Usability

The 7 Principles of Universal Design

When creating this web resource, careful thought was put into its level of usability, not just for the students that would be exploring Tinkercad, but also for the teachers who would be incorporating AR in their future teaching. The 7 Principles of Usable Design (National Disability Authority, 2022) gave several principles to consider when designing a usable product.

Internet usage and individual immersion within the digital sphere will shape the usability of the created tool, assuming that most users have some experience online. With users coming into the Augmented Reality Co-Teacher Tool with at least a beginning familiarity using digital media, it becomes possible to appropriate successful elements from elsewhere online to create a usable system that users were already configured to operate within. Some of the elements that our AR tool capitalizes on are the familiar organization of headings with associated subpages, embedded YouTube videos, and the organization of different topics of focus located on separate subpages. Since users are presented with accustomed features and familiarity with other similar web sources, they arrive as previously configured users. The intent is that this will support the tool to present as exceptionally usable since users interact with the platform in the manner intended by the design team (Woolgar, 1990).

A potential strength of the Augmented Reality Co-Teacher Tool through a lens of usability is the ability to capitalize on pre-existing technologies to make the resource more accessible to all users. Since the webpage and corresponding videos/activities exist in the Internet space, tools such as Google Translate may be used to make directions available for all users in the language that they prefer. However, considerations must be made to the accuracy and authority of said translation. Access to the tool through technological means also allows for the integration of accessibility resources without the need to add corresponding code. An example may be allowing the user to enlarge the text or invert the colour contrast to accommodate differing vision requirements. In order for this element of usability to be realistic, it must ensure that the underlying code of a completed project must be written in a way that meets the technical requirements of assistive technologies or reduces unnecessary, or irrelevant visual components to allow for screen readers to function effectively.

When considering the usability of the Augmented Reality Co-Teacher Tool, one must also consider the infrastructure and global resource allocation required to access the tool. Due to the online nature of the Google Site and video hosting service, educators or students must be able to access the Internet to use the tool. With those services being provided primarily through private Internet service providers, access is dictated by the availability of services in a geographic region and being able to financially afford service costs, meaning that Internet connectivity and affordability can be major barriers to usage as a means of education. Without expanding Internet networks to currently unserved regions and/or making Internet access more affordable or detached from individual financial ability, these factors will continue to dictate usability for some users. Furthermore, Internet access inherently demands that users have devices with that capability. While many educational settings have devices and services available, this limits potential usage as an asynchronous tool outside of a traditional classroom setting and necessitates a significant financial burden on educational institutions. Ignoring these usability barriers in pursuit of using this tool as an exclusive means of education would perpetuate inequities of geographic discrimination based on ISP service and socio-economic status reflective of the inability to purchase Internet access.

(National Disability Authority, The 7 principles, 2022)

Usability Challenges

Creating an online learning resource, just as with any learning resource, takes time and a lot of feedback in order to address challenges the creators may have overlooked. Creators may be coming up with a solution to a problem or a lack of existing resources when they create theirs, but without feedback coming directly from the users, it becomes difficult to have a fresh, unbiased perspective of what the tool's strengths and weaknesses are.

Although this resource is still in a 'trial phase,' and therefore user feedback has not been given yet, we creators were able to address certain concerns and issues that we encountered along the way. For example, the platform used to create an AR model of the solar system and the objectives the students should realistically be able to achieve.

With regards to the seven principles of universal design, there are some characteristics where this learning tool would need some adjustments. For example, principle three on simple and intuitive use. Although care was put into making this tool intuitive and useful, there are still some limitations when it comes to those that speak other languages. Although with text, Google Translate is often a possibility, translating videos can become a more challenging obstacle to overcome. At the moment, the videos - key elements to our tool - are only available in English.

Usability Assessment

One of our priorities was to determine the best way to assess the tool's usability according to the tool's target audience: educators and students. It was decided that user feedback forms (found at the bottom of the Teacher Guide page, the Student Guide page, and available below) would be created for both the students following the lessons and the educators who would be giving the lessons. Although it would be difficult to ensure that everyone would complete the questionnaire, the feedback recieved would allow us to "observe what the users do, where they succeed, and where they have difficulties with the user interface" (Nielsen, 2012, para. 11).

The students' feedback form includes eight questions offering five answers between 'strongly agree' and 'strongly disagree.' In order to determine the usability levels reflected upon in these surveys, it was valuable to consider them with respect to the seven principles. For example, "the resource was well explained and easy to follow," or "I found the layout confusing and difficult to follow" would address principle three and whether or not the tool was simple and intuitive. Through the usability questionnaire for students, we were also hoping to determine if the students found the activitites fun, easy to complete individually, or if they needed much support, and if they were interested in using it again in the future.

The educators' feedback form includes a total of 15 questions to fill out with multiple choice answers, short, and long answers. Here, the questions went more in depth and offered scaled responses like those the students filled out, yes/no answers, short, and long answers as well. Starting with the first question, "I completed all of the steps," it would allow us to see the answers from the educators who completed the programme and those who did not. If they did not, it would be possible to identify the reasons in the questionnaire itself. Similarly to the student questionnaire, the educators could share how easy they felt it was to navigate the website and follow the activities, however, the questions went into more depth with more specific aspects of the tool, for example, the guided videos. Another one of the questions addressed whether or not the educator's confidence levels had risen since using the tool, as one of the main reasons this topic was selected for this project is due to the fact that feelings of inadequacy and unfamiliarity with regards to emerging AR technologies often act as obstacles when it comes to educators incoporating them into their teaching (Barroso Osuna et al., 2019).

Usability Feedback Forms

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