This research evaluated mental schema accuracy, user experience, and training methods of computer based tasks using educational software. Aims were to investigate the impact of mental schemas on individuals’ usability of technology and analyze the impact of training and user experience in terms of mental schemas and performance. Study one investigated schema accuracy as a predictor of perceived usability and mental workload; by analyzing the accuracy of users’ mental schema through task correctness. Task was found to be a significant predictor of the measures of usability, along with various demographic variables. When considering the effect of tasks, schema accuracy was a significant predictor of perceived usability and mental workload for task two (online quiz). Perceived usability showed lower values indicating higher perceptions of usability for task two and mental workload had lower values indicating reduced mental workload for task two. Significant, positive correlations were found between perceived usability and mental workload. Findings show schema accuracy as a preliminary measure of users’ subjective usability of non-problem solving tasks, based on the type of task tested and demographic data of students. Study two examined experience level (experienced and un-experienced) effects mental schema accuracy, robustness, completion time, and errors using three computer-based tasks. Experienced participants showed lower values for number of errors and robustness than un-experienced users. Significant, positive correlations were found between schema accuracy and completion time, and errors and completion time. The findings support the use of experience to analyze the impact of mental schemas and performance measures. Study three explored the change in training methods (no-training, paper, or video) on user changes in mental schema accuracy, robustness, completion times and errors. Training improved robustness, specifically paper-based training. Performance results showed that students who spent small periods of time using the software more times a week had made fewer errors and had more robust schemas. Demographic experience categories found that participants who spent more time using the software had fewer errors. Significant, positive correlations were found between schema accuracy and robustness. These results show that training improves mental schema robustness and reduces the number of errors while completing computer based tasks.

Usability is regarded as one of the most important factors that consumers consider while purchasing products, however it is difficult to judge usability unless the user actually uses the product. Perceived usability is influential for consumers when identifying a product as usable and purchasing it. This study concentrates on the relationship between visual appeal and perceived usability especially for consumer products. The influence of visual appeal on perceived usability for consumer products is scrutinized through the findings of an empirical study besides a broad literature review. In the literature, there are many studies -mostly dealing with the HCI products- claiming that visual appeal affects users&rsquo / perceptions of usability. However, the empirical study results indicate that the relationship between visual appeal and perceived usability is not clear for consumer products as the relationship declared in the literature.

The technical society we live in is in a constant state of advancement and we are continuallyintroduced to new innovative ways of mediating information through. Today, plenty of mediachannels exist, for organizations to use when they strive to reach larger groups of people, butto achieve web site success; researchers have stated that considerations of user preferencesimplemented in web design are crucial. This makes understanding and addressing whichcharacteristics will be valued from the moment a user enters a site something that isconsidered helpful to the web designer in order to maintain user traffic and create an interest.In other words, something to catch the user’s attention to create a good first impression is necessary. The constant state of advancement of technology prevailing today has resulted in even morecomplex websites and a countless number of design principles to apply when designing forthe web. In spite of this, usability and visual appeal have remained central in prior research.To test these theories, a study was conducted by using a qualitative method in form of anexperiment consisting of eye tracking and an open-ended questionnaire. To perform the eyetracking the researchers created two mock-ups representing the main page of two differentwebsites. Each mock-up was developed with considerations towards two different designapproaches, one striving to achieve visual appeal and the other towards usability, todetermine which one the participants preferred. The study contained 50 participants who performed the experiment and answered thequestionnaire. Results from the eye tracking were presented in gaze plots and heat maps andthe result from the questionnaire was presented and analyzed through coding by the researchers. Final findings showed that the website preferred by most participants were the one developedwith the usable design approach. Additionally, the discussion presented the findings andreaches a conclusion of the study which finds connections between the chosen designapproach of the webpage and the participant’s choice of preferred webpage.

The relationship between the perceived usability of a beautiful interface and of an ugly interface is analyzed in this study. This study correlates the visual aesthetics of the website with perceived usability. This research is performed to know the significance of visual aesthetics on perceived usability. A website is designed with two interfaces. One interface is designed by following design guidelines with respect to usability and the other interface is designed without following guidelines. To measure the aesthetic value of these website interfaces, visual aspect questionnaire is used in classical aesthetic sense. After drawing a conclusion on aesthetic values i.e. beautiful interface and of an ugly interface, a survey performed using System Usability Scale (SUS scale) to measure the perceived usability of the beautiful interface and an ugly interface of the website. From the results we found that perceived usability of the beautiful interface is significantly higher than the ugly interface. System Usability Scale turns out sensitive to measure the beauty of the website. Results also show that the design principles have some overlapping with the visual aesthetic of the website.

