E-Lerning
S. Abdoli; M. Nili Ahmadabadi; H. Fardanesh; M. Asgari
Abstract
Background and Objectives:. Learning management systems are one of the most important platforms for virtual education, and usability is the most important feature that determines their quality. In the conducted research, various factors have been proposed as factors affecting the usability of learning ...
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Background and Objectives:. Learning management systems are one of the most important platforms for virtual education, and usability is the most important feature that determines their quality. In the conducted research, various factors have been proposed as factors affecting the usability of learning management systems, but shortcomings in the field of usability of these systems and determining the factors affecting it in a comprehensive and practical guide map, based on which usability of learning management system can be evaluated and improved, is the challenge of various educational institutions in virtual education. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to extract the most important factors affecting usability and then present these factors in a comprehensive and practical framework.Methods: In this research, the qualitative method and meta-synthesis approach were used. Based on the stages of the meta-synthesis approach, after stating the research questions and purposes, the systematic review method was used to search for research reports in the field of usability of learning management systems, which were the statistical population of this research, and the sample - the documents available in Scopus and Web of Science databases - was selected through purposive sampling. Then, the quality of research resources was examined through individual appraisal and comparative appraisal; the findings from the research were classified, these findings were synthesized by the taxonomic analysis approach, and finally, to examine the validity of the findings, the audit trail, consensual validity, and expert peer review methods were used.Findings: The findings of this research included the usability factors of learning management systems and the presentation of these factors in a framework. In this framework, factors were categorized based on the responsible of each factor. Factors included navigation, visual design, learnability and memorability, efficiency, accessibility, errors correction, privacy and security, ease of use, ethical issues and compliance in the tasks of IT specialists and content, Instructor’s knowledge, and learning orientation in the task Instructors/instructional designers. Factors that both IT specialists and instructors/instructional designers were in charge of encompassed interactivity/interaction, assessment and feedback, help and documentation, usefulness, and satisfaction and enjoyment.Conclusion: Based on the findings, by considering usability factors in designing and evaluation of learning management systems, it is possible to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of these platforms in virtual education and ultimately the level of learners' satisfaction. The results of this research, while enriching the research literature in the field of usability of learning management systems, help these systems to be used efficiently, effectively and satisfactorily by learners and teachers. The results also help system developers, instructional designers, and evaluators to adopt a more effective approach to improving system usability by designing and evaluating learning management systems based on the framework presented in this research. The time-consuming nature of testing the usability of learning management systems used in Iranian universities based on the proposed framework was one of the limitations of this research, and other researchers can focus on doing this test in future research. It is also suggested that future research, in addition to the Scopus and Web of Science databases, which have been selected as the sources for research reports, consider the resources available in other databases, such as ERIC and Google Scholar. In addition, increasing the number of reviewers of research in the systematic review and the number of evaluators in the phase of evaluating the quality of resources and validating findings make the results more generalizable. Finally, applying quantitative research methods as well as heuristic evaluation of usability factors can complement this qualitative research.
Electronic learning- virtual
M. Rajabi; A. Ghasemtabar; Y. Mahdavi Nasab
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The new situation caused by the outbreak of the Coronavirus imposed unprecedented conditions on the education system of the countries. Although, prior to this situation, teachers mostly would appear in their classrooms and use classical methods like lectures to teach, now the ...
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Background and Objectives: The new situation caused by the outbreak of the Coronavirus imposed unprecedented conditions on the education system of the countries. Although, prior to this situation, teachers mostly would appear in their classrooms and use classical methods like lectures to teach, now the new situation they are faced with demands continuing their teaching only with the use of distance communication tools and teachers are forced to turn to online teaching and change their teaching styles according to this space. Therefore, in these circumstances and due to the importance of teachers' efficient use of this space and due to the large amount of unreliable information in the digital space and the need to have a critical and evaluative view of this space, teachers must have the required skills appropriate to these conditions. We call this skill digital literacy. In Iran, the Ministry of Education has made decisions to compensate for the effects of school closures, one of which is the launch of a "student education network" abbreviated as "SHAD". From the very beginning, there has been a lot of discussion about its efficiency from the users' point of view. In this regard, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the level of digital literacy of teachers and their views on the usability of the student educational network (SHAD).Methods: The method of the present research was applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-correlational in terms of data collection. The statistical population of this study includeed all primary teachers in Torbat-e Heydarieh in the academic year 1399-1400; they were about 585 people. Statistical sample was determined using Cochran's formula of 232 people and also simple random sampling method was used. In order to collect the required data and information related to digital literacy, the standard digital literacy questionnaire of Ng (2012) was used. Regarding usability, Bangor et al.’s (2009) system usability scale was used. This test consisted of 10 items. Odd test questions were direct questions and even questions were indirect ones.Findings: After analyzing the data using SPSS software, the results obtained in descriptive statistics showed that the average of digital literacy and its dimensions (technical, attitudinal, emotional-social and cognitive) as well as usability were all above the average. The results of correlation test, which examined the relationship between two variables, showed that the relationship between digital literacy and its dimensions with usability was significant and the highest value was related to the relationship between digital literacy and usability, which was 0.49. The results of regression test with the aim of predicting usability based on digital literacy also showed that digital literacy could predict 24% of the usability variable. The results of regression test with the aim of predicting usability based on the dimensions of digital literacy showed that the effect of technical and attitudinal dimensions on usability was confirmed and could predict almost 26% of the usability variable and the effect of cognitive and emotional-social dimensions was rejected.Conclusion: The results of the study indicated that there was a significant relationship between digital literacy and its technical and attitudinal dimensions with usability and the relationship between cognitive and emotional-social dimensions with usability was rejected. The benefits of using e-learning led to a positive attitude in people, and on the other hand, those who were technically skilled in working with software found it practical. According to the results obtained in this study, the importance of teachers' digital literacy is clear because teachers with higher digital literacy will not have much difficulty in teaching in digital space and using educational software, and this would improve their performance in this field.
