USAGE AND USABILITY OF THE MATHEMATICAL WEB PAGES: An Example

The main goal of this paper is to consider the usage and usability testing of a virtual mathematical interface. The main sections of the Laboratory of Applied Mathematics at Lappeenranta University of Technology new Web pages will be also introduced here. The reason initiating the design of this interface was that, for some reason, the mathematical skills of new university students in Finland, as well as other countries, are not as good as one would expect. Students must revise high-school mathematics before starting their actual university studies, and computer-based study materials are one solution to this problem. The primary intention of this project was to offer mathematically less skilled students basic material in an appropriate manner that they could use independently and that would help them grasp the basic concepts in mathematics studies, which they require later on in their studies. In order to avoid reproducing, in the Internet already existing teaching material, the author decided to review the educational Web pages that had already been produced by other authors. Soon the author had found a sufficient amount of suitable educational Web pages for above-mentioned purposes. Finally, the Internet pages prepared here are ready to be checked, and usage as well as usability testing will be the methods used for testing.