Efficiency of Multimodal Metaphors in E-learning Platform

The primary focus of this paper is to investigate the effect of including multimodal metaphors on the usability of e-learning interfaces. This investigation involved two different interface platforms performed by forty users. The first interface platform (textual interface) based on three input modalities, namely, text, graphic, and image was used to deliver information about note-taking. The second platform interface (multimodal interface) was based on three input modalities as well, including; speech, video, and avatar to deliver the same information. The aim of the study was to measure and compare the level of usability of textual and multimodal interfaces. The usability parameters, which are efficiency, effectiveness, and users' satisfaction, were considered in the study. The scope of this paper is to discuss the results that related to efficiency only in terms of the time spent by users to complete the required tasks. The results obtained from this investigation have shown that the multimodal e-learning interface increased the level of usability as users took significantly less time to complete the tasks, performed successfully in a higher number of tasks.