Clive Shepard discusses Patrick Dunn's presentation on creating engaging learning content. The four phases he mentions are:
1. Methods and media (tactics)
2. Learning strategies
3. Design processes
4. Culture and personality
I would agree and I too question the Meyers Briggs Inventory as a reliable research tool to learn the profile of a successful designer.
IMO, from what I have seen most people come to the profession from a variety of backgrounds which more or less make them suitable for the job. One of the best instructional designers I know has the rare combination of terrific programming skills and great writing ability, a combination not usually seen together.
e-Learning Usability is always an important topic, so I thought I would post an excerpt that provides some good links on usability & testing...Usability in eLearning This is a good post for those who are new to e-learning and the concept of usability testing.
Usability experts and web developers often 'poo poo' aesthetics as unnecessary prettiness that gets in the way. Maybe they believe that it gets in the way of content or gets in the way of actually getting through a site. Stephen Anderson, ponders about this very problem in his article, In Defense of Eye Candy, on A List Apart this month.
The fundamental issue may be subjectivity, but a more appealing presentation can often give off the notion that this particular design or product is more sophisticated than another. There are literally hundreds of MP3 players, for example, however, the Industrial Design of the iPod has gained the popularity it now owns.
In the article, Anderson presents several examples of user interface widgets and what aesthetics can do for a simple button to make it more appealing. There are common perceptions from web users about what appears "dated" or "old" and what feels like, appears "new" or "current". The evolution of the web post Web 2.0 almost demands that websites follow certain, although unmentioned defaults for how a site should appear and behave.
There's also a section on credibility. It's interesting that a new wave of internet scandal involves creating screens and sites that completely mimic the company being targeted so that it appears a credible source. This has fooled so many users who aren't careful. Using colors and fonts that are similar to the original company's site and communications, the predators are trying to leverage aesthetics to gain credibility in their bogus campaigns.
Aesthetics are extremely important in the effectiveness of any communication. It is a vehicle in which we, as designers, can leverage appeal to gain the attention of potential users. Without aesthetics, a topic or subject becomes static and unpleasant.
The UXmatters Blog have a good article by Collen Jones called Toward Content Quality..while its positioned for web development, parts can also be applied to e-learning content development as well. She has a content quality checklist in the article that can be used as a rubric for e-learning development:
Excerpt:
Usefulness & Relevance:
Does the content meet user needs, goals, and interests?
Does the content meet business goals?
For how long will the content be useful? When should it expire? Has its usefulness already expired?
Is the content timely and relevant?
Clarity & Accuracy:
Is the content understandable to customers?
Is the content organized logically & coherently?
Is the content correct?
Does the content contain factual errors, typos, or grammatical errors?
Do images, video, and audio meet technical standards, so they are clear?
Influence & Engagement:
Does the content use the most appropriate techniques to influence or engage customers?
Does the content execute those techniques effectively?
Does the content use too many or too few techniques for the context?
Completeness:
Does the content include all of the information customers need or might want about a topic?
Does the content include too much or too little information about a topic for the context?
Voice & Style:
Does the content consistently reflect the editorial or brand voice?
Does its tone adjust appropriately to the context—for example, sales versus customer service?
Does the content convey the appropriate editorial and brand qualities?
Does the content seem to have a style? If so, does the content adhere to it consistently?
Does the content read, look, or sound as though it’s professionally crafted?
Usability & Findability:
Is the content easy to scan or read?
Is
the content in a usable format, including headings, bulleted lists,
tables, white space, or similar techniques, as appropriate to the
content?
Does the content have the appropriate metadata?
Does
the content follow search engine optimization (SEO) guidelines—such as
using keywords—without sacrificing quality in other areas?
Can customers find the content when searching using relevant keywords?
Now certainly,in the cases of most corporate online training, its not spiderable so the questions about SEO and keywords are not directly relevant. And when she talks about sales or customers they mean in a business sense, but the overall concepts can be applied to e-learning developement.
"..This book examines common instructional design practices with a critical eye and recommends substituting success rather than tradition as a guide. Drawing from theory, research, and experience in learning and behavioral change, the author provides a framework for addressing a broader range of learner needs and achieving superior performance outcomes. "
Jared Spool from User Interface Engineering has an interesting article on design decision styles which can be applied some to e-Learning development and online course development teams. Jared's has some great information on his site, so I suggest you check it out sometime.....
"Over the last few years, we've been studying the process designers (and
their teams) use to make important decisions like these. In the course
of our work, we've discovered there are five common styles of design
that almost every team uses: (1) Unintended, (2) Self, (3) Genius, (4)
Activity Focused, and (5) User Focused."
Whether you know it or not, designing a e-learning course involves an interface or UI design. If you think about the process that is involved in designing an application that you use on a daily basis, whether it's Microsoft Word or Adobe Photoshop, then you'll have a vague understanding of the importance of UI design. It may be difficult to remember what it was like when you had to learn those applications, but during your learning process, you became familiar with specific icons, drop-downs, toolbars, etc. that allowed you to be productive in the application.
Designing a UI for a website, although not nearly as sophisticated, presents similar challenges. Will it be a learned interface, where the user has to interpret the language and terminology you've chosen for your navigation? Trends in web use have allowed us to take advantage of a common 'language' in UI design. Examples of this would be nav links such as 'About Us', 'Contact Us', and 'Home'. A majority of users can relate to those navigation titles and recall similar experiences on other sites. If you decide not to use terminology that is similar to this, perhaps out of a shear desire to be different or to set a new standard, you may find your audience struggling to discover important data.
Knowing your audience is half the battle. Understanding how they will use your website is extremely important. User testing should be a mainstay in your design process. Jakob Nielsen has some pointers on his website useit.com for Usability Heuristics. These are proven techniques for successful interface design. Sure, user testing could cost you a few pennies, but the end result is that you have a report that you can use as guidance for improvement. Of course, you could conduct your own user testing. It may take more time for you to corrolate the findings into a report, but it's still worth it.
Some of the potential outcomes from an exam like this is finding out road blocks in your navigation, either due to poor arrangement or graphics that are iconic and lack meaning. You could find that there are Dead-end pages, breaks in continuity, lack of consistency (which is probably the most important tennet in design), or pages that offer little in the way of guidance. Depending on your audience, they may not be savvy enough to navigate, even though you assume they should be able to.
A user's experience with an interface may be, "I'm here, show me the goods." They expect to be able to get to your site and do what they need to do easily, quickly, and without a lot of fanfare. That might sound boring to you, but it's true. Steve Krug's book, "Don't Make Me Think" gives evidence of this phenomenon. Most user's don't want to sift through advanced hierarchical menus to find what they need. You should make it as easy as possible for them to accomplish a specific task. You can use those experiences in your user testing.
There have also been several conventions used in menu structure and navigation that are pretty common on the web these days. Using menu identification, breadcrumbs, or other such devices to let users constantly know where they are have a usability factor that may be greater than your actual navigation strategy. Consistency in navigation is paramount. I've been to several sites where you click on a menu item and find yourself on another page that has an entirely different menu. The only shared item is the Home link. Giving the user choice in navigation is also important. There may be several ways you can offer someone to get to the same thing.
We could go on and on about UI design and efficient navigation practices. Check out these 6 Interface Design Principles for an overview.
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