Using Technology to Address the Problems of Malnutrition and Dehydration in Older Adults

Malnutrition and dehydration of important problems for older adults even in developed countries such as the UK and both have many serious health consequences. This programme of research developed an app, MyHealthyLiving, to support older adults in monitoring their intake of liquids and fruit and vegetables. I followed a user-centred design lifecycle and conducted six studies, starting with focus groups to understand the older users’ needs and wishes, through expert and user evaluations, to a two week field study of the use of the app by 15 older people. Using the data from the user evaluations, a new set of evidence-based heuristics for the development and evaluation of tablet apps for older people was also produced

Examining the entrepreneurial attitudes of Malaysian secondary school students

Attitude as one of the most influential factors affecting entrepreneurial learning and behaviour has been under investigation to recognize how it can be improved through educational interventions. A study was conducted to determine the entrepreneurial attitude of 3,000 secondary school students in Malaysia. Findings indicate that students scored high on self-esteem cognition, achievement cognition, and achievement affect, but students had low mean scores in self-esteem behaviour, personal control affect and self-esteem affect. Moreover, there is no significant difference between the students’ ethnic groups in terms of their self-esteem behaviour. This paper discusses that entrepreneurial attitude can be developed through proper learning exposure and entrepreneurship education opportunities. It also presents the implications of the study to improve the Malaysian education system and entrepreneurial attitude of students during the critical years of secondary school

Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy of Vocational and Technical Secondary School Students.

Entrepreneurial self-efficacy of school students has been under investigation as one of the influential factors to ultimately become an entrepreneur. However, little is known about self-efficacy of technical and vocational schools to choose entrepreneurship as their future career path. In this study, entrepreneurial self-efficacy of vocational and technical secondary school students in central zone of Malaysia was identified through employing a survey method. Students’ mean score for entrepreneurial self-efficacy is in the moderate to high level, ranging from 3.57 to 3.75. For the Malay students, the mean score for developing new product and market opportunities, building an innovative environment, initiating investors relationship, defining core purposes as well as developing critical human resource were significantly higher compared to non-Malay students. The implications of the findings for policy makers and educators are discussed in this paper

Learning style of university students: Implications for improving entrepreneurial learning paradigm

Learning is considered central in the process of entrepreneurial development. Learning styles play an important role in learning entrepreneurship at university. The main purpose of this study was to determine the university students’ learning styles as a whole and in particular, the preferred learning styles of the students who had taken entrepreneurship related courses. A total of 1,554 university students from three research universities in Malaysia were selected as respondents of the study. The findings showed that university students preferred active, sensing, visual and sequential learning styles compared to reflective, intuitive, verbal, and global learning styles. The findings may guide policy makers, educators and lecturers at universities to understand how students learn and thus, provide facilities and instructional activities to foster entrepreneurial learning. This paper also presents suggestions towards improving entrepreneurial learning paradigm

Three case studies on methods of working with older people in the design of new technologies

The proportion of older adults in the population is rapidly increasing and the proportion of younger adults to care for them is decreasing. Part of the solution to support older adults in living independently is to provide them with appropriate assistive technologies. To develop technologies that are effective for older adults we need methodologies that are appropriate for working with this user group. Yet there is little systematic research on how to work with older adults and how to adapt methods already used with younger adults. This paper reports on three case studies which investigated the use focus groups, expert evaluations and user evaluations with older adults. In the case of focus groups, the size of the focus group was investigated; for expert evaluations, an existing set of heuristics for evaluating apps for older adults was investigated; for user evaluations, a low-fidelity prototype design was evaluated using think-aloud protocol

Modelling the player and avatar attachment based on student’s engagement and attention in educational games

The Player and Avatar attachment help to motivate a student to strengthen their engagement in gameplay. The different types of avatar designs deployed in a game have an impact on students' engagements. The avatars are designed with different roles, wherein each role offers varying motivational effects on students' engagement. Several research in human and computer interaction have assessed user engagement and user attention in a computer or system application as well as in gameplay. Among the usual approaches to assess user engagement are using questionnaire and eye-tracking. Investigating the possible use of these approaches in determining the player and avatar attachment, particularly the attachment that associated with the various avatar designs and their effect on students' engagement are inconclusive and remains untapped. Essentially, studying students' engagement and attention perception while learning enriches one's comprehension about engagement in the education segment. As such, this study proposes a new model of player and avatar attachment based on the students' engagement and focus attention on the gameplay of digital educational games (DEGs). The model is developed follows a stepwise approach consisting component identification, relationship of the components, model development, and model validation. Several components were scrutinized, summarized, and developed into the model proposed in this study. A significant attachment can determine the avatar design that may influence a student's engagement in gameplay. Hence, this study offers several constructive recommendations for future avatars in game design for education purpose, which may validate the user's engagement based on his or her focus attention

