Evaluation of UAJY Learning Management System’s Usability using USE Questionnaire and Eye-tracking

One of the influential learning resources utilized today is a web-based learning management system. The web-based e-learning’s usability is also influenced by the user interface. In measuring usability, eye-tracking technology can be employed to examine eye gaze of an individual when looks at a specific point at a certain time. The use of eye-tracking is beneficial in obtaining objective data. This study aims to evaluate the usability of UAJY Learning Management System website interface and examine the user's interaction with the website interface. Thirty-five participants were recruited in a usability testing experiment. Participants were asked to do three tasks related to the use of e-learning features while their eye movements were recorded. The USE Questionnaire and task-related question data were processed using statistical descriptive methods and eye movement data generated into heatmaps. The Usefulness, Ease of Use, Ease of Learn, and Satisfaction aspects of the UAJY LMS gains more than 80% feasibility percentage. Overall results of feasibility categorized the UAJY LMS as Very Feasible. There was no difference found in usability aspects between gender, faculty background, and eye condition groups. Heatmaps results show that navigational elements in the LMS are utilized properly and successfully help participants in performing tasks

Environmental Health Information on the Internet: Development of an Appropriate Website Evaluation Tool

Purpose: This research aimed to determine how health communication, risk communication, and website evaluation criteria could be utilized to evaluate environmental health information on the Internet.Public Health Significance: Concerns exist about the quality of health information on the Internet. Environmental health plays a considerable role in public health but can be difficult to communicate effectively, especially in a dynamic and diverse system like the Internet. An evaluation tool tailored specifically for environmental public health messages on the Internet should be developed to assess the quality of those sites.Methods: A literature review identified previous website evaluation tools and general health and risk communication techniques. Using those tools as a framework, a website evaluation tool tailored for assessing environmental health information on the Internet was developed. In order to pilot test this tool, five government websites and one emerging environmental health issue, particulate matter (PM), were selected and evaluated.Results: The key criteria identified in the literature review and incorporated into the website evaluation tool included: Basic Website Information, Content (with subsections: Scope, Accuracy, Risk Communication, Authority, Up-to-Date, Links, and Writing Quality), Appearance/Layout, Purpose/Audience, and Access/Use.The website evaluation tool showed considerable practicality and ease of use in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the five websites during the pilot testing. The Environmental Protection Agency's website received the highest overall score and in the content section. The Kansas Department of Health and the Environment's website received the lowest scores in most of the evaluation categories and overall. None of the websites passed the tool's readability criteria. Conclusions: Consensus exists regarding the need for evidence-based and validated website evaluation tools. A tool developed by consolidating communication recommendations from varying fields of study provides researchers throughout the interdisciplinary field of public health with a research base and evaluation framework for future Internet-based environmental health communication projects. Additionally, the organizations responsible for the pilot-tested websites can use the individualized results from the evaluations to improve and guide their online environmental health communication efforts

A reliability information retrieval system for visually impaired people

The Malaysian Association of the Blind (MAB) is a voluntary organization in Malaysia that provides services to the visually impaired. Achieving substantive equality in all aspects of life is one of the main principles held by MAB in fighting for the rights of the visually impaired community. At the same time, the MAB are also providing research information regarding the visually impaired studies conducted so that people in search of such information and research details will be beneficial. MAB does not have a repository website for research articles related to visually impaired people. In MAB only one device is allowed to manage the database. Due to this problem, only one authorized administrator can access and manage the data. There is a need for an information retrieval system which can keep the research information that can be retrieved by the user within or outside MAB. This system is targeted for researchers within MAB or common user in search of references and literature related to the visually impaired. The purpose of developing of the information retrieval system for MAB is to identify the constraints faced, to develop a systematic and efficient system to use, and to evaluate this system whether it need to be improved before making it available to user. This system uses the waterfall method which acts as a guide throughout the development of this project, the phases are such as analysis, design, implementation, testing, deployment and maintenance. phpMyAdmin as some of the related software used in the development process of the system alongside HTML and CSS. The development system was then tested with MAB Staff where 20 respondents participated in the process. The result of the testing shows that 85% of the users are satisfied and feel the system is easy for them to use and find information, with a layout interface and button design being satisfactory for half-blind users. Besides that, the system also allows the admin to always update the information in the system easily to be reached out to the users. As conclusion, the system is capable of being used for the MAB user and public that ease the process of retrieving informatio

