Leeds Institute of Medical Education, The University of Leeds, UK.
Med Teach. 2010;32(12):956-60. doi: 10.3109/0142159X.2010.507709.
Usability testing is widely used in the commercial world during the process of developing new products, especially software and websites. However, it appears to be rarely used in the development of e-learning in medical education. The focus of usability testing is the user of the particular product and it informs product development by using a systematic process to identify usability problems at an early stage during product development so that these problems can be rectified. Usability testing of e-learning considers the characteristics of the learner, the technological aspects, the interaction and instructional design and finally the context. Testing under the conditions that the e-learning intervention will typically be used is the preferred method but more extreme situations can provide useful information. Product development should be iterative and rapid cycles of testing and refinement are essential to produce an effective e-learning intervention.
可用性测试在新产品开发过程中（尤其是软件和网站开发）被广泛应用于商业领域。然而，它在医学教育中的电子学习开发中似乎很少使用。可用性测试的重点是特定产品的用户，它通过使用系统的过程来识别产品开发早期的可用性问题，从而纠正这些问题，为产品开发提供信息。电子学习的可用性测试考虑到学习者的特点、技术方面、交互和教学设计，最后是上下文。在电子学习干预措施通常将被使用的条件下进行测试是首选方法，但更极端的情况可以提供有用的信息。产品开发应该是迭代的，快速的测试和改进周期对于产生有效的电子学习干预措施是必不可少的。
