aalborg univeristy moodle page information architecture and usability review

8/13/2019 Aalborg Univeristy Moodle Page Information Architecture and Usability Review

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Aalborg University Moodle page Information Architecture

and Usability – Evaluation for Improvement



Aalborg University Moodle Page Information Architecture and Usability -

Evaluation For Improvement

#his study assesses information architecture and usability of Aalborg University $AAU%

course management system $Moodle%& AAU Moodle is the main information system that university

students are using in order to get information regarding courses and communicate 'ith teachers&

#herefore( the information architecture and usability issues that are related to effective( efficient and

engaging use of the system has a great impact on the )uality of the studies& #his study tries to

provide ans'ers to the follo'ing )uestions* +Do the information architecture and usability of

Moodle effectively supports the students in their study process, -o' it can be improved,.

#he AAU Moodle has different user groups* students( teachers( study secretaries& #his study

f h i h l h i d &



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to ans'er the research )uestions&

#he sub3ect of evaluation 'as the most important functionality : pages of both current and ne'

version of AAU Moodle& An issue of information architecture and usability 'as considered

anything that prevents tas6 completion9 ta6es someone +off;course.9 creates some level of

confusion9 produces an error9 performs the 'rong action& $#ullis < Albert( !1!%&

#hese issues 'ere grouped in = categories $consistency( navigation( necessity and

usefulness( labeling( search( design% and assessed the severity of each issue& $see Appendi2 A for a

full list of criteria that 'ere used in the evaluation%& >n the one side of severity spectrum 'ere high

severity issues that has significant impact on usability and on other side – lo' severity – cosmetic

issues& It 'as possible that one issue belongs to several categories& ?elo' are the summary of

evaluation results& #he numbers at the categories indicates ho' many information architecture and

usability issues : problems 'ere discovered in each of the Moodle versions&

# bl 1



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#he heuristic evaluation of both Moodle versions revealed that most of the problems of

AAU Moodle pages are related to necessity and usefulness of different 'eb page elements $ =

issues in the ne' version and 5 issues in the previous%& Bor instance( is that necessary to sho'

+Cead more. button at each ne's item if pressing on this button in the ne2t screen appears the same

information,9 is that necessary and useful to sho' students help files that are related only to the

teachers version of the site,9 is that necessary to sho' menu that allo's to change the listing of

replies if there is no possibility for user to add a reply, $Bigure 1%



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has no function9 it is not possible to distinguish the active menu category& $Bigure % In both

versions of Moodle there are also several consistency and functionality problems in the breadcrumb

navigation&

Big& * Usability issues in global navigation $Moodle version &0%



=

considered an issue& Screen;shots 'ere mar6ed( commented and managed using 4otism&io design

collaboration soft'are& #he mar6ed screen;shoots are available here &

#here are several reasons that e2plains 'hy issues li6e these are present in the sites*

shortcomings in the implementation( testing and maintenance process9 lac6 of site usage analytics(

limitations of pro3ect resources ; time and budget&

&uestionnaire and Findings From Moodle Users

#he )uestionnaire included 11 )uestions about the usage of different functions that are

available in current Moodle version( information architecture and usability issues as 'ell )uestions

that as6ed 'hat are the issues that users particularly li6e : disli6e and 'hat 'ould they li6e to see in

the ne' version of Moodle& It included closed;ended )uestions( attitude )uestions $semantic

differential scales% as 'ell as open )uestions& $@ollins( !1!% $see Appendi2 @ for full list of

)uestions and provided ans'ers%& Fuestionnaire 'as distributed to 1= master students of

http://www.notism.io/

https://www.notism.io/-/b2d75baf4136n%20

https://www.e-formas.lv/f/MeUzjNOxO6pNHLPM

http://www.notism.io/

https://www.notism.io/-/b2d75baf4136n%20

https://www.e-formas.lv/f/MeUzjNOxO6pNHLPM

http://www.vizzualforms.com/



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rades( Sign;Up for Bree Study Activities and @ourse Cegistration are in a great importance for

them& #he information architecture and usability of the site 'ould benefit if the lin6s and sections

that really are important for the users 'ould be placed first and be more prominent as lin6s not only

connects the pages but also reflects the importance and relevance& $7albach( !! % #he study

sho'ed that such sections as ?logs( -elp( Search( 4et'or6 servers and Internal Messages most of

the students do not use at all( therefore these sections could be removed or placed a'ay from the

main content areas& -aving said that( it should also be said that additional in)uiries and

clarifications regarding this important matter 'ould be necessary as the indicated importance of

such sections as rades( Sing up for free study activities and >ffers for students do not correlate

'ith the actual use of these sections& It could be that these really are important sections for the users

but they have been poorly implemented or do not contain appropriate content( therefore hasn t been

used&



professors should present courses and material& It is very confusing and no consistency at all&.

