Luckin, Rosemary, Underwood, Joshua, du Boulay, Benedict, Holmberg, Joe, Kerawalla, Lucinda, O'Connor, Jeanette, Smith, Hilary and Tunley, Hilary (2006) Designing educational systems fit for use: a case study in the application of human centred design for AIED. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 16 (4). pp. 353-380. ISSN 1560-4292

PDF - Accepted Version Download (633kB)

Abstract

Designing new educational experiences, which utilize novel technologies, are usable by teachers and learners and integrate well into existing, everyday educational contexts is extremely difficult. In this paper we describe the process of Human Centred Design as a cyclic process of evolution. An initial system design vision is communicated to a range of stakeholders and revised as informed by feedback from these users to produce a modified vision. A cycle of presentations of the vision and modifications lead to the creation of system prototypes that are increasingly grounded in a genuine understanding of user needs and context. The latter stages of this process employ contextually evaluated semi-functional and functional prototypes, associated documentation and an iteratively refined framework for data capture and analysis. We use the HOMEWORK system development as a case study to demonstrate the use of this approach and to illustrate the benefits that user involvement in the design process can bring to bear upon the development of an Interactive Learning Environment. We describe the type of methodology that can help designers to reap these benefits and the resource implications arising from this work. We conclude that the key output from the design process at each phase is more than the latest version of the system prototype and a modified system vision; it is also the analytical methodology that has been iteratively developed in parallel to the system software. It is this meta level analytical map that can add rigor to the design process and help to make the findings generalise beyond the particular users involved in the design process.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Originality: This paper describes a general methodology for the design of human-centred teaching systems where there are multiple stakeholders and illustrates the methodology by reference to an innovative teaching system for primary school mathematics developed by the authors. Rigour: This paper situates the design process within a framework of socio-cultural learning theory. Significance: This is the first system designed expressly to assist parents, teachers and children work together via mobile technology. Impact: The paper is newly published but represents one of the few attempts to link learner modelling with context modelling.
Schools and Departments:	School of Engineering and Informatics > Informatics
Depositing User:	Rosemary Luckin
Date Deposited:	06 Feb 2012 20:53
Last Modified:	23 Sep 2019 11:57
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/28615

View download statistics for this item

📧 Request an update