Evaluating usability, fun and learning in educational software for children

Abstract: This paper reports the findings of an investigation into the relationship between usability fun and learning in educational software designed for children. Twenty five children from an English primary school aged between 7 and 8 participated in the evaluation. A 3x3 Latin square experimental design methodology was adopted incorporating pre and post tests to measure the learning effect, observations to assess usability and fun along with a fun sorter to gauge the children’s perception. The conclusions highlight the importance of fun in educational software, the difficulties in designing experiments with children and the relationship between usability and fun