Usability Evaluation of Mobile Learning Applications

Abstract

Mobile learning is creating new opportunities for learning anytime, anywhere by using mobile devices. Mobile learning supports continuous access to the learning process and with the arrival of mobile learning, educational systems are changing. The availability of mobile applications is increasing speedily and with the increased processing power available with mobile devices, developers are increasing the variety of services. The interface of mobile educational apps ought to be compatible with the cognitive skills of children to provide higher learning expertise. In mobile learning apps, students are provided audios, videos, and texts related to the study material with the help of which they can learn their respective subjects and can acquire more knowledge and understanding about the concept. Therefore, this paper will provide the feedback for mobile learning applications using testing method, that is, think aloud testing methodology.

Usability evaluation is done by practitioners to gather feedback from users about a website or application, its focus on how well users are satisfied, how well they can use the product to achieve their goals, how well they can learn from the product, and how well they are able to discover and explore the content. Usability evaluation has a variety of methods to gather feedback from the user. In this paper we are focusing on usability evaluation of mobile learning applications using Think Aloud testing, which is one of the most preferred methods. Think Aloud Testing is one in which the test users are said to verbally express their thoughts, feelings, and opinions while interacting with mobile learning application and a direct observation can be made as the users are asked to think out loud. If a task is complex, then the user can make periodic report to think aloud while performing the task at the same time. Think Aloud is a cheaper method as no special equipment is required for it and the practitioner can simply sit next to the user and can gather the feedback.