Usability evaluation of the Moodle system from the teachers' perspective

Abstract

This article presents an empirical study performed to evaluate the Moodle usability, from the point of view of teachers who are using this system to support their classes. The usability evaluation followed a model, proposed by the authors, which includes a set of usability attributes, a list of questions defined to get the data for evaluating the attributes, and a scale of qualitative metrics used to measure the considered attributes. Usability is concerned with the suitability of the software for its users, defined in this work through the following attributes: intuitiveness, operationability, efficiency of use, learnability, attractiveness, and user satisfaction. The proposed usability model is presented and the execution of the empirical study is detailed. The results obtained through the empirical study suggested that, in general, the Moodle has a satisfactory usability level. Besides proposing the usability model and evaluating the software, the study aims at contributing to the software quality improvement, primarily regarding to educational systems. © 2008 IADIS. Software usability, Software evaluation, E-Learning, Moodle System, Learning Management System.