Pdf a usability evaluation guide for elearning courses. For general software, hardware and mobile devices consider the system usability scale sus, for websites use the suprq. Re usability, as complex as it may sound, is something that can be introduced at various levels. Noureldien department of information systems, university of science and technology, omdurman, sudan. Usability and quality parameters for elearning environments. The usability of a product is contextual and depends on the different roles of users, environments and tasks they need to do. Metrics come in very handy when it comes to quantify usability during the usability evaluation of software, websites and applications. It is important to realize that usability is not a single, onedimensional property of a product, system. Despite recent advances of electronic technologies in e learning, a consolidated evaluation methodology for e learning applications is not available. At least two cycles of usability testing should be undertaken, starting in the early stages of development and using simple prototypes or wireframes.
Usability is of vital importance for e learning due to the remote nature of the e learning activities. We report about a preliminary users study involving a group of estudents, observed during their interaction with an elearning system in a real situation. Studies show that usability is a crucial success factor in elearning and facilitates learners to achieve learning objectives and. Usability testing for elearning chief learning officer. Educational software is developed to support learning.
Usability evaluation of elearning applications diva. Evaluating usability of elearning systems in universities. Usability of elearning tools proceedings of the working. Our approach and particular case study on usability and quality of e learning systems is presented in section 5. The good news is that concepts and processes for addressing these shortfalls in learner experience can be found in the field of usability. However, surprisingly few studies have used sus to evaluate the perceived usability of learning management. Studies show that usability is a crucial success factor in e learning and facilitates learners to achieve learning objectives and gain knowledge effectively and efficiently. This is partly due to the vital need to satisfy customers goals for systems becoming pervasive and ubiquitous within our daily life.
Usability for software systems has emerged as an integral part of the continuous commercial success of it companies. Usability testing of e learning systems targets its interface design, usability and. However, existing usability evaluation metrics are too general to be applied to a more specific application, such as mobile tourism application. Abstract usability is commonly recognized as one of the important quality factors of information systemsmost. Once you get past the lms, all types of software tools have now become part of the learning experience. While it makes total sense to do so, re usability really should and could be built in, in all facets of software testing. Web site usability, design, and performance metrics. Exploring user satisfaction for e learning systems via usagebased metrics and system usability scale analysis nouzha harrati a,b, imed bouchrika b, abdelkamel tari a, ammar ladjailia b a department ofcomputer science, university bejaia, 6000, algeria b faculty oftechnology and science, university souk ahras, 4, algeria a r t i c l e i n f o. The usability is getting better, for example, with their drag and drop calculated metrics builder and segment builder, but there is a steep learning curve overall to really know what youre getting with your reports. Usability engineering of agile software project management tools. Pdf perceived usability evaluation of learning management. The product not only must be easy to use, but it also should serve a purpose.
Since usability testing focuses on learning about the experience of the user engaged in an elearning course, usability testing is basically nothing. Record each instance of an error along with a description. Pdf usability metrics for elearning thao nguyen academia. Usability and quality parameters for elearning environments and. Exploring user satisfaction for elearning systems via. This work is a first step towards the definition of a methodology for evaluating e learning.
This research reports on a series of three studies that developand validate web site usability, design and performance metrics. However, a system that falls short on usability and accessibility may be. Usability refers to the quality of a users experience when interacting with products or systems, including websites, software, devices, or applications. Usability metrics a guide to quantify the usability of. Usability evaluation of an elearning tutorial proceedings. Usability testing of an e learning system semantic scholar. We report about a preliminary users study involving a group of e students, observed during their interaction with an e learning system in a real situation. Workshop on human computer interface for semantic web and web applications, 37 november, 2003, lncs no. By designing and testing your e learning with usability in mind, you can improve both the learner experience and learning outcomes. The e learning usability evaluation questionnaire developed by zaharias 2009 has been used as the main instrument for data collections in this study. Software usability measurement inventory sumi is a solution to the recurring problem of measuring users perception of the usability of software. Usability metrics for elearning request pdf researchgate.
This consists of a piece of software called aus automatic usability software running at the operating. The usability questionnaire for elearning applications. Usability evaluation metrics of tourism mobile applications. This work is a first step towards identifying specific usability attributes for e learning systems, capturing the peculiar features of this kind of applications. Prior studies have also highlighted the importance of reducing the development. A theoretical model was built and three hypotheses were developed to examine whether the communication component as an expanded component of the e learning courseware usability significantly and positively contributed to the three components of the e learning courseware usability fundamental, appearance, and information presentation. Online learning leaves many students frustrated or unenthusiastic.
Usability is increasingly recognized as an important quality factor for interactive software systems, including traditional guisstyle applications, web sites, and the large variety of mobile and. Since, usability plays a significant role towards the success of e learning software, an e learning environment or tool should be evaluated considering both its usability as software and its didactic effectiveness ardito et al. Request pdf usability metrics for elearning elearning is a fastgrowing area thanks to the potential for increased reach and decreased cost of elearning programs. The usability nature of e learning software products is a key characteristic to achieve the acceptance of academic users regardless of their background, experience or orientation.
