Usability Requirements for Learning Management Systems in Open Distance Electronic Learning Environments: Considering Lecturers’ Views on Students’ Needs

Abstract

The 2020 health pandemic brought renewed interest in using learning management systems (LMSs) to deliver educational services as routinely done in open distance and electronic learning (ODeL) environments. LMSs usability has been researched but the lecturers’ perspective remains unexplored. The purpose of this study was to propose validated usability guidelines for an LMS in an ODeL context. A set of usability requirements was abstracted from the literature and used as the basis for a heuristic evaluation (HE) of the institution’s LMS. These results of the HE was triangulated with three other usability evaluation methods including usability testing with eye tracking, a post-test system usability scale (SUS) questionnaire and interviews. The primary contribution is the validated usability requirements for ODeL LMSs based on the lecturers’ perspective. A secondary contribution is the triangulation approach to evaluating the guidelines in situ which confirmed HE as a valid evaluation method for LMSs.