The document presents a case study on usability testing of the Jolly Phonics app with children aged 3-6, highlighting their developmental stages and how these affect technology engagement. It emphasizes the importance of user testing with children, the challenges they face while interacting with apps, and the insights gained for improving design. Key lessons include the need for clear goals, organization, and making children feel valued during testing sessions.

1. 1
Usability Testing
with young children
UX Cambridge 2014
Case study
Monica Ferraro
@londrareale

2. 2
Monica Ferraro
User Experience Researcher
City University London
Playhows
UXPA UK Secretary
@londrareale
@playhows
@UXPAUK
About
me

3. • Children – who are they?
• Case study –
Jolly Phonics Letter
Sound App
• Lessons learned
• Importance of user
testing with children
• Resources
3
Overview

4. Children
–
Who
are
they?
4
They
are
users!

5. NO
li<le
adults…but
special
people!
5

6. 6
Children
-­‐
Who
are
they?
Jean Piaget
• Sensorimotor Stage: Birth – 2
• Preoperational Stage: Ages 2 – 6
• Concrete Operational Stage: Ages 7 – 11
• Formal Operational Stage: Ages 12 - Adult

7. 7
Children
-­‐
Who
are
they?
Sensorimotor Stage: Birth – 2 years
• Knowledge
of
world
is
limited
by
sensory
percepAons
and
motor
acAviAes,
simple
motor
responses
• Looking,
grasping,
sucking
• Towards
18-­‐24
months
children
begin
to
understand
the
world
through
mental
operaAons
rather
than
purely
through
acDons

8. 8
Children
-­‐
Who
are
they?
Preoperational Stage: 2 – 7 years
• Language
development
• Can’t
understand
logic,
cannot
mentally
manipulate
(much)
informaDon
• Difficulty
to
take
the
point
of
view
of
other
people
• Increased
play
and
pretending
“ConservaDon”

9. 9
Children
-­‐
Who
are
they?
Concrete Operational Stage: 7 – 11 years
• BeQer
understanding
of
mental
operaAons
• Begin
thinking
logically
about
concrete
events,
but
have
difficulty
understanding
abstract
or
hypotheAcal
concepts
• Youngest
have
difficulDes
to
think
aloud

10. 10
Children
-­‐
Who
are
they?
Formal Operational Stage: 12 - adults
• Develop
the
ability
to
think
about
abstract
concepts
• Develop
skills
such
as
logical
thought,
deducAve
reasoning,
and
systemaAc
planning
• Confortable
on
carrying
out
tasks
• Can
be
more
technologically
savvy
than
most
adults

11. 11
Case
Study

12. 12
Phonics

13. 13
Le<er
sounds
and
digraphs
• 42
le<er
sounds
• Diagraphs:
combinaDon
of
leQers

14. 14
User
tesAng
goals
• Understand
how
children
of
different
age
(3
-­‐
6
years
old)
engage
with
the
app
• Find
any
key
difficulAes
experienced
• Find
key
areas
for
improvement
• What
parts
are
confusing?
• What
parts
do
children
like?
• Where
are
the
bugs?

15. 15
ParAcipants
Recruitment

16. October 2013
16
How
many
parAcipants
1
child
aged
4
a<ending
Nursery
2
children
aged
4
a<ending
RecepAon
2
children
aged
5
a<ending
RecepAon
2
children
aged
6
a<ending
Year
1

17. 17
How
many
parAcipants
March 2014
1
child
aged
3
a<ending
Nursery
1
child
aged
4
a<ending
Nursery
1
child
aged
4
a<ending
RecepAon
1
child
aged
5
a<ending
RecepAon

18. 18
Ethics
-­‐
DBS
http://www.gov.uk/disclosure-barring-service-check/overview

19. 19
Ethics
–
InformaAon
sheet

20. 20
Ethics
–
Consent
form

21. 21
Se]ngs

22. 22
Se]ngs

23. 23
Se]ngs
“…Kids say the darndest things:
they just need to be confortable enough
to open up!”
- Bill Cosby

24. 24
Se]ngs
• Introduce yourself
“…Hi! I’m Monica and this is Alex…”
• Breaking the ice
• Give them importance
“…we have designed a new game to learn the
letters and we need your help to understand if it
works or not…would you like to help us please?...”
“…but remember…the design is till “top secret”!...”

25. 25
What
they
tested
No scenarios
No specific task
YES user journey
YES observation!

26. 26
What
they
tested
DISCUSSION
PANEL
ON
USABILITY
TESTING
Rolf
Molich
Steve
Krug
David
Travis
Jakob
Biesterfeldt

27. 27
What
they
tested

28. 28
What
they
tested

29. 29
What
they
tested
Colouring
page

30. 30
What
they
tested
Sounding
page

31. 31
What
they
tested
Blending
page

32. 32
What
they
tested
SegmenAng
page

33. 33
What
they
tested

34. 34
What
they
tested
Observation – behavior
• signs
of
engagement:
smiles,
laughs
or
leaning
forward
to
try
things
• signs
of
disengagement:
frowns,
sighs,
yawns,
or
turning
away
from
the
computer

35. 35
What
they
tested
Post task questionnaire
• Did
you
like
the
app?
• What
did
you
like
the
most?
• What
you
didn’t
like?
• Did
you
have
any
surprise?
• What
is
easy
or
difficult?
• Why?

36. 36
A<enAon
span
“We
need
to
keep
trying
this
for
5
more
minutes…
then
we
can
try
something
different.”
“…let’s
go
and
see
the
next
page…maybe
there
is
something
new…maybe
a
surprise!”
“Now
I
need
you
to…”
“Let’s
do
this…”

37. 37
IncenAves

38. 38
IncenAves

39. 39
Lessons
learned
• Have clear goals in mind
• Be organised
• Be open minded!
• Make the children feel important
• Thank and reward the children
• Thank and reward the school
• Keep in touch with the children, school and
parents for future collaborations
• Better testing with only the children and
no parents or teacher around

40. 40
Why
tesAng
with
children
• Brutally honest!
• Can feel empowered
(adults want to listen to them)
• Know more
• Look at things differently
• Adults are experts in their own field –
Children are expert in being children!!!

41. 41
Why
tesAng
with
children
“Whatever you’ve designed, you
absolutely have to test with children because
They’ll use it in ways you never expected.”
- Jackie Wolf of Ann Arbor, Mich.
What Can Experience Designers Learn from Kids? UX MAGAZINE

42. 42
Why
it
is
important
• Educators
• More usable technologies for teaching
• Parents
• Better technologies for informal learning
• Children
• Technologies that they want to use,
rather ignore or be frustrated by them

43. 43
Resources

44. 44
Resources
Design
for
Kids

45. 45
Resources

46. Thank you!
Questions?
46
@londrareale