Usability of the PAL objectives dashboard for children’s diabetes self-management education

Children will only benefit from educational technologies and e-coaches when they understand the long-term consequences and are (intrinsically) motivated to use these support systems. This paper presents an Objective Dashboard that integrates educational achievements, goals and tasks with gamification features (such as challenges, scores and rewards) to advance the interests and engagements of children with type 1 diabetes when using the Personal Assistant for a healthy Lifestyle (PAL) system. By linking in-app activities (e.g., play a quiz or keep a diary) to relevant educational achievements, and to skills and knowledge required in daily life, we aim to increase intrinsic motivation and thereby usage. We designed a dashboard displaying personalised achievements, learning goals and tasks in the domain of diabetes self-management education. We used common user interface design patterns such as layering, colouring, and iconic presentation to organise complex information and reinforce the relations between concepts. Subsequently, we conducted a usability evaluation with twelve children, on the basis of which we refined our design. We found that, colouring and layering were to some extent effective, however, iconic representations were insufficient. Therefore, we recommend to provide short, descriptive labels at any time.