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

A Conceptual Framework for Mobile Learning

Several technology projects have been launched to explore the opportunities that mobile technologies bring about when tackling issues of democratic participation and social inclusion through mobile learning. Mobile devices are cheaper than for instance a PC, and their affordance, usability and accessibility are such that they can potentially complement or even replace traditional computer technology. The importance of communication and collaboration features of mobile technologies has been stressed in the framework of ICT-mediated learning. In this paper, a theoretical framework for mobile learning and e-inclusion is developed for people outside the conventional education system. The framework draws upon the fields of pedagogy (constructivist learning in particular), mobile learning objects and sociology.Mobile Learning, Digital Divide, Constructivist Pedagogy, Forms Of Capital

Usability in mLearning

As higher education students access educational content using a variety of mobile devices, the question then arises: Does the content across different mobile devices vary in terms of usability? Does usability determine a user’s willingness to engage in mobile learning? Hence, it is necessary to investigate the usability of the learning applications and the mobile devices used to access these applications. This paper outlines results from a pilot study conducted at a large Australian University. The study highlights the importance of usability across different mobile devices whilst accessing educational content. This research lays the foundation for a future study that will broaden the investigation to extend from usability for mLearning to usability for mLearning

Designed and user-generated activity in the mobile age

The paper addresses the question of how to design for learning taking place on mobile and wireless devices. The authors argue that learning activity designers need to consider the characteristics of mobile learning; at the same time, it is vital to realise that learners are already creating mobile learning experiences for themselves. Profound changes in computer usage brought about by social networking and user-generated content are challenging the idea that educators are in charge of designing learning. The authors make a distinction between designed activity, carefully crafted in advance, and user-generated activity arising from learners’ own spontaneous requirements. The paper illustrates what each approach has to offer and it draws out what they have in common, the opportunities and constraints they represent. The paper concludes that user-generated mobile activity will not replace designed activity but it will influence the ways in which designed activity develops

Mobile Learning in the Institution of Higher Learning for Malaysia students : Culture Perspectives

Mobile learning usage in a developing country like Malaysia can be considered new. This literature research  is a state of art overview to discuss current issues. The emerging issues come from: types of mobile learning and learning styles; implementation issues of mobile learning; culture dimensions; and user readiness to accept the mobile learning technology. Currently, there is a lack of research about culture aspects to improve mobile learning and university students’ engagement in Malaysia. The objective of this research is to find the gap from the culture perspectives of mobile learning in Malaysia at public institutions of higher learning. The discussions have found that the culture dimensions are not a suitable approach to tackle mobile learning. It is therefore suggested to use a more grounded and sensible cultural  approach for local context

Assessing the Effect of Constructivist YouTube Video Instruction in the Spatial Information Sciences on Student Engagement and Learning Outcomes

This paper examines the potential of pedagogically designed video demonstrations in supporting the learning requirements of students in the Spatial Information Sciences (SIS). Currently, over three hundred full and part-time students in the College of Engineering and Built Environment undertake a module in Land Surveying each semester and although these students range in discipline and academic level, they all share a need for basic information and instruction in the area of practical land-surveying techniques. To accommodate this highly practical subject area, 50% of contact time is normally dedicated to group-based field exercises. To enhance the students’ practical learning experience in Land Surveying modules and provide a mobile (m)learning resource a number of short videos with voice-over instruction have been developed. These short YouTube clips show the correct use of survey equipment and can be directly accessed in the field via a web and video enabled mobile platform. This study highlights the effectiveness of designing high quality mlearning resource material for use by undergraduate students. Outcomes of the study indicate that the use of videos hosted on YouTube is very positive as it presents few barriers to learners in terms of access and usability. Learners were shown to have the tools and desire to engage with mlearning materials. Furthermore, the use of multi-media resources was shown to be effective in improving learners’ confidence in their practical abilities and increased their retention of key topics when formally assessed. From this study it can be concluded that video and related quality multimedia mlearning materials will play a significant role in serving the needs of 21st Century learners

The contribution of mLearning to the study of local culture in the Malaysian university context

