Projects
Mobile Device Learnability for Older Adults
How can the learnability of mobile device applications be improved for older adults?
Many older adults who want to use mobile technologies reportedly have difficultly learning to use them. The goal of my PhD thesis work was to investigate three promising design approaches to determine whether each can improve the learnability of mobile devices for older adults. We involved both older and younger adults in our studies to uncover benefits unique to older adults.
We investigated the following three design approaches:
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Increasing the interpretability of graphical icons
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Incorporating a multi-layered interface
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Augmenting the mobile device’s display
Publications
Leung, R. (2011). Improving the learnability of mobile devices for older adults (Doctoral dissertation). University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
NEW Leung, R., Tang, C., Haddad, S., Mcgrenere, j., Graf, P., and Ingriany, V. (2012). How older adults learn to use mobile devices: Survey and field investigations. ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing, 4(3), Article 11, 33 pages. doi
Leung, R., Findlater, L., McGrenere, J., Graf, P., and Yang, J. (2010). Multi-layered interfaces to improve older adults’ initial learnability of mobile applications. TACCESS, 3(1), Article 1, 30 pages. doi
Leung, R., McGrenere, J., and Graf, P. (2009). Age-related differences in the initial usability of mobile device icons. Behaviour & Information Technology, 30(5), pages 629-642. DOI
Leung, R. (2009). Improving the learnability of mobile device applications for older adults. Proceedings of CHI’09 extended abstracts.
Leung, R., McGrenere, J., and Graf, P. (2008). The learnability of mobile application interfaces needs improvement. British HCI Workshop on HCI and the Older Population.
Allen, M., Leung, R., McGrenere, J., and Purves, B. (2008). Involving domain experts in assistive technology research. Universal Access in the Information Society (UAIS) Journal.