Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT are increasingly used in education, but their general-purpose design limits support for conceptual learning. We present a study of a custom GPT, scaffolded with Bloom’s Taxonomy and framed as an educator, to examine how structured dialogue shapes learning. Using deceptive patterns as a test domain, 38 students compared the custom GPT with ChatGPT-4 and an expert-authored website. The custom GPT led to higher satisfaction, trust, and perceived learning than ChatGPT-4, though the website remained most trusted overall. Students valued structured guidance for deeper reflection but also found it demanding, and still relied on expert sources for credibility. Our contribution is threefold: we provide evidence on how these tools differ in shaping learning experiences; show how structured prompting and role framing act as pedagogical scaffolds; and propose design directions that combine scaffolding with source cues, adapt to learner needs, and complement teaching practices.

The current discourse presented by mainstream media towards industrial robots seems to focus on the negative aspects their introduction brings to the workforce. However, it is unclear whether industrial workers share this negative perspective regarding industrial robots. In this paper, we present the results of a survey study (N=94) investigating differences in perception towards industrial robots, depending on the presence or absence of exposure to them in the workplace. Our results show that while workers with robot experience acknowledge that robots can lead to job loss, they also show stronger beliefs in the robots ability to boost new job opportunities. Additionally, we found that first-hand experience with robots in the workplace can positively affect workers perceptions about their advantages. Overall, our findings show that, contrasting the bleak picture drawn by mainstream media, workers exposed to industrial robots developed a more nuanced view of this new technology in the workplace.

Digital personal assistants (DPAs) have recently grown in popularity because they are both a commercially available new technology and reasonably affordable to the average household. This opens opportunities for new ways to assist people in everyday activities in their homes through voice-interaction. Physical activity has significant health benefits, and yet globally, 1 in 4 adults are not active enough. To address this, we investigate the persuasive potential of DPAs in increasing people’s physical activity at home. We conducted a study with 48 participants to understand the effect of applying three of Fogg’s persuasive principles to the design of a DPA exercise programme: Suggestion, Virtual Reward, and Praise. Our findings show that DPAs have the potential, within their current technical and reactive capabilities, to persuade people to increase their physical activity at home, using Suggestion to encourage physical effort, Virtual Reward to encourage endurance, and Praise to create reassurance for beginners. Based on this, we offer three alternate perspectives for developing persuasive DPAs. We also discuss limitations of the study and suggest future research directions around using persuasion with DPAs.

Several smartwatch vendors have over the past years entered the market with a large range of devices that differ in the design qualities they offer. In this paper, we focus on design qualities that are either perceived, descriptive or physical, and we investigate which of them may lead people to prefer particular smartwatches over others. To do so we conducted a laboratory study with 93 potential smartwatch users and a trained panel study with 8 participants. Results were analysed through a multivariate statistical technique called Preference Mapping. The advantage of this technique is that it can relate a large number of design qualities to users’ preferences. Our findings show that participants can be divided into four groups with homogenous preferences, each emphasising a unique combination of design qualities. For example, some groups emphasised device shape, while others prioritised expensiveness for their preferred smartwatch. We conclude with implications of our work on practice and research.

An increasing number of technologies are battling for our attention constantly throughout the day. The majority of distractions come in the form of notifications from mobile instant messaging services, which under certain circumstances can make us feel overwhelmed and stressed. The goal of this paper is to add to the growing body of research that aims to find solutions and coping mechanisms for the problems associated with excessive notifications. Instead of focusing on software solutions on the mobile device itself, we explore the use of multisensory ambient information displays as notification delivery systems in the home context. Our goal was to use the attention periphery to create sufficient awareness of incoming messages without overwhelming the user. We conducted a three-part investigation that began with a laboratory study with 23 participants exploring initial impressions with notifications across a variety of sensory channels and modalities. Insights from this study were then used in a design workshop that helped us develop four different ambient notification prototypes. We present qualitative findings from a subsequent study in which seven participants used those devices for a period of four days in their homes. Finally, we compare the results of different notification modalities and provide implications for the design of ambient multisensory notifications in the home context.

In recent years, website aesthetics has received a fair amount of attention from the HCI community. This has led to the creation of a variety of multi-item questionnaires aimed at capturing users’ aesthetic judgments. Researchers have used these questionnaires in several HCI studies to investigate the relationship between aesthetics and other evaluative constructs such as usability. However, their usefulness as evaluation tools in visual design practice remains underexplored. Lengthy multi-item questionnaires can be particularly problematic especially in studies where participants must evaluate multiple designs or when they are required to give responses repeatedly in predefined time intervals. Despite the criticism, single-item scales have been used in many past studies in which questionnaire length could be problematic. Another alternative available to practitioners/researchers are short versions of standardised multi-item questionnaires that have been created for the aesthetic evaluations of websites. In this paper, we present a study in which we compare the performance of three such condensed aesthetic questionnaires (i.e. aesthetics scale, AttrakDiff, VisAWI) during a website redesign project. The short versions of those questionnaires were used by 187 users during an evaluation of 7 alternative website designs. The questionnaires were compared on performance criteria such as reliability, validity, and predictive ability. Data analysis showed that although AttrakDiff’s overall performance was better, a considerable amount of variance in aesthetic judgment could not be accounted for by any of the questionnaires.

When people interact with digital artefacts they perceive their pragmatic and hedonic qualities. In the case of interacting with mobile devices and applications, users seek utility as they try to satisfy certain needs, but at the same time they have certain feelings and emotions when, for example, they feel attached to their personal phone and/or trust its brand. Due to this strong relation between users and mobile devices a significant problem occurs when researchers want to evaluate the user experience of a mobile application in laboratory settings: the selection of an appropriate mobile device. Towards this end, this paper aims to unveil the effect of perceived hedonic quality of a mobile device on the user experience evaluation results of an application. Our results show that the perceived hedonic quality of a mobile device significantly affected the perceived pragmatic quality of the application, but not the hedonic one.