Screenshot: clomedia.com
Shailesh Shilwant & Amy Haggarty published at clomedia.com an article about Usability Testing for E-Learning.
“Usability testing has long been a part of the software and product design world. Jakob Nielsen brought the concept of usability to the Web, making Web pages simple to navigate and intuitively organized so that users can easily find the information they’re looking for. While this definition may be considered sufficient in the world of software, the definition of usability in the e-learning world should encompass a few more components than simply good user interface design. (…) One often-forgotten piece of usability is usefulness. The product not only must be easy to use, but it also should serve a purpose. In the development of e-learning courses, usefulness is measured as part of the needs assessment for the course�a step that often is rushed because of time and budget constraints. These constraints commonly create a tight relationship between the people conducting the needs assessment and those managing the design and development of an e-learning course.
To further refine the definition of usability for e-learning, the term �learnability� also should be added. Donald Norman, known to many as the authority on workable technology, is the originator of learnability. Learnability is defined as the ease and speed with which users can figure out how to use a product. For example, if learnability is high, users can intuitively learn to use a product without training or manuals. In the world of e-learning, the definition of learnability should be expanded to include the ability of users to effectively learn and retain the skills and knowledge. The level of learnability in a course is most often associated with the strengths and weaknesses of the instructional design.”
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clomedia.com: Usability Testing for E-Learning
