Usability testing of e-learning system: a case study on Knowledge & Learning Management system (EKLAS) at Management Science University, Shah Alam / Rosidah Rosdi

Management Science University (MSU) is a private higher education institution that provide education at tertiary level in various field such as pharmacy, computer forensic, engineering, business, culinary arts, business, hospitality, business computing, information technology and medical. . Like any other higher education institutions, MSU have an e-learning system namely Knowledge & Learning Management System (EKLAS) that is designed to enable, teaching and learning through the use of internet technologies. The existence of a good e-learning system will give significant strategic advantages to an educational institution. The interface of e-learning system should be easy to use where student will be able to retrieve the content and not only focus on the interaction with the system. Therefore, usability plays an important role in the success of every e-learning system. However, based on preliminary study conducted with some students, they found out that it is difficult for them to acquire relevant information to their studies. Furthermore, usability testing has not been conducted since the EKLAS is developed. Therefore, this project aims to identify the usability problems of EKLAS and provide recommendations to improve the usability of EKLAS. This project specifically focuses on Management Science University, Shah Alam. Usability testing was conducted on five (5) participants where they had been interviewed and performed series of tasks to identify the usability problem of EKLAS. The results show that interface design of EKLAS is dull and unattractive. Certain materials is not accessible and important information not been included in the EKLAS system. The outcome of this project would assist the Information Technology & Innovation Centre Centre (ITIC) to identify usability problems that exist and provide a recommendation for them to improve the EKLAS. For future project, the usability testing could be extended to other branch campuses as well. Through conducting the usability testing in MSU campuses, comparative studies could be made possible. The studies could involve students from different faculties or focus on EKLAS usage among lecturers to see the usability of EKLAS from different perspectives.