Learning from formative evaluation in use: a case study of mobile application for language learners

User centred design attempts to make as much reference as possible to the eventual end-users of a new piece of software. In the context of technology enhanced learning applications, learner-centred design is the relevant goal, and a plethora of methods and techniques have been used in order to probe learners’ behaviours and attitudes about proposed new functionality. However, the usability, acceptability and usefulness of some aspects of functionality are extremely difficult to gauge without extensive use of a working prototype. This paper describes the formative evaluation programme for a mobile knowledge sharing app and describes three perspectives on learners that were identified from evaluation in use, but that would not be visible in short term and/or lab-based evaluation