Effects of Haptic Movement and Hotspot Salience on the Usability and Educational Effectiveness of Children’s Educational Apps

• In Event: Early Years, Early Media

Abstract

Given the increasing popularity of literacy apps among young children, it is vital to take a closer look at the design of apps as well as their effects. Current theory suggests that when the design of an app is mismatched with the child’s abilities (e.g., the task is too easy or too difficult), educational content comprehension is likely to suffer as a result of poor usability. This study investigated how tactile and visual features affect children’s vocabulary learning as well as explore how usability plays a role this relationship. An experiment among 128 children aged 4-5 showed that, although children were able to learn words from the app in a relatively short time, the manipulation of both features did not lead to improved vocabulary learning. The findings did reveal that cognitively-easier visual (salient or non-salient hotspots) as well as tactile (tapping and dragging) features affected different attributes of usability.

Authors

• Francette L. Broekman, Squla

• Jessica Taylor Piotrowski, U of Amsterdam/ASCoR

• Johannes W.J. Beentjes, U of Amsterdam

• Patti M. Valkenburg, U of Amsterdam