A comparative study on quality characteristics in designing educational applications

Abstract

Traditional learning methods have significantly changed with the adaptation of modern technologies. Teachers and students have become more interested to build their knowledge when exploring learning materials using various devices and applications. ISO/IEC 25010:2011 and ISO 9241-11:2008 are referred to regarding five quality characteristics in designing educational applications. This paper reports the comparative study that investigates the quality characteristics in existing educational applications by applying the Kirkpatrick Model, which comprises four logical levels in the educational process. The investigation of the quality characteristics involved four types of online educational applications. The analysis shows that more than half (56.66%) of the compared characteristics were not found in the selected educational applications. Thus, the study concludes that the compared educational applications remain to have issues if software developers or software engineers do not consider the five quality characteristics, which include user interface aesthetics, appropriateness recognisability, understandability, effectiveness and satisfaction from the users’ perspectives.