IJIET 2025 Vol.15(8): 1547-1553
doi: 10.18178/ijiet.2025.15.8.2356
doi: 10.18178/ijiet.2025.15.8.2356
Accessibility and Usability in the Development of Digital Educational Resources: The Case of MfM, a Platform for Teacher Training
Victoria I. Marín1,*, Aleix Subarroca-Gómez1, and Juan González-Martínez2
1. Department of Education Sciences, Faculty of Education, Psychology and Social Work, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
2. Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Girona, Girona, Spain
Email: victoria.marin@udl.cat (V.I.M.); aleix.subarroca@udl.cat (A.S.-G.); juan.gonzalez@udg.edu (J.G.-M.)
*Corresponding author
2. Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Girona, Girona, Spain
Email: victoria.marin@udl.cat (V.I.M.); aleix.subarroca@udl.cat (A.S.-G.); juan.gonzalez@udg.edu (J.G.-M.)
*Corresponding author
Manuscript received January 21, 2025; revised February 21, 2025; accepted April 27, 2025; published August 7, 2025
Abstract—Despite their importance, the dimensions of accessibility and usability are not overly present in the usual design and development processes of open educational resources by educators and instructional designers. This paper aims to fill this gap in literature, with the objective of evaluating and validating a teacher training platform (Mestres que formen Mestres–MfM) in terms of user experience (usability) and web accessibility. This has been done from the perspective of 15 participants from the three teaching profiles of potential users: university teacher educators, in-service teachers in schools and preservice teachers (initial teacher training). A mixed methodology in two phases has been applied through the sequential application of a heuristic and aprioristic evaluation of web usability and accessibility and a second evaluation of the design applying standardized scales (System Usability Scale– SUS and Usability Metric for User Experience–UMUX). The development of MfM has considered usability and web accessibility as essential characteristics to ensure that digital educational resources are functional and inclusive, and so the positive results show. This article documents this accessibility and usability analysis, as well as its main results as a practical example. In this sense, and as practical implications, this example can serve as a model to evaluate the accessibility and usability when developing other digital educational resources.
Keywords—usability, accessibility, teacher education, digital educational resources
Copyright © 2025 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).
Keywords—usability, accessibility, teacher education, digital educational resources
Cite: Victoria I. Marín, Aleix Subarroca-Gómez, and Juan González-Martínez, "Accessibility and Usability in the Development of Digital Educational Resources: The Case of MfM, a Platform for Teacher Training," International Journal of Information and Education Technology, vol. 15, no. 8, pp. 1547-1553, 2025.
Copyright © 2025 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).