Usability attributes in virtual learning environments

The emphasis of many studies investigating Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), including our own, has been on evaluating whether learning has occurred and in determining what factors might have influenced learning. Participants are typically asked to perform certain tasks and answer many questions about their characteristics, preferences, experiences and what they learnt. But what do participants see as relevant to tell us; perhaps they think we have missed something important? To answer this question, we chose three diverse studies, concerning realism, interactivity and immersion, and analyse the free-text comments to see if any patterns could be found in what users were wanting to tell us. Based on the analysis and literature, we suggest a set of categories and usability attributes to be considered when designing and evaluating VLEs.