Measuring usability of educational computer games based on the user success rate

Abstract

Children learn through play [1]. According to Crawford [2] educational game is the children's first contact with the computer. Therefore, it is important that the computer games for children are well designed and usable. Usability testing can also be adopted to assess learner's motivation towards learning. Assessing the usability with children requires special consideration. Children must be allowed to play freely and expressed their opinion while being observed. This study explores the measuring consideration for the usability of an educational game called Jelajah. Jelajah, was designed to teach pre-schools children to learn the Malay words and was developed based on a solid research on educational approaches. Five pre-school children were selected for this study. During the usability testing session, children are observed and their behaviors are recorded in an observation checklist. The session was video-taped for further observation. A post test was administered after the session to seek the children's satisfaction in using the game for learning. Data collected were quantitative and qualitative data. Data were later quantified to measure the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction towards the software. Based on the analysis, children showed interest and were highly motivated to learn when using educational game for learning.