Critical appraisal of prototype

Through the testing of the prototype with the children it was realised that the pen was easy to use and appealing. Some of the children thought of the pen as a toy and that motivated them to try it out. However there was a mishap with one of the children that led to a damaged prototype due to frustration. This behaviour could be avoided with a little more supervision but it was tolerated for the purposes of the prototype testing.

The children interacted with the pen pretty well. Children easily understood what they had to do and what the next action was. In addition the messages of the pen were received with excitement. The LCD screen proved to be in the right position and it was easily read.

The pen was a bit heavier than what the children were used to but that did not make it uncomfortable to use. Moreover when the children spent a few minutes with the pen the weight was not an issue.

The functionality of the button of the pen was not as easy as expected. Some children had problems turning the pen on as they did not know that they needed to hold the button pressed for a few seconds. To remedy that it was decided that the pen would turn on and await a word with a single button press. Moreover a single button press at the middle of a spoken word resets the pen to word acceptance mode. The pen enters stand by mode if it is left unused for a period of time and after a longer period it shuts down completely.

The children seemed comfortable writing with the pen and they did not mind the thicker part in the centre of the pen. However they felt a bit uncomfortable in the part where the transition is made from the thin tip of the pen to the thick centre part. Therefore it was decided to design a smoother transition of thickness from tip to centre part.