PEDAGOGICAL USABILITY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF THE E-LEARNING SYSTEM IN MUNI UNIVERSITY, UGANDA

Solomon Ngos Pacuto

Abstract


This study was intended to unveil the pedagogical usability of the e-learning system in Muni University. The study adopted a case study design to allow in-depth study. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed. A total of 218 questionnaires were administered to the respondents and 179 questionnaires were received back registering a response rate of 82%. Descriptive statistics were computed. Inferential statistical analysis included correlation and multiple regressions, which were used to test the hypotheses. The correlation coefficient (r) was used to determine the strength of the relationship. The significance of the coefficient (p) was used to test the relationship between the independent and the dependent variables. Regressions and ANOVA determined which of the independent variables accounted most for the variance in the dependent variable. Qualitative data were analyzed under themes. Results show that pedagogical usability has very high influence on the effectiveness of the e-learning system at Muni University accounting for 82% variance. 

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter

DOI

Keywords


pedagogical usability, effectiveness, e-learning

References


Aberdour, M. and Smith, R. (2006). Usability in e-learning. Online: http://www.epic.co.uk/content/resources/white_papers/pdf_versions/Development/Epic_White_Paper_ Usability.pdf (accessed 19.09.08)

Ardito, C., Costabile, M. F. Marsico, M. De, Lanzilotti, R., Levialdi, S. T. Roselli, S. T.,

Rossano, V. (2006). An approach to usability evaluation of e-learning applications. Univ Access Inf Soc (2006) 4: 270– 283.

Cooper, M., Colwell, C. and Jelfs, A. (2007). Embedding accessibility and usability: considerations for e-learning research and development projects. In ALT-J, Volume 15, Issue 3 September 2007, pages 231 – 245

Hall, B. (1997). Web-based training cookbook. New York: Wiley.

Jeffels, P. (2005). Usability, the practical approach to accessibility. Online: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/accessibility/reports/ALTNs4_abdn.pdf (accessed Jan, 2011)

Jones M.G. (1994). Visuals information access: a new philosophy for screen and interface design. In Imagery and visual literacy: selected readings from annual conference of the international visual literacy association, Tempe, October 12- 16, 264-272.

Karat, J. (1997). User-centred software evaluation methods, in: M. Helander, T. Landauer & P. Prabhu (Eds) Handbook of human–computer interaction (Amsterdam, Elsevier).

Kolb, D. A. (1984) Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Prentice-Hall ISBN 0132952610, 9780132952613

Koohang A. (2002). Expanding the Concept of Usability. http://inform.nu/Articles/Vol7/v7p129-141-002.pdf.

Kruse K.(2004). Designing e-Learning User Interfaces. http://www.e-learningguru.com/articles.htm.

Lohr.L.L. (2000). Designing the instructional interface, Computers in Human Behavior. 16 pp.161-182.

McClean, C. (2004) Training Zone Featured Learning Article: E-Learning Styles. Online: http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=132125&d=680&h=608&f=626 (accessed October, 2016)

Melis, E., Weber, M. & Andrès, E. (2003). Lessons for (Pedagogic) Usability of eLearning Systems. In G. Richards (Ed.), Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2003 (pp. 281-284). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.

Online: http://www-ags.dfki.uni-sb.de/~melis/Pub/elearn03Usability.pdf

(accessed October, 2016)

Mitchell, T.J.F., Chen, S.Y. and Macredie, R.D. (2005). The Relationship between Web enjoyment and student perceptions and learning using a Web based tutorial. Learning, Media and Technology 30 (1): 27-40 BURA. Online: http://hdl.handle.net/2438/404 (accessed October, 2016)

Nguyen, T. and Chang, V. (2006). A User-Centred Personalised e-Learning System, in Shackleton, Peter (ed), We-B Conference 2006: e-Business: how far have we come?, pp. 192-199, Melbourne, Nov 29 2006. Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne. Online: http://espace.lis.curtin.edu.au/archive/00001768/ (accessed Jan, 2011)

Squires, D. (1999). Usability and Educational Software Design: Special Issue of Interacting with Computers, Interacting with Computers 11 (5) 463-466.

Squires, David; Preece, Jennifer J. (1999). “Predicting quality in educational software: Evaluating for learning, usability and the synergy between them”. Interacting with Computers, Vol. 11, No. 5, May, pp.467–483.

Quintana, Y. (1996). Evaluating the value and effectiveness of internet-based learning. Paper presented at the sixth annual conference of the Internet Society, Montreal, Canada. Available online at: www.isoc.org/inet96/proceedings/c1/c1_4.htm, (accessed October, 2016)

Shin, C. E., Schallert, D. L., and Savenye, W. C. (1994). Effects of learner control, advisement, and prior knowledge on young students’ learning in a hypertext environment. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42, 33-46. Online: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/404/1/lmt-john.pdf (accessed October, 2016)

Silius, K., Tervakari, A.M., and Pohjolainen, S. (2003). A multidisciplinary tool for the evaluation of usability, pedagogical usability, accessibility and informational quality of web-based courses. Online: http://matwww.ee.tut.fi/arvo/liitteet/PEG2003.pdf (accessed October, 2016)

Tselios, Nikolaos K.; Avouris, Nikolaos M.; Dimitracopoulou, Angelique; Daskalaki, Sophia (2001). “Evaluation of Distance-Learning Environments: Impact of Usability on Student Performance”. International Journal of Educational Telecommunications, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp.355–378.

Van Rennes, L., & Collis, B. (1998). User interface design for WWW-based courses: Building upon student evaluations. ED428731.

Wong, B., Nguyen, T.T., Chang, E. and Jayaratna, N. (2003). Usability metrics for e-learning. Workshop on human computer interface for semantic web and web applications, 3–7 November, 2003, LNCS No: 2889, pp 235–252

Zaharias Panagiotis. (2002). Usability and E-learning. http://www.japit.org/zaharias_etal02.pdf.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejoe.v0i0.960

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright © 2016-2023. European Journal of Open Education and E-learning Studies (ISSN 2501-9120) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms.

All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).