An Evaluation of the Usability of IT Faculty Educational Portal at University of Benghazi
Evaluation of educational portals is an important
subject area that needs more attention from researchers. A university
that has an educational portal which is difficult to use and interact by
teachers or students or management staff can reduce the position and
reputation of the university. Therefore, it is important to have the
ability to make an evaluation of the quality of e-services the
university provide to improve them over time.
The present study evaluates the usability of the Information
Technology Faculty portal at University of Benghazi. Two evaluation
methods were used: a questionnaire-based method and an online
automated tool-based method. The first method was used to measure
the portal's external attributes of usability (Information, Content and
Organization of the portal, Navigation, Links and Accessibility,
Aesthetic and Visual Appeal, Performance and Effectiveness and
educational purpose) from users' perspectives, while the second
method was used to measure the portal's internal attributes of
usability (number and size of HTML files, number and size of images,
load time, HTML check errors, browsers compatibility problems,
number of bad and broken links), which cannot be perceived by the
users. The study showed that some of the usability aspects have been
found at the acceptable level of performance and quality, and some
others have been found otherwise. In general, it was concluded that
the usability of IT faculty educational portal generally acceptable.
Recommendations and suggestions to improve the weakness and
quality of the portal usability are presented in this study.
[1] A. Islam, and K. Tsuji, "Evaluation of Usage of University Websites in
Bangladesh", DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology,
Vol. 31, No. 6, November 2011, pp. 469-479.
[2] J. Junior, and C. Coutinho, "The Conception of A Rubric to Evaluate
Educational Portals on the Web", Braga, Portugal.
[3] K. Boklaschuk, and K. Caisse, "Evaluation of Educational Web Sites",
2001.
[4] S. Vultur, and D. Marincas, "Web Site Projects Evaluation - A Case
Study of Romanian Faculties of Economics Web Sites", Journal of
Applied Quantitative Methods, Vol. 2, No. 3, Fall 2007, pp. 289-301.
[5] M. Ivory, and A. Chevalier, "A Study of Automated Web Site
Evaluation Tools" Technical Report, 2002.
[6] L. Olsina, et al., "Assessing the Quality of Academic Websites: A Case
Study", 2010, Argentina.
[7] J. Lencastre, and J. Chaves, "A Usability Evaluation of Educational
Websites", 2003, Portugal.
[8] J. Alfakhri, "Using Information Technology in Education", EManagement
Conference, 2010, Libya.
[9] S. Mustafa, and L. Al-Zoua-bi, "Usability of the Academic Websites of
Jordan's Universities An Evaluation Study", 2007, Irbid, Jordan.
[10] NetMechanic Inc., HTML Toolbox online,
http://myhosting.com/NetMechanic/htmltoolbox.aspx, (Accessed on 29-
30, May 2012).
[11] Microsys App. Co., A1 Website Download 4.0.4 Software,
http://www.microsystools.com, (Accessed on 28, May 2012).
[1] A. Islam, and K. Tsuji, "Evaluation of Usage of University Websites in
Bangladesh", DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology,
Vol. 31, No. 6, November 2011, pp. 469-479.
[2] J. Junior, and C. Coutinho, "The Conception of A Rubric to Evaluate
Educational Portals on the Web", Braga, Portugal.
[3] K. Boklaschuk, and K. Caisse, "Evaluation of Educational Web Sites",
2001.
[4] S. Vultur, and D. Marincas, "Web Site Projects Evaluation - A Case
Study of Romanian Faculties of Economics Web Sites", Journal of
Applied Quantitative Methods, Vol. 2, No. 3, Fall 2007, pp. 289-301.
[5] M. Ivory, and A. Chevalier, "A Study of Automated Web Site
Evaluation Tools" Technical Report, 2002.
[6] L. Olsina, et al., "Assessing the Quality of Academic Websites: A Case
Study", 2010, Argentina.
[7] J. Lencastre, and J. Chaves, "A Usability Evaluation of Educational
Websites", 2003, Portugal.
[8] J. Alfakhri, "Using Information Technology in Education", EManagement
Conference, 2010, Libya.
[9] S. Mustafa, and L. Al-Zoua-bi, "Usability of the Academic Websites of
Jordan's Universities An Evaluation Study", 2007, Irbid, Jordan.
[10] NetMechanic Inc., HTML Toolbox online,
http://myhosting.com/NetMechanic/htmltoolbox.aspx, (Accessed on 29-
30, May 2012).
[11] Microsys App. Co., A1 Website Download 4.0.4 Software,
http://www.microsystools.com, (Accessed on 28, May 2012).
@article{"International Journal of Business, Human and Social Sciences:59061", author = "Nasser M. Amaitik and Mohammed J. El-Sahli", title = "An Evaluation of the Usability of IT Faculty Educational Portal at University of Benghazi", abstract = "Evaluation of educational portals is an important
subject area that needs more attention from researchers. A university
that has an educational portal which is difficult to use and interact by
teachers or students or management staff can reduce the position and
reputation of the university. Therefore, it is important to have the
ability to make an evaluation of the quality of e-services the
university provide to improve them over time.
The present study evaluates the usability of the Information
Technology Faculty portal at University of Benghazi. Two evaluation
methods were used: a questionnaire-based method and an online
automated tool-based method. The first method was used to measure
the portal's external attributes of usability (Information, Content and
Organization of the portal, Navigation, Links and Accessibility,
Aesthetic and Visual Appeal, Performance and Effectiveness and
educational purpose) from users' perspectives, while the second
method was used to measure the portal's internal attributes of
usability (number and size of HTML files, number and size of images,
load time, HTML check errors, browsers compatibility problems,
number of bad and broken links), which cannot be perceived by the
users. The study showed that some of the usability aspects have been
found at the acceptable level of performance and quality, and some
others have been found otherwise. In general, it was concluded that
the usability of IT faculty educational portal generally acceptable.
Recommendations and suggestions to improve the weakness and
quality of the portal usability are presented in this study.", keywords = "Automated tools-based evaluation, Educational portals, Evaluation criteria, Questionnaire-based evaluation, Usability evaluation.", volume = "7", number = "6", pages = "1722-7", }