Browsing by Subject "usability"

Rapid development of ICT has brought it into nearly all areas of everyday living, including craft. Therefore, to retain the unique nature of craft, deep understanding is needed on how use of ICT affects craft, especially craft-design that is the sole basis of craft. In addition, it's also vital to assess the quality of the digital design tools. Little is known about ICT usage's effects on the craft-design process nor about usability of digital design tools meant for craft design. This research had three main objectives: to study usability of applications, meant for craft-design and find the best suited applications for craft-science students to use in their studies, to analyze and describe how using the applications affect students' craft-design processes and to develop and evaluate the performance of a remote evaluation method to study the two previous aspects. This research is a qualitative case study. Five applications were tested by eight participants. To enable authentic real life working environment and style for the participants and to gather research data remotely a remote multi-method was designed for data gathering of this re-search that included questionnaire-, written- and screen events video data. The main data analysis followed the procedures of qualitative content analysis. Usability of the five applications varied from very bad to excellent. Based on the overall usability, the applications that are most advisable for craft-design studies, from the five applications evaluated in this research are iWeaveIt and StitchSketch. Analysis of effects of application usage to participants' craft-design processes revealed three factors that promote changes: usability of the applications, new possibilities and limitations compared to traditional design methods and technical expertise of a designer. Reinterpretations and further development of ideas during the design process was observed in this research, while the participants were using the applications that were evaluated as good or excellent in terms of usability that contradicts with the findings of previous studies. The remote multi-method developed for this research fulfilled the main goals set for it. It gave the participants a possibility to work in their natural working environment without time or place limitations and it still produced rich attitudinal and behavioral data.

Objectives. In this research I was studying the usability of an electronic knitting machine (Brother KH-970) from a novice’s perspective. By using a novice for testing, it was possible to gain information about the basic functions of the knitting machine. One of the objectives of this research was to create a readable manual for the beginners to make it easier for them to get started with an electronic knitting machine. An overall picture of the usability of a product can be gained by observing several criterions of usability. In this research the focus was on the following criterion; the manual of an electronic knitting machine, ease of the use and the machine’s functionability. Some previous research of electronic knitting machines existed but none of them had yet focused on the usability of electronic knitting machines. Method. This research was made by using the method of action research. The material of the research was collected by reflecting an action. The researcher was acting also as a tester who collected the research material by writing reflections while exploring the electronic knitting machine (Brother KH-970). The material was theoretically analysed with a content analysis. For the analysis a model of usability by Keinonen was exploited. The model can be found in the categorization of the content analysis. This research is the first part of usability testing. Results and conclusions. The test results were given by comparing the categories and by evaluating those according to Keinonen’s model of usability. The two compared categories were desired effects and non-desired effects. The considered sections of these categories were: the manual, the ease of use and functionability. On base of the results, it can be said that the usability of this electronic knitting machine isn’t the best for a novice. Instructions-wise, the results are similar to the ones that have been received from earlier research. A novice wants more information concerning the reasons for the actions. A novice is, however, capable of using an electronic knitting machine and its functions. According to the results, the main hindering issues in the instructions are confusion of the directions and imperfection.

The research assignment of this development research is to design and develop useful 7th grade textile craft distance education course for distance school Kulkuri. Kulkuri provides distance education for Finnish children living abroad. The education follows Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education. Development process of the course was based on the ADDIE model. The course follows the curriculum for textile craft and the concept of learning outlined in the National Core Curriculum for Basic Education (2004). The course is based on the following pedagogical concepts: supporting human agency, engaged pedagogy, instructional scaffolding and game-based learning. The theory part discusses skill acquisition, distance education and textile craft as a basic school subject. Usefulness of the course was tested with usability evaluation methods. The design principles, structure, scope and objectives of the course were evaluated with heuristic evaluation in the early phases of the development process. Seven experts compared the first version of the course against heuristics created for the thesis. Evaluators were experts in distance education or textile craft or double experts in both fields. The feedback was given through electronic forms. The second, nearly completed version was tested with user testing by pupils of Kulkuri. Five abroad living Finnish pupils (aged 10 14) were given test tasks to perform in the course environment. Screen capture was used to follow the experimenters actions and their comments were recorded by Skype. The usability problems revealed by the evaluations were fixed and the usefulness of the course was further developed based on the evaluations. The usability evaluations indicated that the course was suitable for its purpose, its usability was good and the course implemented its design principles. 7th graders are able to learn craft skills through this course if they are motivated and enough teacher guidance is available. From the user point of view, the course was interesting and clear. The pedagogical concepts behind the course seemed to be functional and they could be applied broadly in designing craft education. In addition the development process with its evaluation methods could be used as an example for further studies in the fields of development and usability research. The course developed in this thesis is the first textile craft course for basic education implemented completely for distance education. It is mainly of benefit for the pupils of Kulkuri, but due to its openness it is also practical for independent studying or as a part of traditional classroom education.

The purpose of this study is to implement immersive virtual reality (VR) technology as part of an environmental studies project in the actual complex school reality and analyze both the students’ and their teachers’ experiences and observations on the use of VR in learning and teaching. This study focuses on the user experiences and affordances that the appliance of VR technology brings forth in education. There are but few earlier studies on similar topics, most of which have been conducted in clinical settings. Three teachers and 59 students, 5-6th graders, from two different Finnish elementary schools participated in this study. The participants were all volunteers and took part in a nationwide VISIOT-project, coordinated by a nationwide Innokas Network. Its main purpose was to provide opportunities for trying out and developing virtual reality, augmented reality and Internet of things -technologies in education. The three teachers in this study applied a VR system that consisted of HTC Vive -device and Google Earth VR -program. The different ways in which the teachers ended up implementing the VR system turned out to be an important research topic in this study. The project went on for over three months, spanning from December 2017 to April 2018. The students assessed the use of the VR system during and after the project. Their experiences became another key research area in this study. Data was gathered with online questionnaires, pre and post-surveys for students, a test of the students’ spatial reasoning abilities, and with a pre-survey and innovative post interviews for the teachers. This mostly qualitative data was analyzed with clustering content analysis, where I would find similarities and differences in the participants’ answers and place them in schematized categories. The teacher’s encountered technical, spatial and temporal challenges, as well as challenges in orchestrating the implementation of the VR system. It appeared that VR’s implementation in education demanded more innovative scripts and different spatial, temporal and pedagogical arrangements than the two studied schools were used to. Albeit, the students adapted to the use of VR technology rather quickly and had a very positive emotional experience with it. The VR system was mostly used as a motivational addition to learning. Besides the visually enhanced exploration of the Earth and tourist role-play, the VR system’s actualized affordances included enjoyment and interest, realism and mental immersion, and mastery experiences. Students found the device as very comfortable and the program as user-friendly. Their conception of virtual reality was evidently affected by the applied VR system and its uses during the virtual field trip project. Despite of this, the students were able to imagine diverse learning worlds for VR. In addition to typical categories, they imagined high fantasy worlds and time travelling to the future. By and large, the students appeared willing to use VR technology again in the future. Their post-survey measures for self-efficacy and interest to engage with the technology were relatively high. The self-reported self-efficacy of boys was statistically significantly higher than the girls corresponding. The students found the VR program to be a credible source mostly due to the virtual world’s realism or resemblance with their experiences of the real world. Altogether, VR technology appears to be something that these 11-12-year-old students would gladly include in their learning environment, on the other hand, the teachers rightfully felt that the implemented VR system was too complex and demanding for permanent inclusion.