Nanomedicine Explorer Interactive Multimedia Kiosk Formative Evaluation

Major Findings

Based on the observations and the responses from the surveys, the three main findings about the Nanomedicine Explorer kiosk were the following: 1. The visitors were most attracted to the intro animation and games on the Nanomedicine Explorer, and they spent the most time learning about cancer and the new technologies and playing the games. 2. Visitors found the Nanomedicine Explorer appealing and highly usable. 3. Visitors felt they learned a lot from the Nanomedicine Explorer kiosk especially about the technologies discussed in the exhibit.

Changes that the NISE Net team made based on evaluation findings

This evaluation report studies Version 1.0 of the Nanomedicine Explorer kiosk. Version 1.2, which was released in June 2009, incorporates improvements that address the recommendations of this report. Changes made include the following: 1. Audio is now available in both English and Spanish. 2. Subtitles are now present. 3. A new video tutorial component is included entitled "What is Nanomedicine?" 4. Games have been developed further to make them more challenging and more closely linked to content, with enhanced graphics. 5. "Text yourself a link" to the virtual exhibit online and "Email yourself a link" functions are now possible.

How we evaluated the product

Data were collected between August 20 and November 29, 2008 in the Human Body Connection exhibition gallery at the Museum of Science, Boston. Evaluators observed visitors using the kiosk and recorded data on specific behaviors. Visitors were also asked to complete a written survey and to answer a few brief exit interview questions. Please see the complete report for the specifics of these methods including selection of study participants, observation protocol, and survey examples.