Evaluating the Usability of Educational Websites Based on Students' Preferences of Design Characteristics

This research investigated the relative importance of specific design criteria developed for the purpose of this research, in the evaluation of the usability of educational websites from the point view of students; it then evaluated the usability of nine educational websites based on students’ preferences. The results showed that content and navigation were the first and second preferred design categories to be considered while evaluating the usability of educational websites, while the organisation/architecture was the least important category. Also, the results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between males and females regarding only one category: the content. Females considered this to be the most important category while males considered it as the second most important. By contrast, the results showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the students of the two selected faculties (the Faculty of Information Technology and Science, and the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences) concerning the relative importance of the developed criteria based on their majors/specialisations. In general, the results showed that the majority of the students were satisfied with the usability of the Jordanian university websites. Specifically, the results showed the students were satisfied with the content and navigation (ease of use) of the tested websites, but dissatisfied with the design of the websites.