THE USABILITY OF DIGITAL LIBRARY LEARNING RESOURCES: DEVELOPER PERCEPTIONS OF THE RESULTS OF AN EMPIRICAL AUTOMATED USABILITY EVALUATION APPROACH

This two-part study focused first on gaining insight into the current state of Web-based learning site usability, and second into better understanding of the perceptions of Web-based learning site builders regarding the usefulness of usability analysis results generated by an automated tool. Part one of this study involved analysis of usability attributes of Web-based learning sites using an empirically-based automated Web usability evaluation tool. Part two of the study involved Web-based surveys focused on the perceptions of Web-based learning site builders about Web usability. A literature review focused on the topics of usability, Web usability, Web-based learning, Web-based learning usability evaluation, and automated Web site usability evaluation tools supports the rationale for this study. To begin the study, an automated usability evaluation, using a software program called WebTango developed at the University of California at Berkeley (UCB), was performed on Web sites that are part of the DLESE Reviewed Collection (DRC), a subset of the educational resources in the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE)