User-Centred Design and Usability Evaluation of a Mobile Learning Application Prototype for Higher Education

Abstract

This study investigated how undergraduate students’ needs informed a mobile learning application prototype and how students experienced its interface during usability testing. The study was conducted in three stages at Zamfara State University, Talata-Mafara, Nigeria. First, a questionnaire completed by 100 undergraduates and semi-structured interviews with selected students examined smartphone use, preferred learning features, and contextual constraints. These findings informed a high-fidelity prototype developed according to the human-centred design principles of ISO 9241-210. In the third stage, ten undergraduates completed tasks using the prototype. Usability was assessed through task completion, completion time, observed errors, the System Usability Scale (SUS), and post-test interviews. The needs assessment found that students used smartphones to search for information and read course materials. However, learning was constrained by materials distributed across platforms, unstable internet connectivity, data costs, and device limitations. During testing, participants completed 86 of 90 task attempts successfully (95.6%). Mean task completion time was 60.5 seconds, and the mean SUS score was 84.0/100, indicating strong perceived usability. Interviews identified opportunities to improve material findability, access to discussions, download controls, and interface visibility. Overall, the results demonstrate the value of linking user research to task-based evaluation when designing mobile learning interfaces. The prototype showed promising usability under test conditions, while feedback highlighted targeted refinements for subsequent iterative development. Because testing involved a small sample at one institution and assessed a prototype rather than a deployed application, these findings provide formative evidence only. They do not establish long-term learning impact or representativeness of undergraduates nationally.