Abstract

As more and more technology finds its way into language courses, the more complicated software-adoption decisions become. The area of human-computer interaction (HCI) has much to offer those of us in language teaching and research. While conceived specifically to aid in the design process, HCI testing tools such as the DECIDE framework can help language teachers and researchers get an idea of how usable a particular software package is before it is put to use on a wider scale. This small, preliminary study examined the usability of the learning management system (LMS) moodle�s registration process and assignment submission module. While users were generally successful in the intermediate tasks, one-half were not able to complete the final task of submitting an assignment. While more study is needed to confirm the causes, it is possible that both the lack of experience in a wide variety of computer-related tasks and the use of L2 in the interface played a part in the results.

The article was published in the internationally referreed journal, Language Issues. This journal has been published at the Prefectural University of Kumamoto since 1995.

Reference

Melton, J. (2006). The LMS moodle: A usability evaluation. Languages Issues 11/12(1), 1-24.