Kate Brady- Perceived usability evaluation of Microsoft Teams as an online learning platform during COVID-19 using system usability scale and technology acceptance model in India

For class this week, I read “Perceived usability evaluation of Microsoft Teams as an online learning platform during COVID-19 using system usability scale and technology acceptance model in India” by Pal et al.

For my internship, we utilized Microsoft Teams, so I’m pretty familiar with this platform and it’s pros and cons. I personally found it user friendly, as you can see everything from your instant messages, email, calendar, and meetings all in one place. However, it also is unreliable as there were always technical issues on Teams. These issues became a part of our day, something we kind of put up with.

In the article however, something that jumped out at me was that 86% of students in India utilized Microsoft Teams from their phone for school during the pandemic. This definitely is an issue, as it would be very challenging to remain engaged on your phone. I’m also familiar with the Teams app, and it is good for on the go but is not sufficient for anything more than sending a quick message in my opinion. I can’t imagine this is a very effective way to learn.

Additionally, the article discussed 2 different usability scales, SUS and TAM. Personally, I’m apprehensive about either of their efficacy, as they seem subjective to me. According to the article, their results often do not align with each other. “Therefore, despite having similar objectives of measuring the usability, the two approaches are totally disjoint, and to the best of our knowledge there seems to be no relationship existing between these two approaches.”
This tells me that both scales are too subjective to be scientifically valid. Usability itself is very subjective. Surveys/focus groups might be more effective for determining what changes need to be made to platforms as opposed to these scales.

3 thoughts on “Kate Brady- Perceived usability evaluation of Microsoft Teams as an online learning platform during COVID-19 using system usability scale and technology acceptance model in India

  1. Kate, I also read this article for class tomorrow and I wanted to build off of your personal experiences with Microsoft Teams. For my summer internship, we used Microsoft products for email, documents, and calendars. We also used Zoom for chatting and video conferencing. So, I was accustomed to using Zoom for my day-to-day conversations. On the other hand, I would often use Microsoft Teams to video conference with individuals outside of the company if that was their platform of choice. When I would use Microsoft Teams, I would often be confused navigating the platform and my audio did not always work. Therefore, the usability aspect of Microsoft Teams was not great for me. I think it is important to compare user experiences between platforms to create reliable conclusions, which was not really done in this specific study. I think that would have been helpful and elucidating.

  2. I have never used Microsoft Teams or even heard of its functionality and features. It was nice to hear that you are so familiar with the platform. I completely agree that “usability itself is very subjective.” As you mentioned different users will use the platform in different ways. This explains why students in India might have more success using Teams on their phones over someone who must compose intricate messages throughout the work day on the platform.

  3. Kate, I really like that you gave a personal account of your experience with the platform. I completely agree with your points and find Microsoft Teams extremely unreliable and almost an annoying platform to use. I have a pretty negative opinion about Teams and I personally have used it a ton and am pretty skilled in navigating the platform. I can’t even imagine someone using this platform who is completely unfamiliar while navigating on a personal phone device. I think this touches on a lot of what the article I read said and the usability of the platform really shapes one’s experience, perspectives, and loyalty to the specific company.

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