Bull list of the findings from the )uestionnaires are available in Appendi2 ?&

%trategy for Improvement

#he ne' version of AAU Moodle $v& &0% definitely has a potential to become significantly

better than the previous version $v&1&/% as it is based on updated Moodle core and at some e2tent

incorporates the ne' design guidelines& #he home page is less cluttered 'ith rarely used features

and content( it sho's recent activities as 'ell as courses can be categorized by +semester. and

+cross;semester.& #hese all are issues that users mentioned that could be improved in the previous

version& 4evertheless the ne' version still includes several fundamental IA and usability challenges

as 'ell as many minor issues&

Some of the IA and usability issues in categories li6e consistency( necessity and usefulness(

l b li d d i b i d ) i il d h h ff h ld b f d



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'eferences

@ollins( -& $ !1!%&Creative Research: The Theory and Practice of Research for the Creative

Industries & ?loomsbury Academic& Cetrieved from http*::goo&gl: z@K#E

7albach( L& $ !! %& Designing Web Navigation & > Ceilly Media& Cetrieved from

http*::goo&gl:mF4LKf

7aushi6( A& $ !!8%&Web Analytics: An Hour A Day W!Cd" & Niley& com& Cetrieved from

http*::goo&gl: /#NUI

Morville( &( < Cosenfeld( & $ !! %& Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing

#arge$%cale Web %ites & > Ceilly Media& Cetrieved from http*::goo&gl:GKU"f' 4ielsen( L& $1//5%&&sability 'ngineering & Elsevier Science& Cetrieved from http*::goo&gl:06yf3e

Saleh( 7& A& $ !!/%&%oft(are 'ngineering & L& Coss ub& Cetrieved from http*::goo&gl:Kz' -I

#ullis( #&( < Albert( N& $ !1!%& )easuring the &ser '*+erience: Collecting, Analy-ing, and

Presenting &sability )etrics & Elsevier Science& Cetrieved from http*::goo&gl:z KcA



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Appendi( A

@ategories of Information Architecture and Usability Issues of AAU Moodle ages&

1& @onsistency $Is the element and action consistent 'ith other elements in the page and

bet'een pages, Is the element consistent 'ith 'eb standards,%

& 4avigation $Is the navigation easy to use, Is it 'ell organized and is the relationships

bet'een sections clear,%

"& 4ecessity and Usefulness $Is the element of the 'ebsite necessary and useful in order to

fulfill the purpose,%

5& abeling $Are the labels appropriate and consistent,%

0& Search $Is the search functionality easy to use, Is it effective,%

=& Design $Is the design appropriate and functional,%



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Appendi( )

Summary of Fuestionnaire Cesults&

• >n average students loo6 into the Moodle several times a 'ee6 or more fre)uently

• #he importance of Moodle sections for students $most important listed first%* My @ourses9

Brom the study administration9 Administration – rades9 Sign up for free study activities9

@ourse Cegistration9 Borms9 Semester archive9 Study guide9 >ffers for students9 Message

boards9 Administration – rofile9 Upcoming events9 eople – participants9 4et'or6 server9

Search9 ?logs9 -elp9 Internal Messages9 >n;line users&

• Sections that most of the people haven t used or only used once* ?logs9 -elp9 Search9

4et'or6 servers9 Internal Messages&

• Most of the students thin6 that the )uality of Information architecture $ abels9 4avigation9



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function that 'ould allo' to see 'hat is changed : added( for instance( if teacher has

changed literature list&

• #he most important functionality : content that people 'ould li6e to see in mobile enabled

Moodle site : application is an easy to read schedule( upcoming classes( course material(

+home'or6s. and forum posts&



Appendi( C

Survey Fuestions and Ceceived Ans'ers&

aalborg univeristy moodle page information architecture and usability review

Documents