Children, computer and creativity [Elektronische Ressource] : usability guidelines for designing a game authoring tool for children / Maizatul Hayati Mohamad Yatim

Yatim

Sujets

• Wissenschaft

Informations

• Publié par: otto-von-guericke-universitat_magdeburg
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 55
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

Extrait

OTTO-VON-GUERICKE UNIVERSITY MAGDEBURG









FACULTY OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
DEPARTMENT OF SIMULATION AND GRAPHICS







C H I L D R E N , C O M P U T E R A N D C R E A T I V I T Y :
USABILITY GUIDELINES FOR DESIGNING
A GAME AUTHORING TOOL FOR CHILDREN








MAIZATUL HAYATI BINTI MOHAMAD YATI M





C H I L D R E N , C O M P U T E R A N D C R E A T I V I T Y :
U S A B I L I T Y G U I D E L I N E S F O R D E S I G N I N G
A G A M E A U T H O R I N G T O O L F O R C H I L D R E N





DISSERTATION




f o r t h e a c q u i s i t i o n o f t h e a c a d e m i c d e g r e e



Doktoringenieur (Dr. –Ing.)



i s s u e b y t h e F a c u l t y o f C o m p u t e r S c i e n c e
O t t o - v o n - G u e r i c k e U n i v e r s i t y M a g d e b u r g
t o



M . S c . ( I T ) M a i z a t u l H a y a t i B i n t i M o h a m a d Y a t i m
b o r n o n 1 J a n u a r y 1 9 7 4 i n P e r a k , M a l a y s i a



S u p e r v i s i o n E x a m i n e r s :
J u n . P r o f . D r . R a i m u n d D a c h s e l t
P r o f . D r . M a i c M a s u c h
P r o f . D r . W o l f g a n g B r o l l


P l a c e a n d d a t e o f g r a d u a t i o n c o l l o q u i u m :
M a g d e b u r g , 1 2 O c t o b e r 2 0 0 9



C H I L D R E N , C O M P U T E R A N D C R E A T I V I T Y :
U S A B I L I T Y G U I D E L I N E S F O R D E S I G N I N G
A G A M E A U T H O R I N G T O O L F O R C H I L D R E N





DISSERTATION




z u r E r l a n g u n g d e s a k a d e m i s c h e n G r a d e s



Doktoringenieur (Dr. –Ing.)



a n g e n o m m e n d u r c h d i e F a k u l t ä t f ü r I n f o r m a t i k
d e r O t t o - v o n - G u e r i c k e - U n i v e r s i t ä t M a g d e b u r g
v o n



M . S c . ( I T ) M a i z a t u l H a y a t i B i n t i M o h a m a d Y a t i m
G e b o r e n a m 1 . J a n u a r 1 9 7 4 i n P e r a k , M a l a y s i a



G u t a c h t e r :
J u n . P r o f . D r . R a i m u n d D a c h s e l t
P r o f . D r . M a i c M a s u c h
P r o f . D r . W o l f g a n g B r o l l


O r t u n d D a t u m d e s P r o m o t i o n s k o l l o q u i u m s :
M a g d e b u r g , 1 2 O c t o b e r 2 0 0 9





























Copyright ? 2009 Maizatul Hayati Binti Mohamad Yatim








The best way to predict the future is to inAvleant Kiat…y
Illustration of children using the Dynabook origdi nfartoem Kay’s paper [Kay72].

























Special thanks to my parents to whom I dedicawtoe rkth.i s
Mohamad Bin Mat Diah & Hamidah Binti Mohd Nor
Mohamad Yatim Bin Tajid & Rogay@ah Kamariah Binti Ahmad
Haji Fisal Bin Haji Othman & Hajah Che Bebi Bintaij i HSulong
Abstract

