Determining the importance of design features on usable educational websites

Abstract

This research investigated the relative importance of specific design criteria developed for the purpose of this research, in the evaluation of the usability of educational websites from the point view of students. The results showed that content and navigation were the first and second preferred design categories to be considered while evaluating the usability of educational websites, while the architecture/organisation was the leasts important category. Also, the results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between males and females regarding only one category: the content. Females considered this to be the most important category while males considered it as the second most important. By contrast, the results showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the students of the two selected faculties (the Faculty of Information Technology and Science, and the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences) concerning the relative importance of the developed criteria based on their majors/specialisations. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.