AnswerPro: Designing to Motivate Interaction

AlSugair, Balsam; Hopkins, Gail; FitzGerald, Elizabeth and Brailsford, Tim (2013). AnswerPro: Designing to Motivate Interaction. In: Proceedings of the 12th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning (mLearn2013), 21-24 Oct 2013, Doha, Qatar.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5339/qproc.2013.mlearn.12

URL: http://www.qscience.com/toc/qproc/2013/3

Abstract

This paper describes the design and initial testing of AnswerPro, a mobile academic peer support system for UK Key Stage 3 and 4 pupils (11-16 year olds). AnswerPro is a web application that enables pupils to seek support from their knowledgeable peers on various subjects. This paper correlates the findings from a previous requirements-gathering exercise, and from research into academic motivation, to propose design elements embedded within AnswerPro. A pilot study was conducted with 7 school pupils over 3 weeks. Participants then engaged in a focus group which discussed their experience using AnswerPro and the motivational elements embedded within it. Findings from their use of AnswerPro, and from the subsequent discussion, highlighted some problems with the embedded motivational features. As a result, suggestions for potential solutions and their merits are proposed for the next version of AnswerPro.