Financial Readiness for Learning (FR-PAL) Summative Usability Test Results Report

2018; Murphy, Jennifer

The Financial Readiness-Personal Assistant for Learning (FR-PAL), Sen$e, is a native mobile application designed to support service members and their families with financial readiness information using micro-learning, gamification, and other motivational techniques to cultivate life-long learning. The usability and effectiveness of Sen$e was evaluated using active military service members. Eight current service members completed usability testing to determine the extent to which user expectations of the application structure, content, interfaces, and functionality were met. This usability evaluation identified benefits of the interface and overall application as well as potential design concerns and areas for enhancement. Benefits included the clean, intuitive, and simple design and display of information. There were some concerns with respect to navigation and content organization within the system. Twenty-seven service members completed the effectiveness evaluation where knowledge gained from the application was assessed. Participant feedback was collected through semi-structured interviews. Results from this summative evaluation are presented for usability, user experience, user satisfaction, and application effectiveness. Recommendations for future design and development of the Sen$e application are provided with the intent of improving the ser experience and usability of the application.

Contract: W911QY-16-C-0163