To evaluate interface usability of an e-course platform: User perspective

As a core term in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), the analysis of system usability continues to be one of priority focuses of HCI researchers. Through users’ evaluation, a system’s inherent problems can be learned and its design be improved. This research was conducted to obtain the overall evaluation from the participants over the e-Course platform based on the data gathered from questionnaires, interviews and scenario simulations. This study recruited five participants, three of whom were professors and the rest were teacher’s assistant. We used nine constructs to evaluate interface usability of the system. The research results showed that the average scores of three scenarios from high to low were S1a, S1b and S2. In terms of usability goals, efficiency, learn ability, utility, effectiveness, their average score is high than 3. In terms of user’s experiences goals, the average score is less then 3, but near to 3. Overall, the interface of e-Course platform is ease to use and acceptable. Finally, we organized interview results and provided nine suggestions for a director of computer department and system designer. These suggestions can let them to know about the priority of system improvement, and provide a useful reference for practice.   Key words: System usability, usability goals, user experience goals, human-computer interaction, user perspective.