Assessing the Learning Path Specification: a Pragmatic Quality Approach

Finding suitable ways to achieve particular learning goals is not an easy task, both ininitial education and lifelong learning. To facilitate selection, personalisation and navigation oflearning paths we propose to describe learning paths in a formal and uniform way by means ofa learning path specification. This paper explains the rationale behind the Learning PathSpecification. Based on a framework developed for the evaluation of the specification the paperdescribes a study that was carried out to establish pragmatic quality, i.e. whether stakeholderscan understand and use the specification. The paper explores the relationship between theconcepts pragmatic quality, usability, and desirability, and distinguishes first-order and secondorderpragmatic quality, relating it to different stakeholders: software developers and end-users.First-order pragmatic quality of the Learning Path Specification was evaluated during theprocess of developing a tool that describes learning paths according to the specification: theLearning Path Editor. Second-order pragmatic quality was evaluated through workshopsessions with end-users involving some hands-on experiences with this tool. The paperdescribes adaptations made to the specification in the process of developing the Editor. Enduserevaluations were quite positive, leading to one more adaptation