Among other things, metrics can help managers track design progress and support decisions about when to release a product. The aim of this study was to evaluate usability attributes that affect e learning systems in kenyan universities. An approach to usability evaluation of elearning applications. The evaluation of educational software must consider its usability and more in general its accessibility, as well as its didactic effectiveness. In general, for most software quality assurance systems the common software metrics that are checked for improvement are the source lines of code, cyclical complexity of the code, function point analysis, bugs per line of code, code coverage, number of classes and interfaces, cohesion and coupling between the modules etc.
Usability indicators for software components manuel f. Perceived usability affects greatly students learning effectiveness and overall learning experience, and thus is an important requirement of educational software. Measuring roi can be done through student retention, student satisfaction surveys, passing. Available through the user interface usability evaluation with webbased questionnaires page, either as online interface or as a a set of perl scripts that you can install in your own server. The paper examines current approaches to usability metrics and proposes a new approach for quantifying software quality in use, based on modelling the dynamic relationships of the attributes that affect software usability. Usability is about effectiveness, efficiency and the overall satisfaction of the user. Usability assessment of educational software by students.
Jul 02, 2016 usability and user experience at training the issue of elearning is usually quite complicated, because many things get mixed. Usability is defined as the extent to which a product can be easily used by specified users to achieve certain goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. Exploring user satisfaction for elearning systems via usage. Usability is of vital importance for elearning due to the remote nature of the elearning activities. Pdf usability metrics for gamified elearning course. A usability evaluation guide for elearning courses. Furthermore, after concluding the results, the methods for measuring usability of. Despite recent advances of electronic technologies in elearning, a consolidated evaluation methodology for elearning applications is not available. We have heard of teams talking about reusable frameworks, especially in test automation efforts. Semistructured interview is another instrument that has been used to investigate the e learning usability evaluation. Similarly, researchers in 2 based the categorization of usability evaluation metrics speci. Towards measuring of elearning usability through user interface. A case study of usability testing the sumi evaluation. Usability is gradually more accepted as a significant quality.
The software usability is considered as pooled form of understandability, learnability, operability and attractiveness about software. Most learning management systems can easily export. In order to evaluate usability of elearning, we apply the following usability factors. Usability and user experience surveys edutech wiki. Every online training activity, module, and moment of need resource is. Users will relate to a certain software product if they feel they have the.
Elearning is a fastgrowing area thanks to the potential for increased reach and decreased cost of elearning programs. Apr 10, 20 large increases in key metrics have been documented using an iterative approach to improve the usability of websites and software applications marcus, 2005. Usability metrics quantify the usability of a system in terms of the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which users perform tasks when using it. Jun 18, 2017 activity measures are generally easier to collect than performance measures, because they are primarily data associated with the training registration process. Exploring user satisfaction for elearning systems via usagebased metrics and system usability scale analysis. E learning is a fastgrowing area thanks to the potential for increased reach and decreased cost of e learning programs. Usability and user experience in training elearning industry.
Continuous usage and strict adherence to these standards help writers become proficient in delivering quality deliverables. One of the most critical processes of componentbased software development cbsd is the selection of the set of components either from in. The precursors for measuring are 1 setting the guidelines and standards. The system usability scale sus is a wellresearched and widely used questionnaire for perceived usability evaluation. When the lms first hit the market, it was built to support scorm shareable content object reference model, or a set of technical standards for e learning software products as a measurement tool. Squires and preece developed a set of learning with software heuristics to be used by expertseducators in predictive evaluation prior to adopting a system. Although measuring usability can cost four times as much as conducting qualitative studies which often generate better insight, metrics are sometimes worth the expense. Testing and evaluation tool that we have developed. Thus, the objective of the study is to propose usability evaluation metrics for tourism mobile applications. Author links open overlay panel nouzha harrati a imed bouchrika b abdelkamel tari. Record any unintended action, slip, mistake or omission a user makes while attempting a task. Its important to measure effectiveness relative to these and to make sure we have quantitative and qualitative data to help us collect information and compare against benchmarks. Evaluation of software within the growing e learning sector is currently receiving attention. Section 4 offers stateoftheart analysis for usability of e learning environments and lmss.
But much e learning still has slow adoption and high dropout rates. Exploring user satisfaction for e learning systems via usagebased metrics and system usability scale analysis author links open overlay panel nouzha harrati a imed bouchrika b abdelkamel tari. Relevant aspects are evaluation paradigms, techniques, and the issue of who does the evaluating. Section 3 discusses some usability and quality parameters of hci aspects in e learning systems. The quality in use integrated map quim is proposed for specifying and identifying quality in use components, which brings together different factors, criteria, metrics and. This work is a first step towards identifying specific usability attributes for elearning systems, capturing the peculiar features of this kind of applications. A metric is a system or standard of measurement represented in units that can be utilized to describe more than one attribute. Usability metrics a guide to quantify the usability of any. Because training needs to be coordinated and scheduled, the information is readily available within the learning management system.
328 138 1172 997 1371 1421 1478 1586 578 1587 754 144 438 1243 1664 402 1495 1150 900 1148 1354 1179 874 741 1240 651 469 969 1203 1308 1125 1276 734 782 1179