EVALUATING THE USABILITY AND PATTERNS OF INTERACTIONS FOR ENHANCED TECHNOLOGY ASSISTED PROBLEM SOLVING (TAPS) PACKAGE

Abstract

Engineering Mechanics Dynamics course is known as one of the challenging course for the mechanical engineering students. This course is built upon the strong fundamental knowledge in physics and mathematics. This course requires the students to have a strong abstract thinking, reasoning and problem solving skills. In response to the new paradigm shift in engineering education that emphasizes on the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to facilitate the teaching and learning for tertiary education, there have been numerous studies that proposed the solutions utilizing the Computer Aided Learning (CAL) platform. The usability of the CAL software to facilitate the learning of the students need further investigation empirically. In this research, a technology assisted problem solving (TAPS) package which is a branch of CAL was enhanced with twenty five patterns of interactions and tested on the mechanical engineering students from Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN). This research study identified the students learning preferences using the Honey and Munford’s Learning Styles Questionnaire and the Ogden’s Personality and Learning Styles Questionnaire. The research study further investigated the usability of enhanced multimedia TAPS package embedded with 25 proposed patterns of interactions. Through the usability testing, two of the usability evaluation instruments, System Usability Scale (SUS) and Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire (PSSUQ) were employed. The usability testing results indicated consistent feedbacks on the good usability achievement level for the enhanced multimedia TAPS package. The proposed 25 patterns of interactions embedded in the enhanced multimedia TAPS package was grouped statistically through the exploratory factor analysis method into five main categories. Multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis was performed to evaluate the five categories of interaction patterns. The empirical result revealed that four out of five categories of the interaction patterns are positively associated with engineering problem solving tasks. This study supports the use of enhanced multimedia TAPS package embedded with patterns of interactions to facilitate the engineering students especially to enhance the problem solving skills in the context of mechanics dynamics that build up a strong foundation further in mechanical design and its application in daily life.