Further Evaluationh of VLEs using HCI and Educational Metrics

Under consideration are the general set of Human computer Interaction (HCI) and Educational principles from prominent authors in the field and the construction of a system for evaluating Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) with respect to the application of these HCI and Educational Principles. A frequency analysis of principles is used to obtain the most significant set. Metrics are devised to provide objective measures of these principles and a consistent testing regime is introduced. These principles are used to analyse the University VLE Blackboard. An open source VLE is also constructed with similar content to Blackboard courses so that a systematic comparison can be made. HCI and Educational metrics are determined for each VLE.