THE USEFULNESS AND USABILITY OF MOODLE LMS AS EMPLOYED BY ZARQA UNIVERSITY IN JORDAN

Hasan, Layla

doi:10.4301/S1807-1775201916009

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Original Article • JISTEM J.Inf.Syst. Technol. Manag. 16 • 2019 • https://doi.org/10.4301/S1807-1775201916009 copy

THE USEFULNESS AND USABILITY OF MOODLE LMS AS EMPLOYED BY ZARQA UNIVERSITY IN JORDAN

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

This research investigates the usefulness and usability of Moodle LMS, as employed by a case study university (Zarqa University), based on students’ experience with Moodle LMS on desktop/laptop and mobile/tablet interfaces. A total of 320 students participated in this research in two stages. The results of this research showed that the students at Zarqa University used frequently only two features on Moodle on both its interfaces. The results of this research also showed that a large number of the students required the provision of 15 features on the local instance of Moodle which are not currently provided. Furthermore, the results showed that a large number of the students identified nine usability problems on the interfaces of Moodle, and a large number suggested nine improvements to the design of Moodle to make it more usable. Finally, this research suggests recommendations to improve the usefulness and usability of Moodle LMS as used by the case study university.

Keywords:
Moodle; Learning Management Systems; LMS; usability; students’ perception; Zarqa University.

No.	Features Supported by Moodle	Likert Score
No.	Features Supported by Moodle	Desktop/ Laptop Devices	Mobile / Tablet Devices
1	Downloading materials and learning resources, which included: course outlines, presentations, books, assignments	5.54	5.43
2	Uploading assignments	5.52	5.14
3	Following-up attendances and absences for the registered courses	3.74	3.75
4	Communicating with the teachers using messages	2.08	2.48
5	Displaying grades and feedback/comments on the submitted assignments	3.38	3.81
6	Evaluating the faculty members/teachers at the end of every semester	2.58	2.95

No.	Features not Supported by Moodle	Likert Score
No.	Features not Supported by Moodle	Desktop/ Laptop Devices	Mobile / Tablet Devices
Communication
1	Group chat between students and teachers for the registered courses	4.73	4.05
2	Online meeting with teachers who teach the registered courses	4.58	3.71
3	Communication among students: e.g. allowing them to send messages to each other	5.27	5.5
Presentation
4	Displaying the material and learning resources (course outlines, presentations, books) of the courses before registration	5.78	5.65
5	Displaying previous exam questions or information about the nature of the course exams	5.81	5.4
6	Displaying recorded videos of lectures given by the course teachers	5.23	5.25
7	Displaying courses registered by other students	4.36	4.95
8	Displaying the dates for the first, second and final exams	6.46	6.0
9	Displaying the marks for the first, second and final exams	6.27	5.65
10	Displaying the study plans (outlines) for all the courses	5.96	5.85
11	Displaying a monthly evaluation for students in each course and providing comments for them regarding their progress on the course	6.0	5.14
12	Displaying department advertisements, news and university news	5.12	5.25
Interaction
13	Providing the user with feedback after carrying out any action during his/her interaction with the system	5.35	5.7
14	Allowing the students to provide suggestions, comments or feedback	5.73	5.0
15	Allowing students to make changes to uploaded assignments, such as updating/ deleting	5.44	5.3
16	Sending an alert (e.g. a message to the students’ mobiles or emails) when a teacher uploads new material or an assignment	6.37	5.93
17	Sending a reminder to students regarding submitting a required assignment or material before their deadline	5.81	5.55
18	Supplying support and help to students	5.79	5.5

No.	Usability Problems	Likert Score
No.	Usability Problems	Desktop/ Laptop Devices	Mobile / Tablet Devices
Design
1	Inconsistency in the language of the interface	5.28	5.1
2	Inconsistency in the colours of the design	3.52	3.45
3	Inappropriate choice of colours	3.23	3.65
4	Unaesthetic design of the pages	3.76	3.2
5	Inappropriate choice of font size; small font size	3.12	3.5
Links
6	Links were not working	3.9	3.8
7	Moodle link on the home page of the university is not obvious	5.5	5.1
8	The location of the login links on the home page of Moodle is not obvious	5.76	5.75
Content
9	Inappropriate content: the home page	5.76	5.9
10	Moodle pages don’t have links to the registration page or to the home page of the university	5.04	5.6
11	On the navigation menu, the courses are displayed by their numbers and not by their names which is confusing and not clear	5.28	5.5
12	The titles of the courses are displayed only in the Arabic language, even though there are a lot of foreign (non-Arab) students	4.27	4.5
13	The student can view a display of the titles of all courses in all faculties but he/she cannot access any of them	5.85	5.55
Ease of use, speed and internal search function
14	Not easy to submit an assignment	5.88	5.2
15	Slow downloading of Moodle’s pages	3.76	3.55
16	The location of the internal search function is inappropriate	5.52	5.05
17	Not easy to use and to read since the size of the screen is small	NA	3.7

No.	Suggested Improvements to the Design of Moodle	Likert Score
No.	Suggested Improvements to the Design of Moodle	Desktop/ Laptop Devices	Mobile / Tablet Devices
Design
1	Change the interface to support the Arabic language	5.38	5.15
2	Improve the design of Moodle’s pages	5.23	5.8
3	Change the colours used in Moodle’s pages to be consistent	4.88	4.8
4	Change the colours of the design, such as using the blue colour	5.48	5.93
5	Change the font size used for the website (increase the font size)	5.44	5.55
6	Change the design so that the size of the pages would be adjusted automatically according to the size of the mobile screen (free screen size)	NA	5.8
Links, content and ease of use
7	Make the link to open Moodle more visible: e.g. place the link at the top of the home page and use a larger font size	6.08	5.75
8	Improve the speed of downloading Moodle’s pages	6.46	5.4
9	Add a link to the library system	6.2	5.14
10	Make Moodle easier to use	5.63	5.85

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[1] Email: l.hasan2@yahoo.co.uk