Open University survey on educational website design and usability
News summary
For several years, the Open University has been investigating educational website usability and design, and have found that few researchers have considered discipline-specific aspects. In 2004, their own studies pointed to there being some discipline-specific elements in the design of language learning websites. This led them to posit that there may be deeper issues involved than those that can be addressed by generic guidelines. The OU would now like to move this research forward by asking colleagues in different disciplines about their own experience of educational website design and development.
For this purpose, they have developed an online questionnaire, (http://elsa.open.ac.uk/usability.survey) which should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete. It is aimed at both academic content specialists and website developers/designers.
Survey findings
A summary of findings from the Open University survey about educational website usability will be published in late 2005 on the Open University's public Knowledge Network (http://kn.open.ac.uk/public).