Avatar design types and user engagement in digital educational games during evaluation phase

Avatar design types can range from human representations to abstract representations. In digital educational games (DEGs), avatars are frequently used to encourage users to play the game. However, the role of avatar design types and their engagement in digital games are still unclear and empirically under research. Therefore, a bespoke digital educational game in geography was developed and validated by six expert users. Then forty-five users participated in the evaluation phase to investigate engagement and avatar types on digital educational games using the user engagement scale (UES). The results reported aesthetics and satisfaction factors somehow influenced the avatar design types, but none of the UES subscales was influenced by preferred avatar design types. Moreover, the human-cartoon avatar, which was not entirely human and cartoonish, was the most popular avatar design type among young adults. Other issues discussed for future developers and research included incorporating more avatar design selections into the study, integrating social interaction features into the game, using the same drawing style for avatars and provide easy access to the bespoke game during data collection

Predicting aesthetic preferences: does the Big-Five matters?

User experience is imperative for the success of interactive products. User experience is notably affected by user preferences; the higher the preference, the better the user experience. The way users develop their preferences are closely related to personality traits. However, there is a void in understanding the association between personality traits and aesthetic dimensions that may potentially explain how users develop their preferences. This paper examines the relationship between the Big-Five personality traits (Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism) and the two dimensions of aesthetics (classical aesthetics, expressive aesthetics). Two hundred twenty participants completed the Big-Five questionnaire and rated their preference for each of the ten images of web pages on a 7- point Likert scale. Results show Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Neuroticism were not significantly correlated with aesthetic dimensions. Only Agreeableness showed a significant correlation (although weakly) with both classical and expressive aesthetics. The finding conforms to literature that personality traits have influence on the preference of individual design features in lieu of aesthetic dimensions. In other words, personality traits are inapt predictor of aesthetic dimension. Therefore, more studies are needed to explore other factors that potentially help to predict aesthetic dimensions

A Game Experience Scoring Approach on Digital Educational Games and Cognitive Styles Behaviour

Assessing game experience on Digital Educational Games (DEGs) can enhance knowledge on users behaviour and experiences. The growth and popularity for DEGs among the young continues to evolve therefore further studies remains required. This study investigated how game experiences were related to children’s cognitive styles (i.e., focused attention and interaction strategies) on DEGs. In this study, a game experience scoring approach was used to examine the cognitive styles. Preliminary results presented that the Working Area of the DEG influenced a child's game experience and the Distractor was less seen by children during the interactive sorting activity. Focus attention on the Working Area and Banner works closely together (p<.05) indicating that children revisit items for confirmations. As for game experience on interaction strategies, an enjoyable game experience can be achieved when a child practice structured gameplay that develops into attention and engagement. Overall this study expands the knowledge of objects in game design and human behaviour for young children in DEGs

Avatar design types and user engagement in digital educational games during evaluation phase

Avatar design types can range from human representations to abstract representations. In digital educational games (DEGs), avatars are frequently used to encourage users to play the game. However, the role of avatar design types and their engagement in digital games are still unclear and empirically under research. Therefore, a bespoke digital educational game in geography was developed and validated by six expert users. Then forty-five users participated in the evaluation phase to investigate engagement and avatar types on digital educational games using the user engagement scale (UES). The results reported aesthetics and satisfaction factors somehow influenced the avatar design types, but none of the UES subscales was influenced by preferred avatar design types. Moreover, the human-cartoon avatar, which was not entirely human and cartoonish, was the most popular avatar design type among young adults. Other issues discussed for future developers and research included incorporating more avatar design selections into the study, integrating social interaction features into the game, using the same drawing style for avatars and provide easy access to the bespoke game during data collection