Evaluation of the Usability of DEDOS-Editor

Abstract

This paper discusses the results of a study on the usability of DEDOS-Editor, a tool created by the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC) and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM). The first version of this tool was funded by Down Syndrome Foundation from Madrid. DEDOS-Editor is an educational tool that teachers utilize to create activities for students. The activities are meant to be collaborative, and presented on a touchscreen (ideally a touchscreen table). The goal of the study was to evaluate whether a user can easily create collaborative activities using DEDOS-Editor. The testing, which was comprised of 23 students studying either primary education or pre-elementary education, at URJC, required the participants to create activities using DEDOS-Editor. Prior to starting, the participants were thoroughly taught how DEDOS-Editor works, and then were asked to re-create seven activities, which they were shown from the students¿ view. This allowed us to check whether, if given the students¿ view of the activity, it would be easy or not for teachers to design these collaborative activities and to distinguish between individual and common elements. Their actions were observed and recorded, and at the end of the session, each completed a post-testing questionnaire. From this data, we have discerned that there are four potential issues that impede upon the usability of DEDOS-Editor. These issues are: the misuse of images cards; the understanding of the pin function; the understanding of creating global functionality; and confusion about the zones. The details and results of the study are presented in the following document.