A case study of usability testing: the SUMI evaluation approach of the EducaNext portal (original) (raw)
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SUMI evaluation of the EducaNext educational portal
2007
The new challenge for designers and Human Computer Interaction researchers is to develop software tools and applications for effective e-learning. Usability is one of the most important aspects of software applications. However, in practice, not much attention is given to this issue during testing. Evaluators often do not have the knowledge, instruments and/or time available to handle usability. The paper presents the results of empirical study of usability evaluation which was based on SUMI (Software Usability Measurement Inventory) questionnaires. The software application tested was a multilingual educational portal EducaNext.
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This article presents a methodological approach of evaluation of the usability in educational environments ME-UsitE, an analysis of the necessity to implement a tool of evaluation and measurement of the usability to support the methodology, that contributes to the detection of problems and failures of usability from the perspective of the user of educative websites in a real work environment. Taking into account that the websites are designed and implemented for a domain and audience in particular, it is important to consider factors like these for the implementation of a tool that allows not only to carry out the evaluation process but also to support the analysis of the gathered data. Thus, the obtained results may allow us to establish policies for the improvement of the usability of the site, when providing a score that determines whether the level of usability offered covers the requirements for the proposed audience and the profile of the participant user in the evaluation.
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Mednarodno inovativno poslovanje = Journal of Innovative Business and Management
Today many products are designed to be reasonably easy to use so, in addition to usefulness, product usability is of great importance. Usability means simply using or simply learning to use a tool or device. In software engineering, usability is the degree to which certain users can effectively use software to achieve their goals in the context of use. Usability assessment involves measurement methods, such as analyzing consumer needs and examining perceptions of product efficiency and product attractiveness. In human-computer interaction, studying usability means the analysis of attractiveness and clarity of an application which is designed to interact with a computer program or web site. Usability takes into account both user satisfaction as well as the usability and quality of the component under study, while striving to improve the user experience through iterative product design. The basic problem of the research project was the pilot assessment of the suitability of our own me...
THE DEVELOPMENT OF A USABILITY INSTRUMENT FOR E-LEARNING IN EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS
Determining the usability of fully online courses will help faculty and designers improve the design of online courses and it is expected, students’ overall experience. Few studies assess usability focused on e-learning. While research has been conducted on usability, it usually do not address pedagogical elements that are necessary for designing highly effective fully online courses. The E-learning Usability Evaluation Questionnaire created by Zaharias [29] is the closest instrument found to measure usability, including pedagogical elements and students’ motivation to learn. However, it was created for corporate settings. The purpose of this article is to present a brief review of literature, the research problem, methodology, and limitations of a proposed study designed to revise and test the adapted version of the E-learning Usability Evaluation Questionnaire [29] to educational settings using a Delphi study.
Examining the Usability of an Educational Platform Designed for Human Computer Interaction
Hacettepe University Journal of Education, 2022
In this study, the purpose was to examine the usability level of a digital educational platform designed and developed within the scope of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). In the study, a weak experimental design, one of the quantitative research methods, was used. First of all, the learners' expectations regarding a digital educational platform within the scope of HCI were revealed. Next, the experimental group was asked to use the digital educational platform developed, and the control group was asked to use the digital educational platform currently used by the institution for one semester. The usability levels were compared by applying the System Usability Scale to both groups. In addition, a usability test was performed to compare both digital platforms. A total of 363 university students studying at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University in the 2021/2022 Academic Year Fall and Spring semesters participated in the study. As the data collection tools, the Distance Education System Evaluation Questionnaire in Terms of Human Computer Interaction (HCIEQ), System Usability Scale (SUS) and HCI-Usability Observation Form (HCIOF) were used. The data were entered into SPSS 21 program, and descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, percentage and frequency, independent samples t-test and One-Way ANOVA were performed. Results of the analysis revealed that the digital educational platform developed within the scope of HCI was found by the learners to be more usable.
Experience with usability evaluation of e-learning systems
Universal Access in the Information Society, 2008
Progress in the field of e-learning has been slow, with related problems mainly associated with the poor design of e-learning systems. Moreover, because of a depreciated importance of usability, usability studies are not very frequent. This paper reports the experience with the usability assessment of intelligent learning and teaching systems which are based on TEx-Sys model and are intended to enhance the process of knowledge acquisition in daily classroom settings. The applied scenario-based usability evaluation, as a combination of behaviour and opinion based measurements, enabled to quantify usability in terms of users' (teachers' and students') performance and satisfaction. According to the achieved results, the main directions for interface redesign are offered. The acquired experience indicates that useful usability assessments with a significant identification of interface limitations can be performed quite easily and quickly. On the other hand, it raised a series of questions which, in order to be clarified, require further comprehensive research, the more so if the employment of universal design within e-learning context is considered.
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International Journal of Multimedia Data Engineering and Management, 2010
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Usability evaluation of e-learning systems has specific requirements that differentiate it from evaluation of other interactive systems. In situations when teachers want to evaluate the usability of their own e-learning courses, it is therefore not easy for them to choose the appropriate evaluation method. Lately, severalusabilityevaluation methods adapted for the context of e-learning have been proposed. This paper examines their characteristics and identifies the criteria for choosing the most appropriate methods. While comparing the current usability evaluation methods for e-learning it was established that a lot of methods do not address all the specific issues relevant for e-learning systems and educational modules. Moreover, many methods do not provide sufficient information about the practical application of the method that could be useful to usability practitioners.