The role of user-centered design and usability on knowledge sharing: a school website field study

Today's information and communication technologies play an important role in promoting educational reforms and innovations. Many schools have taken action to establish their school websites, whereas knowledge sharing platforms serve as a key website component to foster a learning community. In this study, we investigate the role of website usability and user-centered design in facilitating knowledge sharing among key stakeholders, including teachers and students, and furthermore, in satisfying users' needs. A field study was designed and conducted with 335 school teachers, who were invited to actively participate in their school website design process. The results indicate that user-centered design significantly impacts the knowledge-sharing processes through four different user interactions, i.e., student to student, student to teacher, teacher to student and teacher to teacher interactions. User satisfaction is affected by both website usability and user-centered design. Moreover, the knowledge sharing processes led by teachers positively influence user satisfaction.