On the Participatory Design of Jeliot Mobile: Towards a Socio-Constructivist Mlearning Tool

Abstract

In this paper, the authors report the initial development stages of Jeliot Mobile, a tool that aims to bring the benefits of visualization to the new generation of learners that makes use of new technologies. From the research point of view the authors want to 1) frame the development of the tool in the socio-constructivist paradigm, and 2) bring the learnercenteredness via participatory design. The paper reports a series of workshops in which HCI students were asked to design a mobile tool for learning programming. The workshops followed the participatory design methodology. Each workshop set its very participants into a scenario different than other workshops by means of variation in introductory tools. The participants output-in the form of design ideas described with tools like sketches, storyboards, and/or simple text-at each workshop was then collected. These ideas were classified according to five categories: socio-constructivist, learning management, usability, software visualization, and miscellaneous. Usability and socioconstructivist accounted for the majority of the ideas. The number usability ideas can be partly explained because of the context (participants were HCI students). However, the abundance of socio-constructivist ideas points to the importance which students give to learning in a sociocultural context. Moreover, the sheer amount of ideas-otherwise not envisioned by the designers-explains the need to build mlearning tools in a participatory fashion. Thus, the results of experiments support authors' stand of designing such tools in a learner-centered participatory fashion and framing the development in socioconstructivist paradigm.

RAPD: Rapid and Participatory Application Development of Usable Systems During COVID19 Crisis

“…PD allows for user participation in designing computer systems by creating intimate social atmosphere between end-users and developers [25], [26]. So, PD is a user centered design method in which users express their requirements for building software that is usable [4], user friendly and fits well with user culture, age, educational background and communities [27]- [31]. Designers interacts with users through design meetings, interviews and participatory observation for collecting requirements and evaluating designs.…”

“…The final specifications are also identified and documented. PD has been used for developing different applications [27]- [31]. In [27], PD was used for developing a system for clinical protocol writing.…”

“…In [27], PD was used for developing a system for clinical protocol writing. In [28] and [31], PD was used in the education domain for building an academic dashboard and mobile learning systems. In [29], PD was used in the entertainment domain to develop an interactive TV system for elderly people.…”

Participatory Heuristic Evaluations of Jeliot Mobile : End-users evaluating usability of their mlearning application

“…JM is the youngest member of the Jeliot SV family. It combines the power of visualizations with ubiquity and context independence of mobile devices, also framing the whole learning experience into the theory of socio-constructivist learning [8]. Moreover, the tool is ideated, designed, and evaluated with participatory methods, bringing in all the possible learner-centeredness.…”

“…The development of JM was started with a series of participatory workshops in which end-users ideated the tool for themselves [8]. An ideation refinement phase followed with a distinct user group trimming the original design [9].…”