Evaluating the Accessibility Capabilities of the User Interface Environment of Virtual Education Systems

The present research has evaluated the accessibility capabilities of the user interface environment of virtual teaching systems

The research is of an applied type, which was carried out by a survey method of the type of revelatory evaluation. The statistical population is six virtual & real time teaching systems "Adobe Connect, sky room, Skype, Big Blue Button, Google Meet, Gharar". The research tool is the localized evaluation list corresponding to the virtual teaching systems inside the country in accordance with the evaluation indicators listed in ISO 9241, which indicators have been identified and prioritized using B.W.M. In order to answer the research questions, descriptive statistics and Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) model decision making method were used. In this method, the points obtained from the evaluation of each software in each index were multiplied by the B.W.M. weighting coefficient determined for each index and based on the result, the user interface environment of the virtual teaching systems was compared with each other in terms of accessibility features. The research hypotheses were examined through the Kruskal-Walli’s test.

After examining the accessibility features of the user interface of the studied virtual teaching systems, it was determined that Skype, Adobe Connect, Big Blue Button, Sky room, google Meet, respectively, and according to the features related to the accessibility has been ranked first to sixth. No significant difference was observed between of compliance with the evaluation indicators of the accessibility capabilities of the interaction environment (user interface) of the virtual education systems in four general indicators in the systems. The highest mean of compliance with the level of accessibility related to pointer tools and compatibility with assistive technologies and the lowest mean of compliance with the level of accessibility related to keyboard input were detected in the studied community

By using the findings of the present research, we can get a clear vision of the existing reality of the possibilities of virtual teaching systems. The findings of the present research are a guide for the selection and use of the mentioned systems for teachers, officials and managers of education centers. Therefore, conducting this research is necessary to explain the future horizons and it is hoped that it will have a significant contribution to improve the virtual education situation in the IRAN and the results of the research findings can be effective in improving the accessibility of these systems and educational institutions.