Sep 6 - Yeap, Importance of Usability of e-Learning Portal (part 1 of Usability Inspection Criteria for e-Learning Portals)

Importance of Usability of e-Learning Portal

“The business benefits of adding Usability to a product development process include:
· Increased productivity
· Increased sales and revenues
· Decreased training and support costs
· Reduced development time and costs
· Reduced maintenance costs
· Increased customer satisfaction.” (UPA, 2005)

“Learners must not be distracted from their initial learning task by unnecessary or inconvenient features of the screen design. A bad usability does hurt learning by increasing the extraneous cognitive load.” (Domagk et al, 2004)
Hence, good usability of e-learning portal is crucial for enhancing the learning process.

Usability is important for e-learning portal to ensure that:
· Learning would be effective for most of the learners.
· User interface is user-friendly and easy to navigate.
· Learning content has the element of self-paced and self-directed. Learning may not necessarily be linear nor sequential. Learner can choose which module, which lesson and the sequence he desires.
· E-Learning portal is free of bugs and intelligently prevent errors by learners.
· E-Learning content is accurate, complete and of non-biased content.
· Design is simplistic and does not hinder the process of learning.
· E-Learning portal could run smoothly and cater to the needs of learners using broadband Internet as well as dial up Internet connection.
· Learner could choose rich media or text-based. Learner could choose to read or listen to narration or both.
· Help, FAQ (frequently asked question) and documentation is available to guide the learners in usage of e-Learning portal.
· User interface is consistent and has similar looks and feel throughout an entire courseware.

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source:
Usability Inspection Criteria for e-Learning Portals.
TeckChong Yeap.
MDP7515 PROJECT
Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of
Master of Multimedia (E-Learning Technologies)
MULTIMEDIA UNIVERSITY
MALAYSIA
October 2008