Testing And Evaluation Research On Educational Software Value In China

The testing and evaluation (T&E) research on educational software (ES) is at theembryo stage in China. Unfortunately, there is no standard and systematicallysynthesized metrics system or approach to evaluating and testing ES. Due to the lacksof standardization of T&E on ES, the software investment transforms into redundantdeveloping works. Moreover, it not only brings out resources wasted, but also cannotcommunicate with the international educational information technique architecture.The dissertation is devoted to the systematical research on ES value, intending toprovide some constructive principles for enterprises to develop ES, schools or homesto purchase ES, teachers and students to use ES.The dissertation takes our country's particular social needs as an ultimateobjective, directs individual decision-making through group value analysis, constructsT&E process and metrics system based on ES value. The research is aiming tointegrate various comprehensive evaluation methodologies to solve particular domainproblem between software and education. Therefore, the following studies have beencarried out:① Associating the requirement of ES product, based on Boehm model, McCallmodel and ISO9126 factor criteria model, Educational Software Quality HierarchyTriangle Model (ESHTri) is presented, which contains specification of every processstage in the quality hierarchy factors in ES.② Based on ESHTri model and the analysis of ES value, integrating uniquedefinition of ES value stakeholders toward different education modes, EducationalSoftware Value Unique Model (ESVUM) is presented, which conforms to the ESvalue chain. Based on ESVUM model, ES T&E framework is presented, which is anessential roadmap for the research of the dissertation.③ Based on behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism study theories, theattribute characteristics of ES study are presented. Educational Software Engineeringis complemented and ES Cost Evaluation Model Based on Case-Based Reasoning ispresented.④ Based on economics and human capital theory, ES Cost-Benefit Model(CBM-ES) is presented, which analyzes the investment cost and benefit of softwareresource and translates the relationship between ES investment and expected benefitinto logic or mathematics formula. On the basis of CBM-ES, the dissertation analyzesand discusses ES net present value, ES investment value rate in use and ES purchasemode.⑤ ES value T&E system is presented, which include: ⑴ to propose a ES valuegeneral T&E metrics system;⑵ to direct ES content testing by Test AdequacyCriteria;⑶ to quantitatively compare ES user operating usability by task operatingload and simpleness rate;⑷ to propose ES usability value active process thoughuser satisfaction characteristics, and provide a novel approach to enhancing usersatisfaction;⑸ to propose the UTES-ES prototype system, and provide aquantitative comparison between the Geometer's SketChpad and theSupperSketChpad by operating several geometry testing cases.