From Design to Use - Factors of Value Creation in the Usability and Implementation of Digital Learning Technology

Abstract

Learning and teaching with digital technology in classrooms has provided both challenges and opportunities for education providers and teachers for decades. Research on technology integration in education has identified several barriers to technology use that influence teachers’ technology integration. These barriers include both technology related barriers and human factors that hinder or prevent the use of technology in teaching and learning. Furthermore, lack of understanding about the complexities of educational use contexts among the designers of learning technologies can render some offered technological solutions unsuitable for educational use. Moreover, the use of digital technologies in education is not necessarily universally accepted or supported by all teachers and many teachers remain hesitant to use technology with their students. The need for this research stems from two observations made while conducting technical evaluations and user testing on digital learning technologies. Firstly, usability evaluations revealed that the assessed learning technologies contained critical usability issues that hinder their use for teaching and learning purposes. Secondly user testing with teachers showed that there also remain human level barriers (e.g. attitudes and beliefs about technology and own capabilities) that prevent the use of digital technologies for teaching and learning purposes. This thesis addresses both sides by creating a theoretical model that aims to bridge the gap between design and use of learning technologies. On the one hand to provide teachers and students with technology that has been designed to suit their needs and use contexts, and on the other hand to support teachers in finding the courage to use technology and creating digitally oriented and meaningful learning activities for their students. The results of this research provide theoretically rich and practice-based model that benefit both the design and evaluation of learning technology. Firstly, the results can be used to evaluate and design technological solutions that address the needs of educational use contexts. Secondly the results can also be applied and used in the efforts to provide all teachers with the necessary support for using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) with their students, which ultimately benefits the students by equipping them with the skills they need to successfully navigate the digital environments they face now and in the future. This work also calls for practical long-term applications of the theoretical model from the early stages of development to the implementation and use of the designed technologies. Keywords: Usability, Teachers, User Support, Learning Technology Design