ANALIZA IMPLEMENTACJI NARZĘDZI DOSTĘPNOŚCI NA STRONACH WWW

The websites of higher education institutions, due to the fact that they are addressed to multiple stakeholder groups, not only need to have an appropriately designed information structure but must also be useful. Additionally, in the case of public universities, their services are expected to be accessible to the widest possible audience, especially for people with disabilities. The accessibility tools used on websites should be quickly located, easily identifiable and user-friendly. So far, no standards have been developed regarding these issues, and therefore, there are various solutions on the web. The objective of this study is to analyze various implementations of accessibility tools on university websites in terms of their location, form of presentation and ways that enable access to them. A study was conducted in which web interfaces were evaluated with the participation of users. The experiment consisted of two parts: the first one used the eye tracking technique, whereas in the second one, a survey was conducted. The research material was prototypes of websites from four different universities. Each website had two versions differing in implementation of accessibility tools. In the study, 35 participants were divided into two groups of people. Each group was shown one of the two sets of website prototypes and the users were tasked with finding and activating a specific accessibility tool. After exploring the websites, each participant completed a questionnaire that pertained to their opinions regarding aspects such as appearance, placement and a way to access tools dedicated to people with disabilities. The obtained data, processed to the form of heatmaps and fixation maps, were subjected to a qualitative analysis. The survey results and eye tracking data were analyzed quantitatively. On the basis of performed analyzes it can be concluded that the following factors have an impact on the reduction in efficiency and productivity of users: placement of accessibility tools on university websites in a place other than the upper right corner, an indirect access to these tools or their non-standard appearance.Strony uczelni wyższych ze względu na fakt, że są skierowane do wielu grup interesariuszy, oprócz tego, że muszą mieć odpowiednio zaprojektowaną strukturę informacji, to muszą być także użyteczne. W przypadku publicznych uczelni wyższych oczekuje się, że ich serwisy będą dostępne dla jak największego grona odbiorców, w szczególności dla osób z niepełnosprawnościami. Stosowane w serwisach narzędzia dostępności powinny być szybko lokalizowane, łatwo identyfikowane i proste w użyciu. Jak dotąd nie opracowano standardów dotyczących tych kwestii i w związku z tym istnieje w sieci wiele rozwiązań. Celem pracy jest analiza różnych implementacji narzędzi dostępności w serwisach WWW szkół wyższych pod względem ich rozmieszczenia, formy prezentacji oraz sposobów, które umożliwiają do nich dostęp. Zrealizowano badania, w których dokonano oceny interfejsów webowych z udziałem użytkowników. Eksperyment składał się z dwóch części: w pierwszej wykorzystano technikę eyetrackingową, natomiast w drugiej ankietowanie. Materiał badawczy stanowiły prototypy stron internetowych czterech różnych uczelni wyższych. Każdą ze stron opracowano w dwóch wersjach różniących się implementacją narzędzi dostępności. W badaniu wzięło udział 35 osób podzielonych na dwie grupy i zastosowano testy A/B. Każdej grupie zaprezentowano jeden z dwóch zestawów prototypów stron, a użytkownicy musieli odnaleźć i wykorzystać konkretne narzędzia dostępności. Następnie badani wypełniali ankietę, która dotyczyła preferencji odnośnie sposobu prezentacji narzędzi dedykowanych osobom niepełnosprawnym, w tym aspektów dotyczących wyglądu, rozmieszczenia oraz sposobu dostępu do nich. Pozyskane dane przetworzone do postaci map cieplnych i map fiksacji poddano analizie jakościowej. Wyniki z ankiet oraz dane eyetrackingowe przeanalizowano w sposób ilościowy. Na podstawie przeprowadzonych analiz możliwe jest stwierdzenie, że następujące czynniki mają wpływ na spadek efektywności oraz produktywności użytkowników: rozmieszczenie narzędzi dostępności na stronach uczelni w miejscu innym niż prawy górny róg, pośredni dostęp do narzędzi, czy też niestandardowy wygląd

A conceptual model for e-learning supporting tools design based on cue model and Kansei engineering

The Covid-19 pandemic has triggered changes in learning due to the practice of social distancing to curb the spread of the virus. E-learning platforms have become the main platform for learning throughout the pandemic. However, e-learning does have challenges when it comes to ensuring student’s optimum participation throughout the learning experience that require extensive research about techniques and methods for an optimum e-learning experience. This includes various e-learning supporting tools that provides easy communication and immediate assistance to enhance user experience. The supporting tools or software usability and functionality design determined as imperative in enhancing the e-learning user experience. Thus, this research proposes a conceptual model for designing the e-learning supporting tools based on the CUE Model, integrated with Kansei Engineering for optimum user experience that can serve as a guideline for the e-learning supporting tools designer. The outcome of this research will create new research fields that incorporate multiple domains, including the e-learning domain, software and supporting tools design, emotions and user experience

A Software Tool-Based Accessibility Assessment of Public Library Websites in the United States

This study sought to assess how accessible public library websites are to patrons with disabilities, understand the types of accessibility errors that library websites have, and investigate potential relationships between library website accessibility and demographics of the communities libraries serve. A total of 120 public library website URLs were evaluated on four different types of pages using two software tools, one for testing WCAG 2.1 compliance, and another for readability scores. Results showed that public library websites overwhelmingly fail to meet the accessibility standards required by law in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Color contrast errors were the most common type of error found for each type of page. It was found that there were no significant relationships between demographics of the communities libraries serve and accessibility errors. Headings:Master of Science in Information Scienc

