Treffer: Establishing and Applying Criteria for Evaluating the Ease of Use of Dynamic Platforms for Teaching Web Application Development

The widespread use of the Internet and the World Wide Web led to the availability of many platforms for developing dynamic Web application and the problem of choosing the most appropriate platform that will be easy to use for undergraduate students of web applications development in tertiary institutions. Students beginning to learn web application development would not perform at their best capacity level if the platform chosen by their institution is difficult to use. This is important given the recurrent write-compile-test-recompile efforts that take place in a timed students' practice session. As part of the framework for determining the most suitable platform(s) for teaching dynamic web applications development in tertiary institutions, this study adopted an interpretive research approach to establish a set of criteria from theory and practice for evaluating the ease of use of the platforms. These criteria were tested by evaluating four platforms namely Java Servlets, Java Server Pages (JSP), Active Server Pages (ASP) and PHP using various research methods including descriptive inquiry, document analysis and observations. While Java Servlet was found to be most suitable on applying the criteria, the significance of the study lies in the establishment of a comprehensive but specific set of criteria that can be used as a scientific basis for selection.

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