A Educação tem usufruído dos benefícios das tecnologias computacionais por meio da ampliação da experiência e do conhecimento humano, bem como novos tipos de interação tem sido promovidos à medida em que as tecnologias avançam. Este trabalho investiga a natureza da relação humano-computador, o uso contextualizado de recursos computacionais interativos e os fatores humanos relacionados à interação por meio de recursos de um ambiente virtual de aprendizagem em uma disciplina de pós-graduação stricto-sensu por meio de uma imersão participante, em que a tecnologia se colocou como elemento midiatizador da interação dialógica promovida pela proposta pedagógica e pela ação docente intencionalmente construída. Buscou-se dar voz aos sujeitos para que eles avaliassem a usabilidade da tecnologia sob a sua perspectiva. Foram utilizadas diversas ferramentas para coleta de dados, como entrevista, grupo focal, registros de fórum, questionários de fluência digital e de avaliação de usabilidade técnica percebida. Tais ferramentas fundamentaram a compreensão do impacto do tratamento didático do diálogo midiatizado por tecnologias computacionais interativas na percepção de qualidade da Interação Humano-Computador. Por meio de uma análise dialética dos dados pautada em critérios de usabilidade técnica e nas categorias de interação dialógica da filosofia educacional de Paulo Freire, esta pesquisa inferiu que a usabilidade técnica é importante, mas não é suficiente para suportar um processo pedagógico com uso de tecnologia computacional em sua plenitude. É necessário promover maior articulação entre a usabilidade técnica dos recursos tecnológicos e um tratamento didático contextualizado aos usuários e aos recursos tecnológicos selecionados de um ambiente virtual de aprendizagem. Os indicadores de referência didáticos direcionam-se para a rigorosidade metódica; criticidade e reflexão permanente sobre a prática com uso das tecnologias; respeito aos saberes dos estudantes; convicção de que a mudança é possível, mas exige contextualização; competência e cultura digital; compromisso, liberdade e flexibilidade; além de grande e constante disponibilidade para o diálogo entre os diferentes conhecimentos. Esta pesquisa teve como expectativa oferecer subsídios que possam apoiar a concepção de políticas educacionais para uso de tecnologia na educação e metodologias de avaliação da interação humano-computador de softwares educacionais. / Education has enjoyed the benefits of Computing through the expansion of human knowledge and experience, as well as new types of interaction has been promoted to the extent that technologies advance. This research investigates the quality of human-computer relationship, contextualized use of computational resources, and human factors related to the interaction through features of a virtual learning environment in a post-graduate course by participant observation, in which the technology is a mediator element of dialogic interaction promoted by the pedagogical and teaching action intentionally built. We tried to give voice to individuals so that they evaluate the usability of the technology from their perspective. We used several tools to collect data, such as interview, focus group, forum entries, questionnaire of digital fluency, and questionnaire of perceived usability. These tools have supported the understanding of the impact of didactic dialogue mediatized by interactive computational technologies in the perception of quality of Human-Computer Interaction. The dialectical analysis was based on criteria of technical usability and categories of dialogic interaction of the educational philosophy of Paulo Freire. This study concluded that technical usability is important, but it is not sufficient to support a pedagogical process with computational technology in its fullness. We need to link the technical usability of technological resources and a didactic contextualized on the users and technology resources selected from a virtual learning environment. The teaching benchmarks are focused on methodological rigor, criticality and ongoing reflection on practice with technologies; respect to the knowledge of the students; belief that change is possible, but requires contextualization; culture and digital competence; engagement, freedom and flexibility as well as large and constant readiness for dialogue among different knowledge. This study was expected to provide subsidies that can support the design of educational policies for use of technology in education and evaluating methodologies of human-computer interaction of educational software.

