Usability Comparison of Pen-Based Input for Young Children on Mobile Devices

This research implements a system, primarily focusing on examining young children's capability of pen-based input on mobile devices, to compare accuracy of pointing-and-clicking and dragging-and- dropping dots with different sizes, locations, and spreads. Although traditional e-learning systems use a mouse as input device, the trend of the mobile learning bring the devices for mobile learning into classroom, such as tablet PC and PDA (personal digital assistant). Because the conventional input devices, that are a mouse and a keyboard, is replaced with a touch screen or pen-based input device, understanding young children's capability on those novel input device, which is originally designed for an adult, is crucial for designing interface for kids on mobile devices. Two experiments of point-and-click and drag-and-drop were conducted to compare speed and error rate for children on tablet PC and PDA. The results show that children's capability of drag-and-drop by using a pen- based input is significantly worse than using a mouse. However, most children can precisely point-and-click any object larger than the width and height of 0.3 centimeter on both tablet PC and PDA. The overall usability of PDA is better than the tablet PC for young children in the experimental settings. Consequently, using pen-based input, even in a small screen size, with proper interface design could be a feasible method for young children in a mobile learning activity.