Desirability and Discoverability of E-learning Study Programs

Petros Topouzis

Bachelor's thesis

Abstract:

The aim of this thesis is to conduct a qualitative research that investigates the general awareness and discoverability of electronic learning. Moreover, it emphasizes on measuring the cognitive load that is required by the students in order to search and find an online study program.In the first part, evidence of the growing cost in regards to higher education is presented. Additionally, E-learning is defined and its history is introduced, showcasing its evolution over the years. Subsequently, its advantages and disadvantages are analyzed and compared to the traditional way of studying.In the second part, the study’s purpose and recruiting criteria are presented in detail. The subjects of this study were five graduate students who majored in various academic fields and undertook the formative research plan which included a pretest personal interview, a usability test, a debrief and a system usability scale survey. In conclusion, the study reveals that the participants feel that they overpaid to receive higher education, the online search for Master’s or PHD degrees is tedious, most of the websites that belong to accredited universities do not adhere to the design principles that promote discoverability and usability, the dedicated websites for searching e-learning study programs are usable, but not being used and the E-learning platforms have well designed systems. Ultimately, a student persona is created in order to provide a fictional, but realistic description of a typical or potential user of e-learning.

Keywords

e-learning systems, formative research, qualitative data, e-learning discoverability, e-learning awareness, usability testing, pre-test interview, student persona, SUS survey, student e-learning cognitive load

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 23. 11. 2017

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 9. 1. 2018
• Supervisor: Ing. Pavel Čech, Ph.D.
• Reader: Ing. Tereza Otčenášková, BA

University of Hradec Králové

Faculty of Informatics and Management

Bachelor programme / field:
Systémové inženýrství a informatika / Informační management