Developing and Evaluating a Mobile App for an Online Course: A Usability Study

Pew Research reports that 10% of Americans rely heavily on a smartphone for high-speed internet access at home (2015). This trend is heavily present among low-income households (Smith, 2015). A digital divide manifested by varying broadband access may exist among online students, and online course materials should be easily accessible on mobile devices. The author developed a mobile app for her online management information systems (MIS) course, BUSA 345. This study looked into the usability of the “BUSA 345 app” in the four areas – design, navigation, ease of use, and usefulness.

Two rounds of studies were conducted. Seven students with an average age of 26.7 years old participated in the study. Participants used their smartphones to perform tasks based on the app. The pre-test survey revealed that participants had 66 apps on average installed on their smartphone and scored high in tech efficacy. However, they had only three apps for school on average. The post-test results indicated that ease of use and usefulness were highly rated on both iOS and Android platforms. All participants strongly agreed that the app was useful for learning and they would use the app if it were available. This usability study showed that the “BUSA 345 app” was embraced by students, as they looked forward to being able to access the course materials on the go.