Title: An experimental study of web usability to encourage life-long learning

Authors: Linda Lim

Addresses: School of Information Technology, Murdoch University, South St, Murdoch, 6150, Western Australia

Abstract: This paper aims to investigate the role of cultural differences in the usability of websites to encourage life-long learning. The effect of culture on website usability are examined to establish how websites can be designed to match various cultures, by dealing with specific factors that affect localisation and internationalisation of websites and user preferences. The rationale is to examine whether websites are effective for specific cultural groups or for a general population of users. A small-scale experiment has been carried out to test the success of the research methodology and design. The results from that small-scale experiment have indicated that the materials and protocols were suitable for the large-scale experiment, following specific alterations. This paper displays a synopsis of the experiment to encourage life-long learning and describes the overview of main conclusions of the large-scale experiment.

Keywords: cultural differences; website usability; website localisation; website internationalisation; life-long learning; culture; website design; user preferences; continuing education.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCEELL.2013.054287

International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, 2013 Vol.23 No.2, pp.118 - 127

Published online: 30 Dec 2013 *

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