Designing for learning or designing for fun? Setting usability guidelines for mobile educational games.
Maria Kambouri Institute of Education London, UK
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Gareth Schott Institute of Education London, UK
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Siobhan Thomas Institute of Education London, UK
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Abstract While this paper looks at the definitions of heuristics and usability as they apply to digital games, its primary focus is expanding the usability dialog into the arena of mobile educational games. It seeks to define the differences between conventional game design and educational game design and to answer the question of whether it is necessary to modify existing game usability criteria when designing educational games for mobile devices. Keywords: mobile educational games, mobile learning, games, heuristics, usability, learning, education, motivation
Usability guidelines for mobile educational games This paper attempts to outline and evaluate the game industry’s amorphous approach to usability testing. It considers the potential application and appropriateness of industry practice to the development of mobile educational games and, in order to account for the differences between conventional game design and mobile game design, it argues for an expansion to the definition of game heuristics.
The development of a set of educational game heuristics, or usability guidelines, is a useful undertaking not only because it serves to create a guide for the investigation of usability issues, but also because, once identified, game heuristics can help developers avoid usability problems in the first place. Heuristics is grounded in a process of inductive reasoning. Heuristic principles are developed through problem solving—situations are examined, experiences are drawn on, and usable solutions are uncovered through trial and error. Usability, therefore, is, in a sense, the extent to which heuristics can successfully operate. Heuristic evaluation—traditionally, evaluation in which a small team of independent evaluators compare user interfaces with a set of usability guidelines, the “heuristics”—has been recognised as an effective method for the formative evaluation of educational software (Quinn, 1996; Squires & Preece, 1999; Albion 1999). Heuristic evaluation using six evaluators uncovers 75 percent of usability problems (Nielsen, 1994) and is considered a costeffective method of evaluation that yields reliable results for minimum investment (Quinn, 1996). But, while heuristics has gained some attention as a beneficial tool in the educational software arena for examining user interfaces,
usability, in general, is still a relatively foreign concept in the game development community (Federoff, 2002). Furthermore, a comprehensive list of heuristics dealing with the usability of digital educational games, not to mention those available on mobile platforms, is virtually nonexistent. Recent discussions of game heuristics have made some useful connections between Nielsen’s and Malone’s heuristics, and Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory, and conventional game development theory and practice (Federoff, 2002; Mayra 2002). This paper expands the usability dialog, beginning where these discussions have left off, and draws on interviews with educational game developers, game design theory, and educational software design guides to compile a list of usability guidelines intended to be useful for the development and evaluation of mobile educational games. Within the paper, we will look at the tensions that arise when curriculum is introduced into conventional gaming practice and discuss the implications these tensions have for educational games. Further, we will contextualise the guidelines by providing a practical account of how key usability considerations can be used in the analysis of both conventional and mobile educational games. It has become increasingly apparent that educational games succeed when the fine balance between designing for function and performance (learning), and designing for player pleasure (fun) is attained. What makes an effective educational game, whether — and how — curriculum should be incorporated, and what aspects of a game should be evaluated are fundamental questions that need to be addressed by educationalists using games in learning situations. Setting usability guidelines is an important first step in this process.
References Albion, Peter R (1999). Heuristic evaluation of educational multimedia: from theory to practice. 16th Annual conference of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiry Education, ASCILITE Csikszentmihalyi, Mikaly (1991). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper Perennial. Federoff, Melissa A. (2002) Heuristics and Usability Guidelines for the Creation and Evaluation of Fun in Video Games.
Nielsen, J., and Mack, R. L. (Eds.) (1994). Usability Inspection Methods. John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY. Squires, D. and J. Preece (1999). "Predicting quality in educational software: Evaluating for learning, usability and the synergy between them." Interacting with Computers 11: 467-483.
