Perceived usability evaluation of learning management systems: Empirical evaluation of the System Usability Scale

Konstantina Orfanou,Christos Katsanos,Nikolaos Tselios

doi:10.19173/irrodl.v16i2.1955

Konstantina Orfanou, Christos Katsanos + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v16i2.1955

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Abstract

<h4>Perceived usability affects greatly student’s learning effectiveness and overall learning experience, and thus is an important requirement of educational software. The System Usability Scale (SUS) is a well-researched and widely used questionnaire for perceived usability evaluation. However, surprisingly few studies have used SUS to evaluate the perceived usability of learning management systems (LMSs). This paper presents an empirical evaluation of the SUS questionnaire in the context of LMSs’ perceived usability evaluation. Eleven studies involving 769 students were conducted, in which participants evaluated the usability of two LMSs (eClass and Moodle) used within courses of their curriculum. It was found that the perceived usability of the evaluated LMSs is at a satisfactory level (mean SUS score 76.27). Analysis of the results also demonstrated the validity and reliability of SUS for LMSs’ evaluation, and that it remains robust even for small sample sizes. Moreover, the following SUS attributes were investigated in the context of LMSs evaluation: gender, age, prior experience with the LMS, Internet self-efficacy, attitude towards the Internet and usage frequency of the LMS.</h4>

Highlights

Numerous usability evaluation questionnaires designed to measure users’ subjective assessments of a system’s usability are available at the moment (Brooke, 1996; Lewis, 1991, 1992, 1995; Tullis & Albert, 2008; Tullis & Stetson, 2004)
All System Usability Scale (SUS) scores for the 11 studies are beyond the value of 72/100, according to the criteria of Bangor et al (2009) the usability of the evaluated learning management systems (LMSs) is at a satisfactory level
We present findings related to various SUS attributes in the context of LMS usability evaluation, using a dataset produced by 769 university students

Summary

Introduction

Numerous usability evaluation questionnaires designed to measure users’ subjective assessments of a system’s usability (i.e., its perceived usability) are available at the moment (Brooke, 1996; Lewis, 1991, 1992, 1995; Tullis & Albert, 2008; Tullis & Stetson, 2004). The most widely adopted is the System Usability Scale (SUS) (Brooke, 1996). This is mainly because it is characterized by a number of advantages. SUS can be used to assess the usability of any software system, device or service. In other words, it is “technology agnostic” (Bangor et al, 2008). It is “technology agnostic” (Bangor et al, 2008) Another great advantage is that in contrast to other questionnaires, such as SUMMI, SUS is provided free of charge under the only condition of the reference of the source

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