A Comparison of Quantitative and Qualitative Data from a Formative Usability Evaluation of an Augmented Reality Learning Scenario

The proliferation of augmented reality (AR) technologies creates opportunities for the devel-opment of new learning scenarios. More recently, the advances in the design and implementation of desktop AR systems make it possible the deployment of such scenarios in primary and secondary schools. Usability evaluation is a precondition for the pedagogical effectiveness of these new technologies and requires a systematic approach for finding and fixing usability problems. In this paper we present an approach to a formative usability evaluation based on heuristic evaluation and user testing. The basic idea is to compare and integrate quantitative and qualitative measures in order to increase confidence in results and enhance the descriptive power of the usability evaluation report.augmented reality, multimodal interaction, e-learning, formative usability evaluation, user testing, heuristic evaluation

Exploring the Usage of Social Networking Websites: Perceptions and Opinions of Romanian University Students

Social networking websites (SNWs) have become a popular virtual meeting place allowing users to voluntarily post personal information, send and receive message, stay connected online with their offline friends and new online friends, or share photos, videos, bookmarks, blogs, private messages and join groups. People are spending ample amount of time on social networking websites such as You Tube, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Hi5 etc., and this high usage has also brought changes in the way people behave. These social networking websites present a variety of features for their users to facilitate socialization. This paper presents the results of a study aiming to identify the Romanian student opinions regarding SNWs. The main findings of this study are: the most frequently visited and most popular social networks among Romanian student are You Tube and Facebook; the majority of the respondents use social networking websites a few times a day; only a small part of the respondents know how social networking websites use published and other type of information; the usage of SNWs is related with the usage of computers and internet. Also the most important functions of SNWs for Romanian student are: communication (including communication in interest groups), learning and exchanging information, exchanging photo, video, friend search and texting

Exploring the Usability of Municipal Web Sites: A Comparison Based on Expert Evaluation Results from Four Case Studies

The usability of public administration web sites is a key quality attribute for the successful implementation of the Information Society. Formative usability evaluation aims at finding and reporting usability problems as early as possible in the development process. The objective of this paper is to present and comparatively analyze the results of an expert usability evaluation of 4 municipality web sites. In order to document usability problems an extended set of heuristics was used that is based on two sources: usability heuristics and ergonomic criteria. The explanatory power of heuristics was supplemented with a set of usability guidelines. The evaluation results revealed that a set of specific tasks with clearly defined goals helps to identify many severe usability problems that occur frequently in the municipality web sites. A typical issue for this category of web sites is the lack of information support for the user.Formative Usability Evaluation, User Testing, Expert Evaluation, Heuristic Evaluation, Ergonomic Criteria, Usability Problem, Municipal Web Sites

Exploring the Usability of Municipal Web Sites: A Comparison Based on Expert Evaluation Results from Four Case Studies

The usability of public administration web sites is a key quality attribute for the successful implementation of the Information Society. Formative usability evaluation aims at finding and reporting usability problems as early as possible in the development process. The objective of this paper is to present and comparatively analyze the results of an expert usability evaluation of 4 municipality web sites. In order to document usability problems an extended set of heuristics was used that is based on two sources: usability heuristics and ergonomic criteria. The explanatory power of heuristics was supplemented with a set of usability guidelines. The evaluation results revealed that a set of specific tasks with clearly defined goals helps to identify many severe usability problems that occur frequently in the municipality web sites. A typical issue for this category of web sites is the lack of information support for the user

EDUCATIONAL POTENTIAL OF ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS: GENDER AND CROSS-COUNTRY ANALYSIS

The social media technologies are blurring the boundaries between formal and informal/non-formal learning and provide new educational opportunities. Recent work shows that online social networks provide various kinds of educational support, such as social learning, informal/non-formal education, information, interaction, and collaboration. The aim of this research was to analyze the gender and cross-country differences in the perception of the educational opportunities provided by Facebook. The educational opportunities have been specified as a global factor that manifests along four dimensions: information, collaboration, personal development, and professional development. The model has been tested on two samples of university students, one from Romania and the other from Lithuania. An analysis of invariance has been carried on that shows that the educational opportunities model is invariant across groups. The results showed that female students have a higher perception of the educational opportunities provided by Facebook

Web Development Techniques and Remote Laboratories

In the actual context of the world economic and financial crisis, any source that causes economy is welcomed. In the technical educational system such a source is represented by the implementation of remote labs. These allow, among other things, the sharing of modern technology between several centers and also the saving of power by using an adequate energetic management. This paper presents a solution for implementing remote labs by using web technologies that are platform independent from the client point of view. Such a lab implementation exemplification is materialized by remote controlling the NI-ELVIS platform