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.This thesis is concerned with the impact of mobile learning (mLearning) on the study of local culture at Malaysian universities. For convenience, the term Local Cultural Studies (LCS) is given to Humanities subjects related to the teaching and learning of Malay culture, for example: Local History, Local Culture and National Heritage, Malay Wood Craft, Malay Drum, Cooking, Batik Textile, Ceramic, and Local Drama. These subjects are not as popular as Science and Engineering and are often referred to as ‘dying traditional knowledge’ with an uncertain future. They have a lesser degree of significance in modern Malaysian society in achieving a ‘developed country’ status. One motivation for introducing mLearning into LCS subjects is to make them more interesting: the learning activities and the subjects should appear more modern by linking them to the latest technology. The fact that all students own mobile phones in Malaysian universities creates an opportunity to use mLearning for the benefit of LCS. In addition, mLearning could be used to create student-generated content to add richer multimedia learning resources as one of the major challenges for LCS is the limited availability of resources. An exploratory preliminary study with managers and content developers within mobile application companies confirmed there were limited local mobile content and little incentive to develop more. A major focus of this thesis was to investigate two approaches to overcoming this problem: (1) the development of culturally appropriate interface design guidelines that could be used to assist developers and academics in the production of local content; and (2) involving students in creating local content in student-generated mLearning activities. This largely qualitative study focused on gaining an understanding of mLearning’s contributions to the study of local culture from the perspective of academics and students at predominantly Malaysian public universities. The research was designed in two stages. In Stage 1, Nielsen’s user interface design guidelines were first adapted to include two cultural design principles based on local Malay cultural content and aesthetic values and then used as a probe to uncover academic and student views on culturally appropriate design during a heuristic evaluation of three mobile applications with a Malay cultural focus. The heuristic evaluation of the mLearning applications also served to raise awareness of mLearning and opened the way for interviews with academics and focus group discussions with students about their pre-existing experiences with mobile technologies and perspectives on mLearning. The interviews and focus group discussions were audio recorded, transcribed, translated, and analysed using a thematic analysis approach. Consequently at Stage 2, student-generated activities using mobile devices were introduced. These included students making videos, taking photographs and sound recording interviews in their LCS subjects using a mix of mobile devices such as mobile phones, laptops and cameras. Then a second round of interviews and focus group discussions was conducted to understand participants’ perspectives of mLearning and in particular, mLearning involving student-generated content. Data was analysed again using thematic analysis. The first key finding of the study identified academic and students’ perspectives on culturally appropriate design guidelines related to the usability of mLearning LCS applications. The participants confirmed that suitable local cultural content appropriate to the subject and local aesthetic values were important and could motivate learning. The most important local cultural aspect was found to be the use of local language, Bahasa Malaysia, or bilingual interfaces. A more complex aspect of interface design was the inclusion of philosophical values relating to Malay and Islamic philosophy. The study also demonstrated that it is inadequate to exclusively emphasise culture. General usability principles were also observed as significant, for instance, consistency, minimalist design, efficiency, flexibility and error management, and should be taken into consideration in designing LCS applications. Furthermore, the findings identified participants’ pre-existing experiences and perspectives of mobile technologies and mLearning. They used mobile phones extensively for personal leisure and interest although students were more advanced than academics in exploring software applications for mobile phones. At university the majority of participants used their mobile phones for communication for educational purposes. However, they did this without being aware that these activities were mLearning-related. They also identified challenges for introducing mLearning: lack of local mLearning content and limited ethical policies to regulate mLearning were of concern for both academics and students. Changes to participants’ perspectives on mLearning were observed following the student-generated content activities in Stage 2. Academics were more aware and stated that they were more open to allowing students to use mobile phones for student-generated activities. Students benefited by gaining new multimedia skills and accomplishing better quality assignments using mobile devices. They reported creating, accessing and sharing multimedia digital content (videos, photos and audio files) both within the classroom and during fieldwork at cultural sites. This was found to reduce the challenge of limited local content for LCS subjects. Peer assistance and collaboration from other participants reduced technical challenges. Therefore, both academics and students showed more positive attitudes and interest in using mobile devices for facilitating learning in LCS after experiencing student-generated activities. The contributions of this thesis are therefore: • Understandings of culturally appropriate design in the Malay context which could assist mobile developers to produce more local content or could be used by academics or students to guide them in creating local content for learning. These understandings might further be extended to other cultural contexts. • Insights into how academics’ and students’ established mobile phone practices, as well as their pre-existing uses of mobile devices for educational purposes, could lead to greater awareness and a wider adoption of mLearning to improve LCS subjects. • A holistic understanding of participants’ perspectives on student-generated content in mLearning activities as a way to remedy the lack of content for LCS studies. This could be applied also to other subject areas

User Efficiency Model in Usability Engineering for User Interface Design Refinement of Mobile Application

Designers are often confronted with challenges or difficulties when designing user interfaces for mobile applications. The information must be clearly delivered to the user and also have an aesthetic appearance and good discoverability. One widely used method for conveying information is directing user attention to a component that is related to his or her task. We propose a recommender system by considering user efficiency in a user attention model. It can give suggestions for designers to improve the appearance of the most efficient component. This recommender system is aimed to help designers in the iteration process of usability engineering, especially to direct user attention to the most efficient component. This system analyzes actual user attention and then refines the user interface based on the energy of each component compared with the baseline energy. Our proposed model successfully increased the efficiency of a mobile learning application from 83.65% to 85.58% and improved discoverability of the most efficient component, thus reducing the task completion time