Usability of a language learning platform using Open Educational Resources to support refugees learning German

Abstract

Refugees living in the area of Basel have difficulties integrating in the society and economy because of their lack of understanding German. Commercial German classes for refugees in Basel provide basic, but in most cases insufficient language skills to support the integration of learners in daily life, work, and culture. Possible learning applications and continuative language courses to deepen the basic language skills are often not affordable for refugees. This master thesis aims to investigate how a platform using Open Educational Resources should be designed regarding usability to support refugees and volunteers learning or teaching German in the area of Basel, Switzerland. For this purpose, the prototype of an online platform using Open Educational Resources as learning and teaching materials is developed, applying usability requirements deduced for a thorough literature review, the review of existing initiatives as well as interviews with possible stakeholders of the platform. The deduced requirements were realized in a prototype of an online platform using Open Educational Resources as learning and teaching materials and tested with 5 representatives of each target user group in a usability testing. While the target group of refugees tested the interface ‘Deutsch lernen’ with learning materials in form of Open Educational Resources provided within one suggested topic, the representatives of the target group of volunteers tested the interface ‘Deutsch unterrichten’ with teaching materials in form of Open Educational Resources provided within the four submenus ‘Materialien’, ‘Lektionen’, ‘Portale & Apps’ and ‘Tipps’....