Abstract
Usability is critical to the development of a user-friendly digital textbook platform interface, yet thorough research on interface development based on usability principles is in short supply. This study addresses that need by looking at usability attributes and corresponding design elements from a learning perspective. The researchers used a student survey, log files, and an expert heuristic evaluation to analyze needs for revision in the user interface of the existing Korea Education Research Information Service digital textbook platform. After using suggestions derived from this analysis to develop a new platform prototype, they tested its user interface for usability through a cognitive walkthrough and a formative evaluation. The results show that the usability design elements identified through the use of this iterative design and evaluation model were essential to improving the usability of the user interface and thus facilitating users’ actions and learning processes.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ardito, C., Costabile, M., Marsico, M., Lanzilotti, R., Levialdi, S., Roselli, T., et al. (2006). An approach to usability evaluation of e-learning applications. Universal Access in the Information Society, 4(3), 270–283. doi:10.1007/s10209-005-0008-6.
Baxley, B. (2003). Universal model of a user interface. In Proceedings of the 2003 conference on designing for user experiences (pp. 1–14). New York: Association for Computing Machinery.
Chong, P. F., Lim, Y. P., & Ling, S. W. (2009). On the design preferences for ebooks. IETE Technical Review, 26(3), 213–222. doi:10.4103/0256-4602.50706.
Corry, M., Frick, T., & Hansen, L. (1997). User-centered design and usability testing of a website: An illustrative case study. Educational Technology Research and Development, 45(4), 65–76.
Crowther, M. S., Keller, C. C., & Waddoups, G. L. (2004). Improving the quality and effectiveness of computer-mediated instruction through usability evaluations. British Journal of Educational Technology, 35, 289–303. doi:10.1111/j.0007-1013.2004.00390.x.
Dhanasegaran, G. (2006). Components of the digital learning environment. In Proceedings of the DRTC conference on ICT for facilitating digital learning environment, Bangalore, India (pp. 11–13).
Dix, A., Abowd, G., Beale, R., & Finlay, J. (1998). Human-computer interaction. New York: Prentice Hall.
Folmer, E., & Bosch, J. (2004). Architecting for usability: A survey. The Journal of Systems and Software, 70, 61–78. doi:10.1016/S0164-1212(02)00159-0.
Gingras, L., Escobar, M., Quintero, E., & Shah, T. (2008). Comparative analysis of e-readers. Retrieved February 1, 2010, from http://www.leannagingras.com/comparative-analysis.pdf.
Hartson, H. R., Andre, T. S., & Willings, R. C. (2001). Criteria for evaluating usability education methods. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 13(4), 373–410.
Hu, H.-J., Yen, J., & Guan, S.-S. (2008). A study on the interface usability of B2C hypermarket E-commerce website. In Proceedings of the IEEE Asia-Pacific services computing conference, 2008, Yilan, Taiwan (pp. 1202–1207).
Hung, W.-C., Smith, T. J., Harris, M., & Lockhard, J. (2010). Development research of a teachers’ educational performance support system: The practices of design, development, and evaluation. Educational Technology Research and Development, 58, 61–80. doi:10.1007/s11423-007-9080-3.
ISO 9241-11 (1998). Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display terminals (VDTs), part 11: Guidance on usability (p. 22). Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization.
Koohang, A., & Ondracek, J. (2005). Users’ views about the usability of digital libraries. British Journal of Educational Technology, 36(3), 407–423. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2005.00472.x.
Lee, Y., Hong, S., Smith-Jackson, T. L., Nussbaum, M., & Tomioka, K. (2006). Systematic evaluation methodology for cell phone user interfaces. Interacting with Computers, 18, 304–325. doi:10.1111/j.0007-1013.2004.00390.x.
Matera, M., Rizzo, F., & Toffetti, C. G. (2006). Web usability: Principles and evaluation methods. In E. Mendes & N. Mosley (Eds.), Web engineering (pp. 143–180). Berlin: Springer Verlag.
Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multi-media learning (2nd ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Nielsen, J. (1993). Usability engineering. San Diego, CA: Morgan Kaufman.
Nokelainen, P. (2006). An empirical assessment of pedagogical usability criteria for digital learning material with elementary school students. Educational Technology and Society, 9(2), 178–197.
Rao, S. S. (2003). Electronic books: A review and evaluation. Library Hi Tech, 21(1), 85–93.
Rubin, J. (1994). Handbook of usability testing: How to plan, design, and conduct effective tests. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Seffah, A., Donyahee, M., Kline, R., & Padda, H. (2001). Usability measurement and metrics: A consolidated model. Software Quality Control, 14(2), 159–178. doi:10.1007/s11219-006-7600-8.
Seo, Y. J., & Woo, H. (2010). The identification, implementation, and evaluation of critical user interface design features of computer-assisted instruction programs in mathematics for students with learning disabilities. Computers and Education, 55, 363–377. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2010.02.002.
Shackel, B. (1991). Usability—Context, framework, definition, design and evaluation. In B. Shackel & S. J. Richardson (Eds.), Human factors for informatics usability (pp. 21–37). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Shneiderman, B., & Plaisant, C. (2009). Designing the user interface (5th ed.). Reading, MA: Addison Wesley.
Sweller, J. (2010). Cognitive load theory: Recent theoretical advances. In J. Pass, R. Moreno, & R. Brünken (Eds.), Cognitive load theory (pp. 29–47). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Tullis, T., & Albert, B. (2008). Measuring the user experience: Collecting, analyzing, and presenting usability metrics. Burlington, MA: Morgan Kaufmann.
Welie, M., van der Veer, G. C., & Eliëns, A. (1999). Breaking down usability. In Proceedings of INTERACT 99, Edinburgh, Scotland (pp. 613–620). Retrieved February 2, 2009, from http://www.cs.vu.nl/~gerrit/gta/docs/Interact99.pdf.
Wharton, C., Rieman, J., Lewis, C., & Polson, P. (1994). The cognitive walkthrough method: A practitioner’s guide. In J. Nielsen & R. L. Mack (Eds.), Usability inspection methods. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Wilson, R., & Landoni, M. (2003). Evaluating the usability of portable electronic books. In Proceedings of the 2003 ACM symposium on applied computing, Melbourne, Florida (pp. 564–568).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lim, C., Song, HD. & Lee, Y. Improving the usability of the user interface for a digital textbook platform for elementary-school students. Education Tech Research Dev 60, 159–173 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-011-9222-5
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-011-9222-5