A Framework of the Training Module for Untrained Observers in Usability Evaluation Motivated by COVID-19: Enhancing the Validity of Usability Evaluation for Children’s Educational Games

The usability evaluation of educational games is an important task, especially for children. By applying Jakob Nielsen’s ten heuristics, most of the HCI designs can be evaluated, but when educational games are involved, where the user being observed is a child between the ages of six and eight, many...

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Main Authors: Marwan Alshar’e, Ali Albadi, Malik Mustafa, Noman Tahir, Marya Al Amri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2022-01-01
Series:Advances in Human-Computer Interaction
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2022/7527457
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author Marwan Alshar’e
Ali Albadi
Malik Mustafa
Noman Tahir
Marya Al Amri
author_facet Marwan Alshar’e
Ali Albadi
Malik Mustafa
Noman Tahir
Marya Al Amri
author_sort Marwan Alshar’e
collection DOAJ
description The usability evaluation of educational games is an important task, especially for children. By applying Jakob Nielsen’s ten heuristics, most of the HCI designs can be evaluated, but when educational games are involved, where the user being observed is a child between the ages of six and eight, many questions arise. Is the observer trained well enough to observe the child’s reactions to the game with regard to its memorability, learnability, ease of use, and enjoyment? Will it be necessary for the observer to have a training session exploring the game before evaluating a child? Our research suggests that a training module designed to train an untrained facilitator (observer) in how to evaluate four usability dimensions (learnability, memorability, ease of use, and enjoyment) would be very useful. The usability evaluation data was collected by observing users playing generic educational games, using the Mann–Whitney U test, which was conducted by two groups of observers, one trained and one untrained. This was then reviewed, and a distinct difference was found between the results of evaluations in the two groups, thus validating the importance of training for an observer.
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spelling doaj-art-f0a41e55fef744029c8c402432a1cd6e2025-02-03T06:10:55ZengWileyAdvances in Human-Computer Interaction1687-59072022-01-01202210.1155/2022/7527457A Framework of the Training Module for Untrained Observers in Usability Evaluation Motivated by COVID-19: Enhancing the Validity of Usability Evaluation for Children’s Educational GamesMarwan Alshar’e0Ali Albadi1Malik Mustafa2Noman Tahir3Marya Al Amri4Faculty of Computing SciencesFaculty of Computing Sciences and Centre for Postgraduate Studies and ResearchCenter for Foundation StudiesFaculty of Computing SciencesFaculty of Computing SciencesThe usability evaluation of educational games is an important task, especially for children. By applying Jakob Nielsen’s ten heuristics, most of the HCI designs can be evaluated, but when educational games are involved, where the user being observed is a child between the ages of six and eight, many questions arise. Is the observer trained well enough to observe the child’s reactions to the game with regard to its memorability, learnability, ease of use, and enjoyment? Will it be necessary for the observer to have a training session exploring the game before evaluating a child? Our research suggests that a training module designed to train an untrained facilitator (observer) in how to evaluate four usability dimensions (learnability, memorability, ease of use, and enjoyment) would be very useful. The usability evaluation data was collected by observing users playing generic educational games, using the Mann–Whitney U test, which was conducted by two groups of observers, one trained and one untrained. This was then reviewed, and a distinct difference was found between the results of evaluations in the two groups, thus validating the importance of training for an observer.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2022/7527457
spellingShingle Marwan Alshar’e
Ali Albadi
Malik Mustafa
Noman Tahir
Marya Al Amri
A Framework of the Training Module for Untrained Observers in Usability Evaluation Motivated by COVID-19: Enhancing the Validity of Usability Evaluation for Children’s Educational Games
Advances in Human-Computer Interaction
title A Framework of the Training Module for Untrained Observers in Usability Evaluation Motivated by COVID-19: Enhancing the Validity of Usability Evaluation for Children’s Educational Games
title_full A Framework of the Training Module for Untrained Observers in Usability Evaluation Motivated by COVID-19: Enhancing the Validity of Usability Evaluation for Children’s Educational Games
title_fullStr A Framework of the Training Module for Untrained Observers in Usability Evaluation Motivated by COVID-19: Enhancing the Validity of Usability Evaluation for Children’s Educational Games
title_full_unstemmed A Framework of the Training Module for Untrained Observers in Usability Evaluation Motivated by COVID-19: Enhancing the Validity of Usability Evaluation for Children’s Educational Games
title_short A Framework of the Training Module for Untrained Observers in Usability Evaluation Motivated by COVID-19: Enhancing the Validity of Usability Evaluation for Children’s Educational Games
title_sort framework of the training module for untrained observers in usability evaluation motivated by covid 19 enhancing the validity of usability evaluation for children s educational games
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2022/7527457
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