Abstract

Usability is always the basic factor to be considered when developing any learning product. It attracts students to use the developed product such as courseware and help learners to gain more knowledge in learning. When usability strategies are considered in designing courseware, the courseware can be usable for the target users. Currently in Nigeria courseware are not fulfilling the requirement. Users are not happy with courseware; hence the usage is not encouraging, especially, in distance learning environment. Accordingly, this paper explains about the needs for determining the appropriate instructional interface elements using multimedia as part of usability strategies in courseware for distance learning. The study was carried out with fifteen academic staffs of a distance academic programme at university of Ilorin, Nigeria. Data were gathered through unstructured interviews. Having analyzed, the results show that there is a need for a study that determine the usability strategies for distance learning in Nigeria.

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