Usability Evaluation of Web Office Applications in Collaborative Student Writing

Abstract: Usability evaluation of collaborative writing system for education usage is very essential to improve its functionality to make it effective, efficient and satisfactory for future use. In this thesis, the usability of web office (ThinkFree doc) i.e. one of collaborative tool was tested using mix research approach. Usability evaluation was done in step by step process, where usability test was conducted using think aloud protocol and observation during testing was noted down. Test results were then analyzed and questionnaire was designed for quantitative survey. Questionnaires were then distributed among those students who have been using Thinkfree doc for educational collaborative work. Interviews were conducted with all selected participants individually for results validations. During usability evaluation process positive and negative effects regarding software‟s usage were noted down. The result revealed that overall system‟s response is very slow. The software needs to improve its processing speed to make it more efficient for future use. The system also needs to improve overall functionality (e.g. collaborative work, synchronization, uploading and track changes etc) to provide accurate and complete results according users‟ requirements.