Toward Improving the Usability of Course Management Systems for Blind Users

Abstract

Usability is more than just accessibility. Whereas accessibility in the context of a Course Management System (CMS) is the basic capability of blind users to access CMS features, usability refers to the ease-of-use of CMS features. Despite improvements in accessibility, studies have found that the usability of CMSs systems for blind users is lagging behind. That is, blind users are still challenged using features of CMSs, even though they are accessible. Poor usability of CMSs puts blind users at risk of being excluded from desired learning experiences and outcomes. This study was motivated by the need to understand why CMSs are difficult to use by blind users, even though they comply with accessibility guidelines. Data was collected for this through usability testing with blind users using Moodle CMS. The usability testing revealed that that poor data presentation, poor elements layout, confusing feature functions, difficulty of finding relevant information, faulty link destination, complex page organization and structure, ambiguous task workflow, and lack of awareness of the system status present major challenges to blind users. Redesign solutions were suggested to help blind users overcome the identified usability problems, particularly with respect to navigation. These solutions went through another round of usability testing to ensure their effectiveness. The findings suggest that incorporating the suggested redesign solutions into the design of a CMS user interface have the potential to eliminate the navigation complexity experienced by blind users. Hence one contribution of this thesis is the development of design guidelines for CMS user interfaces for blind users. It is hoped that the redesigned Moodle user interface can better support blind users learning tasks in e-learning settings. Incorporating the developed design guidelines from this study is expected to improve the usability characteristics of other CMSs for blind users and hence improve their learning outcomes and experiences.