Rethinking access to address the digital divide in news

Professional project report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Journalism from the School of Journalism, University of Missouri--Columbia.U.S. citizens with disabilities are being denied their constitutional right to information because of barriers-to-access on news websites. Mainstream media organizations such as CNN, Fox News, NBC News, New York Times and USA Today aren't taking accessibility seriously. By prioritizing access, the media industry is treating impaired users like second-class citizens. In order for journalism to fulfill its responsibility in a democratic nation, the industry must adopt and prioritize Web accessibility.Includes bibliographic references

Role of images on World Wide Web readability

As the Internet and World Wide Web have grown, many good things have come. If you have access to a computer, you can find a lot of information quickly and easily. Electronic devices can store and retrieve vast amounts of data in seconds. You no longer have to leave your house to get products and services you could only get in person. Documents can be changed from English to Urdu or from text to speech almost instantly, making it easy for people from different cultures and with different abilities to talk to each other. As technology improves, web developers and website visitors want more animation, colour, and technology. As computers get faster at processing images and other graphics, web developers use them more and more. Users who can see colour, pictures, animation, and images can help understand and read the Web and improve the Web experience. People who have trouble reading or whose first language is not used on the website can also benefit from using pictures. But not all images help people understand and read the text they go with. For example, images just for decoration or picked by the people who made the website should not be used. Also, different factors could affect how easy it is to read graphical content, such as a low image resolution, a bad aspect ratio, a bad colour combination in the image itself, a small font size, etc., and the WCAG gave different rules for each of these problems. The rules suggest using alternative text, the right combination of colours, low contrast, and a higher resolution. But one of the biggest problems is that images that don't go with the text on a web page can make it hard to read the text. On the other hand, relevant pictures could make the page easier to read. A method has been suggested to figure out how relevant the images on websites are from the point of view of web readability. This method combines different ways to get information from images by using Cloud Vision API and Optical Character Recognition (OCR), and reading text from websites to find relevancy between them. Techniques for preprocessing data have been used on the information that has been extracted. Natural Language Processing (NLP) technique has been used to determine what images and text on a web page have to do with each other. This tool looks at fifty educational websites' pictures and assesses their relevance. Results show that images that have nothing to do with the page's content and images that aren't very good cause lower relevancy scores. A user study was done to evaluate the hypothesis that the relevant images could enhance web readability based on two evaluations: the evaluation of the 1024 end users of the page and the heuristic evaluation, which was done by 32 experts in accessibility. The user study was done with questions about what the user knows, how they feel, and what they can do. The results back up the idea that images that are relevant to the page make it easier to read. This method will help web designers make pages easier to read by looking at only the essential parts of a page and not relying on their judgment.Programa de Doctorado en Ciencia y Tecnología Informática por la Universidad Carlos III de MadridPresidente: José Luis Lépez Cuadrado.- Secretario: Divakar Yadav.- Vocal: Arti Jai

Developing extended communities of practice to support implementation of Inspiration® in elementary classrooms

This project examined the need for continuing education for teachers, particularly in the area of technology integration. It includes an exploration of the interdependence of technology and pedagogy. It developed an on-line extended community of practice to support professional educators attempting to implement Inspiration®, a commercial software application. The project presents a research-based justification for employing cognitive mapping strategies in a wide variety of pedagogical contexts, provides a dynamic list of examples demonstrating concrete applications which are connected to content and technology standards, and examines current design features for websites

Evaluating web accessibility and usability for totally blind users at Thailand Cyber University

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston UniversityResearch suggests that web-based education increases opportunities for underserved populations to be integrated into educational activities (Schmetzke, 2001; Burgstahler, 2002; Opitz, Savenye, & Rowland, 2003). This may be true for students with disabilities because they have more flexibility to participate in formal education. However, Moisey (2004) found that people with disabilities had lower rates of enrollment and educational achievement than people without disabilities. These findings raise the question of whether or not web-based = education helps increase students with disabilities' access to learning opportunities and improve their learning outcome. This study investigated the degree of difficulty blind persons had in accessing and using web-based educational resources provided by Thailand Cyber University (TCU). Based on a mixed methods design, the data were collected in two phases. Quantitative data were collected first, in order to identify accessibility problems and conformance levels reported by automated web accessibility evaluation tools. Qualitative data was collected from interviews with blind participants in the second phase to expand the understanding of the accessibility problems and usability issues that were not discovered in the quantitative phase by the automated web accessibility evaluation tools. The findings indicate that all of the 13 selected web pages failed to meet a minimum requirement of WCAG 2.0. This means those selected web pages would be inaccessible for the blind. However, the findings indicate blind participants rated only one of the 13 pages as inaccessible. Moreover, their ratings of difficulty on "usability" were higher than their ratings of difficulty on "accessibility" on the same web page. On six out of 22 tasks, blind and sighted user groups agreed on the ratings. Nevertheless, the time that it took to complete each task varied greatly between the two user groups.2031-01-0