Die Forschungsarbeit beabsichtigte den Zusammenhang zwischen Kultur und der wahrgenommenen Bedienbarkeit der PIM Software seitens deutscher und indonesischer Anwender, welcher in zwei Experimenten untersucht wurde, zu erforschen. Die Entwicklung der PIM Technologie in beiden Ländern, sowie deren kultureller Wert, insbesondere Unsicherheitsvermeidung (UA) und Individualismus-Kollektivismus (INCOL), repräsentieren die zentralen Beweggründe der vorliegenden Untersuchung. Der betrachtete kulturelle Hintergrund und die verwendete Methodik stellen die Verbindung zwischen der ersten und zweiten Studie dar. Die Experimente waren in zwei Studien aufgeteilt, da jeder kulturelle Hintergrund ein unterschiedliches Erhebungsdesign benötigt: UA steht in Beziehung mit der ersten vs. der zweiten Aufgabe und INCOL wurde mittels zwei verschiedenen Wegen der Vervollständigung erfasst (Individual- vs. Gruppenaufgabe). Während sich der Fokus der ersten Studie auf den Vergleich zwischen der deutschen und indonesischen Kultur richtet, konzentrierte sich die zweite Studie auf Kulturen zwischen (Deutschland vs. Indonesien) und innerhalb eines Landes (Individualismus vs. Kollektivismus). Die Ergebnisse legen dar, dass deutsche Anwender ein höheres Level an Unsicherheitsvermeidung als indonesische Anwender zeigen. Lediglich hinsichtlich der Zufriedenheit weisen indonesische, verglichen zu deutschen Benutzern, einen höheren Wert auf, wobei der Haupteffekt der Zeit nur bezüglich der Höhe der Effizienz signifikant ist. Es zeigte sich außerdem ein positiver Zusammenhang zwischen UA und der Effizienz beider Aufgaben, sowie eine negative Korrelation zwischen UA und der berichteten Zufriedenheit. Hinsichtlich der Höhe von UA und der Effektivität ließ sich kein negativer Zusammenhang nachweisen. Desweiteren, betreffend INCOL, lässt sich zusammenfassen, dass der Hauptinteraktionseffekt Aufgabe*INCOL statistisch signifikant ist. Bezüglich Effizienz und Zufriedenheit ist entscheidend, dass, je höher die Ausprägung von Individualismus und Kollektivismus auf Seiten der Anwender ist, desto weniger Zeit beanspruchen diese für die Ausführung individueller Aufgaben und desto zufriedener wenden die Benutzer das PIM und GIM Tool an. Mit eingeschlossen ist jedoch, dass sich zwischen Individualismus und Kollektivismus deutscher und indonesischer Bediener kein Zusammenhang mit der Höhe der Effektivität darstellen lasst. Zusammenfassend ist festzuhalten, dass die Entwickler der PIM Software mit einer internationalen Anwendergruppe beachten sollten, dass die Ergebnisse von Usability Messungen seitens Benutzeranfänger in verschiedenen Kulturen unterschiedlich sein können.

A Educação tem usufruído dos benefícios das tecnologias computacionais por meio da ampliação da experiência e do conhecimento humano, bem como novos tipos de interação tem sido promovidos à medida em que as tecnologias avançam. Este trabalho investiga a natureza da relação humano-computador, o uso contextualizado de recursos computacionais interativos e os fatores humanos relacionados à interação por meio de recursos de um ambiente virtual de aprendizagem em uma disciplina de pós-graduação stricto-sensu por meio de uma imersão participante, em que a tecnologia se colocou como elemento midiatizador da interação dialógica promovida pela proposta pedagógica e pela ação docente intencionalmente construída. Buscou-se dar voz aos sujeitos para que eles avaliassem a usabilidade da tecnologia sob a sua perspectiva. Foram utilizadas diversas ferramentas para coleta de dados, como entrevista, grupo focal, registros de fórum, questionários de fluência digital e de avaliação de usabilidade técnica percebida. Tais ferramentas fundamentaram a compreensão do impacto do tratamento didático do diálogo midiatizado por tecnologias computacionais interativas na percepção de qualidade da Interação Humano-Computador. Por meio de uma análise dialética dos dados pautada em critérios de usabilidade técnica e nas categorias de interação dialógica da filosofia educacional de Paulo Freire, esta pesquisa inferiu que a usabilidade técnica é importante, mas não é suficiente para suportar um processo pedagógico com uso de tecnologia computacional em sua plenitude. É necessário promover maior articulação entre a usabilidade técnica dos recursos tecnológicos e um tratamento didático contextualizado aos usuários e aos recursos tecnológicos selecionados de um ambiente virtual de aprendizagem. Os indicadores de referência didáticos direcionam-se para a rigorosidade metódica; criticidade e reflexão permanente sobre a prática com uso das tecnologias; respeito aos saberes dos estudantes; convicção de que a mudança é possível, mas exige contextualização; competência e cultura digital; compromisso, liberdade e flexibilidade; além de grande e constante disponibilidade para o diálogo entre os diferentes conhecimentos. Esta pesquisa teve como expectativa oferecer subsídios que possam apoiar a concepção de políticas educacionais para uso de tecnologia na educação e metodologias de avaliação da interação humano-computador de softwares educacionais. / Education has enjoyed the benefits of Computing through the expansion of human knowledge and experience, as well as new types of interaction has been promoted to the extent that technologies advance. This research investigates the quality of human-computer relationship, contextualized use of computational resources, and human factors related to the interaction through features of a virtual learning environment in a post-graduate course by participant observation, in which the technology is a mediator element of dialogic interaction promoted by the pedagogical and teaching action intentionally built. We tried to give voice to individuals so that they evaluate the usability of the technology from their perspective. We used several tools to collect data, such as interview, focus group, forum entries, questionnaire of digital fluency, and questionnaire of perceived usability. These tools have supported the understanding of the impact of didactic dialogue mediatized by interactive computational technologies in the perception of quality of Human-Computer Interaction. The dialectical analysis was based on criteria of technical usability and categories of dialogic interaction of the educational philosophy of Paulo Freire. This study concluded that technical usability is important, but it is not sufficient to support a pedagogical process with computational technology in its fullness. We need to link the technical usability of technological resources and a didactic contextualized on the users and technology resources selected from a virtual learning environment. The teaching benchmarks are focused on methodological rigor, criticality and ongoing reflection on practice with technologies; respect to the knowledge of the students; belief that change is possible, but requires contextualization; culture and digital competence; engagement, freedom and flexibility as well as large and constant readiness for dialogue among different knowledge. This study was expected to provide subsidies that can support the design of educational policies for use of technology in education and evaluating methodologies of human-computer interaction of educational software.

