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In this paper, we present a framework for the development of collaborative design games that can be employed in participatory design sessions with students for the design of educational applications. The framework is inspired by idea generation theory and the design games literature, and guides the development of board games which, through the use of adequate stimuli, rules and props, facilitate students in extracting and expressing their needs, desires and prospects regarding future educational software. To evaluate the proposed framework three studies were conducted. The first study aimed at the design of a web learning platform with the participation of 62 undergraduate higher education students in 13 design sessions; in the second study, a structured design approach was employed (12 sessions, 54 students) with the same design objective for comparison reasons; in the third study, the framework was deployed for the design of an electronic assessment application so as to examine its applicability in different learning domains (8 design sessions, 28 students). Students were very positive regarding both their participation and experience with the design games, and the needs elicited. The games favored a quick, broad exploration of the design space and facilitated the elicitation of numerous diverse needs and ideas, almost twice as many as produced by the structured approach. They also facilitated the creation of an informal atmosphere and limited the effects of common social influences on idea generation, such as social loafing, evaluation apprehension and production blocking. The three studies indicated that the proposed framework may simplify the development and employment of effective and efficient participatory design sessions in educational settings.

Following the increasing calls for a more skeptical analysis of web 2.0 and the empowerment of learners' voices in formulating upcoming technologies, this paper elaborates on the participatory design of a web learning environment. A total of 117 undergraduate students from two Greek Informatics Departments participated in 25 participatory design sessions, employing two needs' elicitation techniques, with the aim of envisioning a learning platform that meets their learning particularities and needs, incorporates and exploits their new technological habits, and can be harmoniously situated in their daily routine. Overall, 773 needs were elicited, proving that students had refined views about the elements that can render the next wave of e-learning applications successful. They convincingly demonstrated their web 2.0 mentality but sought for a smooth transition to the new environment, promoting an evolution rather than a revolution. The resulting set of needs demarcates a zone of expectancies where the enhancement of the learning content and the contextualization of knowledge remain top priorities with revamped opportunities, while networking, participation and collaboration complement and improve their characteristics. Our study is an example of exploiting participatory design for exposing students' thoughts and requirements from a critical design perspective.

In recent years, the discourse concerning the relationship between narrative theory - storytelling in general - interactivity, and design is undeniably noteworthy. A significant part of this discourse concerns the use of fictional characters in design. Fictional characters have been used as user representatives, either substituting actual users or supporting idea generation, and their foremost objective is to facilitate the identification of user needs and goals and to support the development of detailed and comprehensive scenarios. Motivated by the aforementioned ongoing discourse and inspired by relevant approaches in the use of fictional characters in design, we aim to investigate the applicability and effectiveness of their use as a creative technique in participatory design sessions. We present a novel approach to using fictional characters in collaborative design of educational software with students, one that asks the participants for the formation and use of their own fictional characters - we introduce the term ''design alter egos'' - as a means to eliciting requirements and design ideas. In order to evaluate our approach, we conducted 20 collaborative design sessions with the participation of 94 undergraduate university students (aged 19-24) for eliciting requirements for the design of an ideal course website. The analysis of the results suggests that the design alter egos technique liberated the majority of the students from the fear of straightforwardly exposing themselves, supported and enhanced their introspection, stimulated their creativity, and helped to establish an informal and constructive atmosphere throughout the design sessions. We suggest the use of design alter egos as an engaging and effective supportive technique for co-designing educational software with students.

In this paper, we identify key challenges faced by computer-based assessment (CBA) in secondary education and we put forward a framework of design considerations: design with the students and teachers, select the most appropriate media platform and plan an evolution rather than a revolution of prior practices. We present the CBA application ‘MyTest’ which was developed using the participatory methodology We!Design, with the collaboration of 31 students and teachers. The application is targeted for the Tablet PC platform, provides “digital ink” capabilities and supports both closed-type and open questions, facilitating the transfer of traditional assessment practices to CBA. Both students and teachers were excited about the design sessions, and they asserted that they would rely more on educational software designed using this approach. The comparison of the ‘MyTest’ application with an assessment application developed with the same participatory methodology and the involvement of 40 undergraduate students revealed dissimilar expectations and needs of high school and undergraduate students that are often disguised or misinterpreted. A pilot evaluation of the application in real learning conditions was conducted with 31 students using Tablet PCs and with 37 students using traditional PCs. Interestingly, the Tablet PC platform rendered the ‘MyTest’ application more useful and usable to the students, validating our claims.

In years past, many methodological approaches, methods and techniques have been implemented based on the belief that users can and should be involved in the design process of technology products that affect them. Inspired by the findings of research involving users and particularly students at diverse levels and phases of the design process of technology products, we have developed the We!Design methodology, a student-centered participatory design methodology that assigns students a primary role in the design process. We present the various phases of the We!Design methodology, examine the results of its application in four different design projects (a web-based e-assessment application for tertiary education, a course website, an e-Portfolio application, and a Tablet-PC-based e-assessment application for secondary education) and elaborate upon our overall experiences with the methodology during the past 3 years. Participant evaluations indicated that the We!Design methodology was an adequate means for successful elicitation of students’ needs and their application in educational software design.

The development of educational applications has always been a challenging and complex issue, mainly because of the complications imposed by the cognitive and psychological aspects of student–computer interactions. This article presents a methodology, named We!Design, that tries to encounter the complexity of educational applications development from within the participatory design framework. The methodology enables computer literate students and designers to cooperate in the design of applications that (1) enhance typical educational processes for which students have extensive experience in, such as note taking or assessment, and (2) are well-suited to the technological, social and cultural particularities of each educational environment. The methodology can be easily applied in real educational contexts and consists of two phases. During the first phase, students participate in short-duration design sessions where they formulate needs, tasks and interface prototypes for the educational application under examination. In the second phase, the designers systematically analyse and then integrate student suggestions. In order to evaluate the methodology, it was applied in the design of two educational applications: an electronic assessment environment and a course website. A total of 86 undergraduate informatics students participated in 22 4-hour design sessions. The methodology was evaluated by collecting students' responses through questionnaires and by introspection on the video recordings of the design sessions. The design sessions proved to be a very intriguing experience for the students while the methodology's products managed to respond to their personal needs and expectations in an efficient and effective way.