Evaluating the effectiveness of a mobile location-based intervention for improving human-computer interaction students' understanding of context for design

With the ubiquity of interactive computer-based systems, designers are challenged to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of their designs for a variety of different environments and user activities. To achieve this, designers need to have a comprehensive understanding of the relevant contexts and of the people for whom they are designing systems. Therefore, in helping students learn how to become proficient and innovative designers and developers, it is crucial to get them out of the classroom and into the environments in which their designs will be used. In this paper we describe an app designed to provide location-based hints and formative feedback to students to aid their understanding of the context. The results show an improvement in scores and quality of assessed work completed with the support of the app and a positive response from students regarding its usability and pedagogic utility. The paper also considers the challenges of conducting an ecologically valid study of such interventions in a higher education setting