No description available.

<p>The Ericsson R380 is a so-called smartphone, combining an advanced mobile phone with a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). To evaluate the usability of the Ericsson R380 and benchmark it against the Nokia 9110 Communicator and the Motorola A6188 Accompli, a repeated measurements experiment was performed. 18 subjects (10 men and 8 women) with no previous experience of any of the interfaces participated. Half of the subjects had extensive experience from using Ericsson mobile phones and half of the subjects had extensive experience from using Nokia mobile phones. A set of 9 tasks to be solved on each interface was presented to the subjects. The order in which the subjects used the interfaces was balanced with a Latin square design while the tasks were presented in consecutive order and were identical for all interfaces. Level of completeness, completion time and number of actions were assessed for each task and interface. Subjects also rated the perceived usability and aesthetics of the interfaces. Overall, subjects were most successful using the Motorola A6188 Accompli, using fewer keystrokes and less time as well as needing fewer hints compared to the Ericsson R380 and Nokia 9110 Communicator. However, the Ericsson R380 was rated significantly higher than the other interfaces on perceived usability. Previous experience with Ericsson or Nokia mobile phones did not have a major impact on how well subjects succeeded with using the interfaces in the test. Certain mistakes made by each group of subjects could be explained in terms of mental models, Einstellung effects and the use of so- called Function-Object interaction style where Object-Function interaction was appropriate. Contrary to earlier findings, aesthetics and perceived usability did not correspond to a great extent. Finally, the results are discussed and some suggestions for improvements are put forward.</p>

This thesis aims to examine the role that non-instrumental aspects such as aesthetic and emotion play in elderly user interaction with mobile phones. It presents an analysis of the results from in-depth interviews with a selected group of Swedish elderly users, and discusses how the aesthetic experience which they yield in interacting with mobile phones could impact their preference, and their perceived usability of the devices.  A set of mobile phones, different in usability and aesthetic levels were presented to the group of elderly user in order to investigate how they perceive phones attributes, including appearance and general features, and different facets of their user experience, including their motivations of use, the involved emotions, desires, and concerns. The analyses revealed a possible existing correlation between non-instrumental aspects of elderly users’ interaction with mobile phones, and their preference to use those devices. While negative aesthetic experience as a result of social concerns had a strong negative influence on elderly’s perceived usability, and could consequently alter their preference, certain symbolic meanings in interaction such as the tendency to be modern, contributed to perceived ease-of-use &amp; perceived usefulness of the mobile phones. Elderly user’s familiarity or earlier experience with a device or with the technology was found to be a confounding variable. However, in the presence of usability concerns, traditional factors of aesthetic went into the shadow, and therefore had no direct impact on users’ perceived usability of the device. A set of design solutions that would address elderly user’ both instrumental and non-instrumental concern, were proposed.