Project SHINE: Evaluating Mobile Based Learning Resources for Novice Tutors

The Students Helping in Naturalization of Elders (SHINE) Project in Honolulu is part of a national service-learning initiative that helps elderly immigrants pass the naturalization examination for U.S. citizenship. Volunteers commit to ten weeks of service and receive only two hours of orientation and training before they begin working with elders. Eugenia Wang’s 2011 needs analysis indicated a gap in tutor preparation when participants said that they would be willing to take on additional training in basic lesson planning, instruction on general to specific topics, the naturalization process, immigration law, and teaching English to different level learners (Wang 2011) to feel more prepared.

The purpose of this usability study is to examine the ease of use of a website designed to provide tutoring resources for Project SHINE volunteers on their mobile devices. Participants in this study were UH Mānoa students who belong to student clubs and organizations with stated missions of learning through community service. Participants performed a series of tasks based on a usability protocol. Participants used a smartphone fitted with a wireless camera that allowed the researcher to record audio and monitor both the on-screen activity and gestures of the user. The design of this usability study aimed to provide participants with an authentic or as close to real-world mobile user experience as possible and allowed the testing to be conducted at any location.