6.4
Following the presentation of the revised conceptual framework, the study can now be reviewed to consider how it fits into current literature about UX. The question could be asked: “What does this conceptual framework add and what is its contribution to the existing literature?” In reflecting on this question, the following UX notions and viewpoints should be considered:
In contextualising this research into the South African perspective, other recent UX studies and their findings have to be noted.
UX is a dynamic topic relevant to South African Higher Education Institutions.
In dealing with these notions, Pretorius, Hobbs and Fenn (2015)investigated the UX landscape of South Africa to gain insights into the current status of UX maturity in the country. The researchers wanted to find the reasons why UX practices are not applied in organisations, and what the challenges are to change the status quo to improve UX practises in organisations (Pretorius et al. 2015). Their study confirmed previous findings which determined that organisations cannot adhere to UX guidelines if there is no sufficient management support, adequate training for staff, awareness of UX, routine practices of UX and application of usability methodology and user-centred design processes (Pretorius & Calitz, 2014). Pretorius et al. (2015) accordingly address the components of the needs and skills of the user, the usability of the system and the organisational context.
Coherent to the findings of Pretorius and Calitz (2014), the current study found that the management support of the institution affects the prioritisation of tasks of the academic lecturers, which influence their motivation and dedication to utilise the LMS. The lecturers also indicated that they need specific training to create or use multimedia, which concurs with the study of Pretorius and Calitz (2014).
Cognisance is taken of Van Staden, Van Biljon and Kroeze's (2015) study that investigated the UX in the Higher Education (HE) context and presents an UX evaluation framework for online moderation or e-moderation. The constructs that the framework proposes for UX evaluation of an e-moderation system are inter alia, the people, the HE organisation, the system and the UX of the pragmatic and
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141 hedonic qualities of the system. These constructs correlate with elements in the current study which are the user (people), the system (e-moderation system) and the context (organisation).
The questionnaire used in this study was generated from the propositions in the conceptual framework for factors that could influence the UX of the academic when using an LMS. These derived questions were then combined with ten questions from the SUS questionnaire that were customised and contextualised to be suitable to use for an LMS in the context of the ODL institution. The SUS questionnaire was chosen to be used as the usability metric for UX in this research. The question could be asked why the researcher did not use the existing, available and widely used UX questionnaires - for example, the UX questionnaire (UEQ) (Laugwitz, Held & Schrepp, 2008; Schrepp, Hinderks & Thomaschewski, 2014) or the Attrakdiff questionnaire (Hassenzahl, Burmester & Koller, 2003, 2007; Wetzlinger, Auinger & Dörflinger, 2014).
Considering the literature (Laugwitz, Held & Schrepp, 2008; Schrepp, Hinderks & Thomaschewski, 2014) the UEQ consists of 26 questions which mainly measure the concept of attractiveness, composed by the concepts of pragmatic quality (perspicuity, efficiency and dependability) and hedonic quality (stimulation and novelty). It seems that these concepts are only considering two of the UX components, namely the user and the system. Questions about the circumstances in which the system is used, or in other words the ‘context’ component, were not included in the UEQ questionnaire. Therefore, this questionnaire could not be used.
The AttrakDiff questionnaire from Hassenzahl et al. (2003) measures hedonic stimulation, identity and pragmatic qualities of software products, with a total of 28 questions. The evaluation focusses on how the attractiveness of the system (or product) is experienced, in terms of usability and appearance and whether optimisation is possible. The items that are tested are pragmatic quality, hedonic quality and attractiveness. It seems if the ‘context’ component was also omitted in this questionnaire. Therefore, this questionnaire could also not be used.
The data analyses of the current study showed that the context component has a significant impact on the UX. Consequently, it is necessary to include questions in the before mentioned questionnaires which would take the circumstances of the user when the system is used, into consideration. This requirement informed the decision to develop a new questionnaire which included the factors that could influence the academic lecturer when using the LMS in an ODL institution associated with the three identified components (user, system and context). A
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142 contribution of this study is thus to include the context as a construct in the data collection instrument of UX studies.
A study that was done by Ssekakubo, Suleman and Marsden (2011) established that a reason why LMSs fails at universities is not because of the choice of technology (or system), but rather due to institutions’ lack of user-support to facilitate e-learning. This finding supports the notion that the context has a noteworthy impact on the UX. In turn, Zaharias and Pappas (2016) propose in their research entitled A UX perspective of quality management of LMSs, that the e-learning context requires additional dimensions for pragmatic quality measurement of an LMS. They propose four contextual evaluation dimensions in e-learning, which are pragmatic quality; authentic learning; autonomy and relatedness; and motivation and engagement. Learning and instructional designs should be considered as additional dimensions for usability. The dimension of authentic learning has been included to accommodate different learning methods and styles. The dimension of autonomy and relatedness attends to the student’s need to be involved in authentic learning activities and to be part of the learning community. The dimension of motivation and engagement emphasises the influence that extrinsic and intrinsic motivation can have on the learning experience. This relates to engagement of the learner which needs intriguing and trendy technology to stay committed in the learning process. All of these dimensions endorse the importance of the context of use or circumstances where the user interacts with the system.
Summary
6.5
The identification of associated factors in the literature that could have an impact on the UX of academic lecturing staff in their endeavours to facilitate courses online with the use of an LMS in an ODL institution, were presented in the conceptual framework. The identified components and factors were categorised in order to link the concepts with the research questions.
The conceptual framework was the outcome of a study which commenced with a literature review regarding UX, the user, the system and the context of use. These concepts were then further explored in the literature by extending the components user to the academic lecturer; system to the LMS; and extending the context of use to the ODL institution. The draft conceptual framework was compiled by the arrangement of UX components and identified factors. Subsequently, the draft conceptual framework was evaluated by experts and after the necessary amendments were done, the data collection instrument was derived from the propositions in the framework. After the
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143 quantitative and qualitative analyses were converged and triangulated, the findings were incorporated to present the revised conceptual framework.
The appropriateness of the conceptual framework was reflected on by considering existing recent research that has been conducted regarding UX. The research sources consulted for this purpose, focused on research of UX maturity in South Africa, another UX study in HE in SA, UX in management of an LMS, and UX questionnaires.
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CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 7:
Introduction
7.1
In this final chapter, the research results are briefly summarised with reference to the research questions. A summary of the chapters of the dissertation is given. An overview of the study is discussed and the success of the research in answering the research question is reviewed. The contributions made by this study are reviewed and an overview of limitations and restrictions is given. A reflection that leads to suggestions for further research is followed by concluding remarks.