Designing New learning Environments for Music - Implementing the MobiKid experience

Abstract

In 2006-2008 a mobile software application MobiKid for children aged 3-6 was developed to allow children to sing, record and listen to the songs independently at home. They could even forward the recorded songs to be downloaded from a server by their teacher and relatives. With not yet completed user interface (UI) features the program offered children a motivating context for singing and musical creativity. The child-centered MobiKid UI was developed collaboratively by different experts of music education and software engineering. MobiKid pilot study was expected to reflect the preliminary requirements for child-centered software and usability features for further development among informal music making and learning. On 2009 additional usability evaluations were carried out to learn about how to improve the application usability from the viewpoint young children aged 5-6. In the present study we explore the background of the earlier MobiKid, and discuss on its design and testing procedure in order to understand the early experiences on the pilot study. Afterwards, we examine the usability of the MobiKid application from the viewpoint of young children as to be implemented on developing additional applications for the future JamMo (jamming mobile) product .