The thesis is based on implementing a child-centerdeds ign approach in the creation of a
game authoring tool for children to be used clina ssrtheo om as one of their learning tools.
Indeed, research in designing such educational soafre twis primarily focused on the learning
outcomes, but not on the usability. However, the iluitsay bof such software for children is a
prerequisite for any learning to be useful afnicda snigtn. i The thesis purposes with a belief
that substantial improvements can be made by praefyiunlg acattention to usability during
the design of the game authoring tool. Unlikel athte d rae pproaches, the scope of research
focuses on the game authoring tool which emphasiztehs e onde sign of the game authoring
tool and concentrates on the flexibility ofr athcet ioinnt eand construction activity in making
games. This research methods started by investiga wtinogrks from other researchers
including comparing the usability guidelines used in thoer fields and exploring the existing
educational programming tools for children. Thein gfs ienxdposed the possibility of
planning and designing guidelines for usabilit y liamintad tions or problems faced in these
tools. The outcomes were also used to guide the frirastf dt of usability guidelines. To
demonstrate and validate these guidelines, a nparelriym istudy was conducted. The study
consists of two user studies conducted in two diffe rleonctations with the goal, to get as
much information as possible in childrens’ prefearencd ens eeds based on the usage of two
given software. Informed by these results, thyep ep roftot a game authoring tool named
Gatelock was designed. There, design features were d u–se game programming, game
designing and game playing. In game programm invgi,su tahel programming method is
being carried out. The method is being implementend ai variety of application software for
children, especially in the field of interacigtino n fdeosr children. In game design, children
use the basic elements of game design in their gakmineg ,m iancluding planning the games,
designing, building, gameplay testing, and re-desi gnI.n game playing, the children can
participate in the design processes with learntinergi aml aand they can incorporate elements
of various lessons such as physics, mathematics, saciennd cedrawing. Throughout the
design and development of Gatelock, formative mamnad tsiuve evaluations were conducted
to examine the usability and fun aspects of. GThais tetlhoecsis kis a contribution to the
scientific domains of child-centered design. It droan wids eas and techniques from the fields
of children and interaction design, usability studay, mge design, as well as evaluating
software for children. With respect to game nde sicghni ldaren, the main contribution of
the thesis can be specified as product-based and p-rboacesssed. Product-based contributions
include a prototype (Gatelock) which has a u noiqfu e fseetatures due to its child-centered
design, and a list of usability guidelines for desig nain ggame authoring tool for children.
Process-based contributions include a preliminaryy stoufd creating a new game authoring
tool with usability as the first objective, as wmelpl iraicas el evidences characterizing the
preliminary study with results made by childrenrm, aftoive and summative studies which
demonstrate the usability of the game autho,r ienmg ptioroiclal evidences on the usefulness
of methods, tools and techniques used for the evinag luparotcess with children, and a list of
usability guidelines for designing a game authoorionlg ftor children. This thesis also
presents the results of the research with the preosenfc e usability guidelines. At the end,
both, the game authoring tool and the usabiliteyl ingeus idare iteratively involved in the
design refinement.

Zusammenfassung

Diese Doktorarbeit setzt einen auf Kinder ausgtetreicnh Design-Ansatz bei der
Entwicklung eines Spiele-Autorenwerkzeuges für Kinde rum, wobei das Autorenwerkzeug
als ein mögliches Lerninstrument in Schulklassen gteznt uwerden soll. Bisher ist die
Forschung bei der Entwicklung solcher Lernsoftware Wiemse ntlichen auf die
Lernergebnisse ausgerichtet, jedoch nicht auf dien utzBerefreundlichkeit. Die
Benutzerfreundlichkeit von Software für Kindeedro cihst dije Voraussetzung für sinnvolles
und nachhaltiges Lernen. In der Doktorarbeit wired Üdiberzeugung vertreten, dass durch
die sorgfältige Beachtung der Benutzerfreundlic hwkäehitrend der Entwicklung eines für
Spiele vorgesehenen Autorenwerkzeuges wesentliche Verbesserungen erzielt werden
können. Im Gegensatz zu ähnlichen Ansätzen konzeretn trsicih der Schwerpunkt dieser
Forschung auf das Design des Autorenwerkzeuges und aduief F lexibilität der Interaktions-
und Erstellungsabläufe bei der Entwicklung von enSp.i elDie vorliegende Arbeit widmet
sich zunächst der Betrachtung von existierenden Forscnhgusarbeiten, der Untersuchung von
vergleichbaren, in anderen Bereichen verwendeten biUlisaty Guidelines sowie der
Untersuchung existierender pädagogischer Programmierwerkzeuge für Kinder. Diese
Analyse erlaubte die Identifikation von Mögliecnh,k eRiitchtlinien für benutzerfreundliche
Software zu entwerfen und Einschränkungen bzw.e mPer,o bdlie bei diesen Werkzeugen
festgestellt wurden, zu beheben. Die Analyseergebn ikssoennten ebenfalls dazu genutzt
werden, eine erste Fassung der eigenen Usability Geulindes zu erstellen. Zur
Veranschaulichung und Validierung dieser Richtlinien wurde eine Vorstudie durchgeführt.
Diese setzt sich aus zwei, in verschiedenen Länderdnu rchgeführten, Benutzerstudien
zusammen, die unter Nutzung zweier existierender Stowfare-Werkzeuge darauf abzielten,
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