iVLE platform testing was intended to compare the functions of the four iVLE platform which were the competitors of the university new iVLE platform. The testing focused on the iVLE functionality on mobile devices including tablets and mobile phones.All four iVLE platforms only have web interface available, none of them has mobile application supported at the time. Due to the limited functions of the iVLE platforms on mobile devices, some of the functions can’t be tested which has been marked as N/A in the form.
The testing was on the following aspects:
1. Content management/update: audio upload/play and video upload/display;
2. Communication: instant chats and group discussion;
3. Some of the routine administration work for lecturer such as user management;
The first two aspects are quite important for iVLE to support mobile learning. It provides users with better accessibility and great convenience. Unfortunately, on the four testing iVLE platforms, none of the iVLE system is performing very well, although Instructure and Desire2Learn are generally better mobile device supported than the traditional iVLE systems including Blackboard and Moodle. As to the routine administration work, mobile platform can support some of them. But the user interface is not user friendly. The solution to this problem is to have the mobile application developed instead of the web interface.