Department of Information Technology

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://erepository.kibu.ac.ke/handle/123456789/187

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Browsing Department of Information Technology by Subject "application software"

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    Discoverability a new learnability principle for children’s application software
    (International Journal of Computer Science & Information Technology, 2016) Okelo, Bethuel Kipchirchir; Mbuguah, Samuel Mungai
    For more than two decades children’s use of multimedia was restricted to watching television and listening to music. Although some parents complained about children being addicted to listening to music the idea that children could be addicted to television was a real concern to most parents. Nowadays parents not only need to be concerned about how much television their kids are watching, but also many other forms of media that are emerging with the fast development in information and technology such as the internet, video games, tablets and smart phones. From this the researcher came to realize that children are increasingly becoming the consumers of application software facilitated by these information systems. Children spend at least three hours according to research on these media which includes the use of computers, tablets, smartphones and music. The researcher was concerned that system vendors use the same learnability principles to make applications for all age groups based on learnability principles that were designed with adult users in mind. Many interface design principles used for adult products cannot be applied to products meant for children and further yet children at different ages learn differently. The research looked at the existing learnability principles by trying to evaluate them and come up with new principle(s) that can be used to further improve the current principles so that they can be used effectively by information system designers to improve on the learnability of their application software meant for children of different age groups.
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    Evaluation of the learnability principles of mobile-wireless information systems’ application software for children in Kenya
    (Journal of Emerging Trends in Computing and Information Sciences, 2015) Okelo, Bethuel Kipchirchir; Mbuguah, Samuel Mungai; Karume, Simon Maina
    Mobile-wireless gadgets are becoming increasingly important in Kenya not just as a medium of social communication, but also as a medium of learning and instruction. This shift partly exploits the learnability principle in information technology, which signifies how quickly a new user can begin efficient and error-free interaction with a system. The learnability principle was originally formulated for computer-based applications intended for adults, but currently children are increasingly becoming the end users. A gap exists in research on the effects of learnability on school-aged children in urban areas of Kenya. Against this backdrop, this study aimed at gathering information on the learnability characteristics of children of different age groups. The research further explored the degree to which the mobile-wireless information systems’ applications software learnability principles are applicable to children in Kenya. The study site was Nairobi and the research participants were children ranging between the ages of 8 to 19 years. Data collection involved questionnaires and the use of tests. The research was in the form of an experiment to evaluate certain factors that affect learnability in relation to the age of the participants and their level of computer experience. The research data was recorded and analyzed by Morae, a learnability software. Major findings indicate that children between the ages of 8 and 14 years require engageability to improve their learning by using new application software, this does not mean that other users of a different age do not require this principle but the degree to which it affects them is different. As for the older kids 15 to 19 years, the findings indicated that they strongly require discoverability to improve their learnability of new application software, this does not mean that adults or children of different ages do not require this given principle but to say the degree to which it affects them varies.