Evaluating Usability of E-Learning Applications in Bangladesh: A Semiotic and Heuristic Evaluation Approach

In this age of technology, the popularity, and necessity of mobile applications in the field of education are increasing day by day. Many students in Bangladesh are not able to develop as qualified due to a lack of a suitable environment and skilled teachers. This problem has been solved to a large extent through various E-Learning applications. But no research has yet been done on exactly how efficient, intuitive, and usable these applications are. Therefore, this study’s objectives are to assess these E-Learning apps’ usability in the context of Bangladesh and to offer potential architectural recommendations for improving their usability and acceptance. To accomplish the objectives, the usability of five E-Learning applications (Bacbon, Prottoy, Shikho, Classroom, and Muktopaath) developed in the context of Bangladesh was evaluated through Heuristic Evaluation and Semiotic Evaluation process. The study showed that all selected applications have several usability problems. The heuristic evaluation is based on the principle of efficiency, consistency, flexibility, conventions, and error management of each application while the semiotic evaluation upheld the intuitiveness of the interface elements of the selected applications. Finally, to enhance the usability of these applications, some sets of recommendations and implications have been presented for practitioners. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.