Development and validation of an instrument to measure the usability of educational artifacts created with web 2.0 applications

Abstract

The emergence of Web 2.0 applications has provided new opportunities for all participants in the educational process. Students are encouraged to create and share educational artifacts and thereby actively contribute to the development of knowledge repository. On the other hand, teachers are enabled to publish lecture resources, communicate with students, comment on shared and integrated artifacts, and evaluate completed educational e-activities. Considering that usability represents a necessary condition for an effective learning, it affects the adoption and use of created artifacts in e-learning settings. Although Web 2.0 applications are widely used for educational purposes, a consolidated methodology for the assessment of artifacts resulting from their use is still not available. The work presented in this paper is the first step towards a comprehensive framework for evaluating the usability of educational artifacts created with Web 2.0 applications. Following the standard procedure for instrument development, we conducted an empirical study during which specific pedagogical and technical attributes that capture certain usability facets of educational artifacts created with Web 2.0 applications were identified. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.