diabCAL: evaluating computer‐aided learning for diabetes patient education

The design and development of a computer‐aided learning tool for the education of patients with diabetes and for the training and support of practice nurses providing diabetes care have been previously reported. diabCAL is a broad and comprehensive learning tool, which can be accessed as a modular course or a desktop quick‐reference. Evaluation is central to the design process and can be formative, informing design and development throughout the lifecycle, or summative, assessing the value of the finished product. diabCAL was subject to rigorous evaluation at various stages during development, including: verification of curriculum content and structure, evaluation of navigation and evaluation of system content. A final hybrid formative‐summative evaluation assessed usability and acceptability of the system. Evaluations were conducted by technical experts and users, and findings of the final evaluation study, conducted by patients, confirmed that diabCAL was acceptable to most users – that is, interesting and perceived to be useful – even to those with little previous computer experience.