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Heuristic evaluation of e‐learning courses: a comparative analysis of two e‐learning heuristic sets

Panagiotis Zaharias (Department of Information Systems, Open University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus)
Panayiotis Koutsabasis (Department of Product and Systems Design Engineering, University of the Aegean, Hermoupolis, Greece)

Campus-Wide Information Systems

ISSN: 1065-0741

Article publication date: 1 January 2012

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss heuristic evaluation as a method for evaluating e‐learning courses and applications and more specifically to investigate the applicability and empirical use of two customized e‐learning heuristic protocols.

Design/methodology/approach

Two representative e‐learning heuristic protocols were chosen for the comparative analysis. These protocols augment the “traditional” heuristic sets so as to cover technology‐enhanced learning properties. Two reviewers that have considerable experience in usability evaluation as well as in e‐learning were involved in this comparative analysis. Coverage, distribution and redundancy were employed as three basic criteria for conducting the evaluation

Findings

The main results of the study indicate that both heuristic protocols exhibit wide coverage of potential usability problems. The distribution of usability problems is uneven to a large number of heuristics for both heuristic sets, which reveals that some heuristics are more general than others.

Originality/value

This study shows the empirical application of two heuristic protocols in a usability evaluation of e‐learning applications. Furthermore, it provides a comparison of the two heuristic sets according to a set of criteria and provides a first set of suggestions regarding further development and validation of these heuristic sets.

Keywords

Citation

Zaharias, P. and Koutsabasis, P. (2012), "Heuristic evaluation of e‐learning courses: a comparative analysis of two e‐learning heuristic sets", Campus-Wide Information Systems, Vol. 29 No. 1, pp. 45-60. https://doi.org/10.1108/10650741211192046

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2012, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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