This study reports on the design of a digital educational tool for maker education, developed collaboratively by 29 coDesigners using an agile approach. The design was guided by a new model integrating procedural, methodological and conceptual directions from user experience (UX), coDesign and learning experience design (LXD). The model can help researchers and practitioners structure the process of educational technology design into phases and activities, distinguish key coDesign dimensions, map the tools and objects used in the process, clarify designer roles, identify critical incidents, and ensure alignment with LXD principles. It also emphasizes the often overlooked preparatory and reframing activities that precede or follow the main coDesign negotiations in the process. The findings recommend treating all design phases as equally significant and adopting a flexible iterative approach to address the evolving goals of complex, longitudinal projects. They also highlight the value of multidisciplinary and multicultural teams with equitable power distribution. Overall, this study provides a blueprint for coDesign initiatives aiming to advance learning through innovative educational technology design.

Researchers worldwide have extensively investigated the influence of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) on Mobile Instant Messaging applications, exploring aspects such as usability issues and user behaviour. However, traditional HCI challenges remain in these applications today (ie, usability issues and lack of specific usability guidelines). In this paper, we present a contextual and methodological contribution measuring user performance (with a controlled experiment on a set of structured tasks following a within-subjects design) and user behaviour (with a user satisfaction questionnaire) on Mobile Instant Messaging applications with end users. Most of the current studies on Mobile Instant Messaging are focused on only one application at a time and in a specific region of the world. This experiment originally measures over four apps: Three in-market apps (apps with good usability results, selected from previous studies) and one app developed following usability recommendations. In addition, this research originally adds to the current literature results with participants from two different countries. The results show, as practical implications, that the application of specific usability recommendations for Mobile Instant Messaging applications (eg, adding a new contact only with the ID, or providing a visual distinction between individual and group chats, among others) significantly facilitates user performance with these applications. However, further dissemination is needed among researchers and developers. The findings on user behaviour show that the number of close contacts using a particular Mobile Instant Messaging application strongly determines the user’s intention to continue using an application. And not the features offered or the acceptance of the user interface, as most current studies suggest.

In this design case we introduce Assessmake21, a digital self-assessment tool to foster self-reflection for learners’ 21st-century skills in K-12 formal and non-formal maker education. We report on the extraction of user requirements and corresponding UI features through a four-phase design process, led by a multidisciplinary team of 29 members from four European countries. Using a methodological UX process model and requirements taxonomy, the design team translated theory-driven and data-driven evidence - gathered through literature reviews, design thinking workshops, interviews, and expert feedback—into tool design specifications. Assessmake21 aims to promote scaffolded and sustained self-reflection through gamified features (level progression, content unlocking, rewards) and customizable learning design options (approach, duration), while integrating the educator’s role into the skills’ assessment process. This comprehensive end-to-end design case is a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners, offering a precedent for similar long-term, multi-stakeholder and multi-cultural incentives and advancing scholarship in learning experience design.

Aekaterini Mavri*a , Andri Ioannoua & Fernando Loizidesb a Cyprus Interaction Lab, Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprusb School of Computer Sciences & Informatics, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UKAekaterini Mavri is a PhD candidate and a full-time member of the special teaching staff at the Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts at the Cyprus University of Technology. Her research focusses on the role of cross-organizational Communities of Practice on learning in the Design and relevant fields in Higher Education.Andri Ioannou is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts and Head of the Cyprus Interaction Lab at the Cyprus University of Technology. She is also the Leader of the Interactive Media and Education/Edutainment research group at the Research Center on Interactive Media, Smart Systems and Emerging Technologies (RISE). In her work, she aims to understand the significant supportive and mediating role of technology in promoting learning, communication & collaboration, and social change in varied circumstances and contexts.Fernando Loizides is a Lecturer (Assistant Prof.) in Computer Science and Informatics at Cardiff University. Fernando’s main area of research lies in Information Interaction, HCI and Digital Libraries and Accessibility. He has a computer science background, which he combines with digital library research to investigate how systems can be enhanced by emerging technologies. He has extensive experience in user testing and project management, both within industry and academia.CONTACT Aekaterini Mavri [email protected] Cyprus Interaction Lab, Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts, Cyprus University of Technology, 30 Archbishop Kyprianou Str. 3036, Limassol, Cyprus.Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/hihc.ABSTRACTThis work investigates Communities of Practice (CoPs) that support social learning in higher education. While most CoP research has taken place in single-stream contexts (e.g. in a university), this study reports on the ecology of a cross-organizational community (university and industry stakeholders) in the context of the formal curriculum. The work examines the role of technology configurations in supporting CoPs in Design and related studies. It also reports on the type and level of technology adoption, focusing on the learner perspective. This study’s CoP is made up of 21 third-year university students and ten external stakeholders (mentors, clients and industrial experts). The study concludes with a set of guidelines for the design and evaluation of similar CoP technology configurations. Key guidelines suggest a) supporting enhanced awareness of identity, space and time, b) enabling roles and permissions on-demand according to the requirements of the activities carried out in shared spaces and c) facilitating fluid interoperability between the domain-specific and mainstream/generic productivity tools used by the community. The outcomes of this work can assist instructors, researchers and practitioners in the design of similar technology configurations for CoPs in the formal curricula of their respective Design or relevant fields.

Creativity, a primary academic objective, is crucial in higher education, as economic, informational, societal and environmental advancements rely on people’s ability to innovate. Creativity is widely investigated in its individualistic form, yet there is a notable dearth in work that studies its collective dimension, from a learning perspective.This study focuses on validating the psychometric properties of an existing instrument (ASCC), by measuring creative collaboration in blended learning settings. Two hundred and thirty-six under and post-graduate students self-evaluated their creative collaboration experiences, using the ASCC instrument. The findings of exploratory factor analysis denote a three-factor (21-item) structure, measuring ‘Synergistic Social Collaboration’, ‘Distributed Creativity’, and ‘Time Regulation and Achievement’, with good internal consistency.An instrument with valid psychometric properties for the assessment of creative collaboration is much-needed in the growing research and practitioners’ community. This is critical in the fields of Design, HCI, and Engineering, which rely extensively on the creative collaboration (online and offline) of teams to develop innovative products that are suitable for real-world purposes.

This work seeks to identify key features and characteristics for the design of icons that can support the tasks of information seekers in academic document triage interfaces. Such icons are meant to act as visual links to the specific elements or sections in an academic document. We suggest that icons in triage interfaces are better able to communicate information, provide feedback and enable faster user interactions than text, particularly in mobile-based interfaces. Through investigation of visualisation and perception processes, we are able to propose five primary icon categories, the two most dominant being iconic and symbolic: iconic representations mostly apply to graphically and spatially distinct document elements (i.e. Title, Abstract, Tables and Figures), externalising the elements’ surface propositions. Symbolic representations are largely associated with elements of greater semantic value (Introduction, Conclusion, Full text and Author), drawing upon the elements’ deep propositions.