concepts that can inform conversations between educators and learners, mobile system engineers, developers, support staff, and others

Piloting Multimodal Learning Analytics using Mobile Mixed Reality in Health Education

© 2019 IEEE. Mobile mixed reality has been shown to increase higher achievement and lower cognitive load within spatial disciplines. However, traditional methods of assessment restrict examiners ability to holistically assess spatial understanding. Multimodal learning analytics seeks to investigate how combinations of data types such as spatial data and traditional assessment can be combined to better understand both the learner and learning environment. This paper explores the pedagogical possibilities of a smartphone enabled mixed reality multimodal learning analytics case study for health education, focused on learning the anatomy of the heart. The context for this study is the first loop of a design based research study exploring the acquisition and retention of knowledge by piloting the proposed system with practicing health experts. Outcomes from the pilot study showed engagement and enthusiasm of the method among the experts, but also demonstrated problems to overcome in the pedagogical method before deployment with learners

Heuristic Evaluation for Serious Immersive Games and M-instruction

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016. Two fast growing areas for technology-enhanced learning are serious games and mobile instruction (M-instruction or M-Learning). Serious games are ones that are meant to be more than just entertainment. They have a serious use to educate or promote other types of activity. Immersive Games frequently involve many players interacting in a shared rich and complex-perhaps web-based-mixed reality world, where their circumstances will be multi and varied. Their reality may be augmented and often self-composed, as in a user-defined avatar in a virtual world. M-instruction and M-Learning is learning on the move; much of modern computer use is via smart devices, pads, and laptops. People use these devices all over the place and thus it is a natural extension to want to use these devices where they are to learn. This presents a problem if we wish to evaluate the effectiveness of the pedagogic media they are using. We have no way of knowing their situation, circumstance, education background and motivation, or potentially of the customisation of the final software they are using. Getting to the end user itself may also be problematic; these are learning environments that people will dip into at opportune moments. If access to the end user is hard because of location and user self-personalisation, then one solution is to look at the software before it goes out. Heuristic Evaluation allows us to get User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) experts to reflect on the software before it is deployed. The effective use of heuristic evaluation with pedagogical software [1] is extended here, with existing Heuristics Evaluation Methods that make the technique applicable to Serious Immersive Games and mobile instruction (M-instruction). We also consider how existing Heuristic Methods may be adopted. The result represents a new way of making this methodology applicable to this new developing area of learning technology

The impact of an aesthetic online course design template on the learner user experience : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

Online learning is becoming ubiquitous, and increasing numbers of higher education providers use online delivery, usually managed through learning management systems, as part of their core business of education. A substantial body of literature exists in areas of online learning such as theoretical approaches or general principles of course design. However, there is little research that explores the user experience of online learners accessing their learning through learning management systems, and in particular, how the presentation or layout of the online courses impacts the learner user experience. As a result, online courses are often designed according to the preferences of the individuals responsible for their delivery, rather than as the end result of an evidence-based approach. This mixed-methods study sought to evaluate the impact of a course template, designed to create an aesthetic learning experience, on the learner user experience. The study was conducted in one college of a New Zealand university. Data was collected, using an online questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, from staff facilitating and students enrolled in first-year courses. Findings indicate that the use of a template that incorporated evidence-based design principles had a significant positive effect on learner user experience. Narrative was shown to be an important aesthetic construct, and the use of the aesthetic template was found to reduce the extraneous cognitive load of courses, increasing learners’ sense of engagement and, motivation, and self-efficacy

Designing electronic collaborative learning environments

Electronic collaborative learning environments for learning and working are in vogue. Designers design them according to their own constructivist interpretations of what collaborative learning is and what it should achieve. Educators employ them with different educational approaches and in diverse situations to achieve different ends. Students use them, sometimes very enthusiastically, but often in a perfunctory way. Finally, researchers study them and—as is usually the case when apples and oranges are compared—find no conclusive evidence as to whether or not they work, where they do or do not work, when they do or do not work and, most importantly, why, they do or do not work. This contribution presents an affordance framework for such collaborative learning environments; an interaction design procedure for designing, developing, and implementing them; and an educational affordance approach to the use of tasks in those environments. It also presents the results of three projects dealing with these three issues

Mobile Usability in Educational Contexts: What have we learnt?

The successful development of mobile learning is dependent on human factors in the use of new mobile and wireless technologies. The majority of mobile learning activity continues to take place on devices that were not designed with educational applications in mind, and usability issues are often reported. The paper reflects on progress in approaches to usability and on recent developments, with particular reference to usability findings reported in studies of mobile learning. The requirements of education are considered as well as the needs of students participating in distance education; discipline-specific perspectives and accessibility issues are also addressed. Usability findings from empirical studies of mobile learning published in the literature are drawn together in the paper, along with an account of issues that emerged in two mobile learning projects based at The Open University, UK, in 2001 and 2005. The main conclusions are: that usability issues are often reported in cases where PDAs have been used; that the future is in scenario-based design which should also take into account the evolution of uses over time and the unpredictability of how devices might be used; and that usability issues should be tracked over a longer period, from initial use through to a state of relative experience with the technology