E-LEARNING GUIDELINES

Primary components of e-learning

1. Learner motivation2. Learner interface3. Content structure4. Navigation5. Interactivity

1-Motivation With no fuel, it doesn’t matter how well

your car designed, nor how spacious is the trunk.

The more motivated to learn, the stronger the focus and the greater the readiness to do what’s necessary to accomplish the task.

2-Learner Interface Going to start to shutdown your

computer. Moving your disk to trash can to eject it.

Learner Interface When the consistency of conventions is

broken, even a single one, learners become uncertain about whether other conventions are also inconsistent.

Therefore, even a single interface error (e.g, a wrong link) may lead to widespread user anxiety and discomfort. (missing steps in Flash)

3- Content Structure

Which one? Content-centric design Learner-centric design

Content-Centric

If learners only need dissemination of information

Learners are highly motivated The information is readily understood Skills can be learned without guidance Each step can be prompted and guided

as it is performed.

Learner-Centric Design Mystery novels vs. textbooks. Which one

more easily attracts readers? Learner-centric designs focus on

creating events that continuously intrigue learners as the content unfolds (successive approximation)

4- Navigation (unlike a textbook) We can’t see all the content of an

instructional application on the screen at one time

You cannot assess e-learning so quickly You cannot say if they’re small, medium,

or large, well illustrated, highly interactive, truly individualized.

Navigation servicesOverall the ability to Back up and review Back up and try different answers or options Skip ahead, preview, and return Bookmark and return to points of interest or

concern Call up services such as glossaries or examples Restart and resume where you left off

5- Interactivity Actively stimulates the learner’s mind to

do things that improve ability and readiness to perform effectively

Interactivity is not the same as Navigation Buttons Scrolling Browsing Info retrieval Paging Morhping Video animation

Magic keys

1-Build on anticipated outcomes Help learners see how their involvement

in the e-learning will produce outcomes they care about.

Don’t list objectives- Why? Instead put the learner to work (they will

realized the objectives)

2- Put the learner at risk If learners have something to lose, they

pay attention. Don’t baby your learners- let them make

mistakes don’t worry about ratings.

3- Select the right content for each learner

If it’s meaningless or learners already know it (not enjoyable)

What’s interesting?

Learning how your knowledge can be put to new and valuable uses

Understanding something that has always been puzzling

Discovering talents and capabilities you didn’t know you had.

Start with test

Isn’t unfair to ask learners to do a task for which you haven’t prepare them?

4- Use appealing context Novelty, suspense, fascinating graphics,

humor, sound, music, animation- all draw learners in when it is done well.

Don’t start from the bottom of the skills hierarchy

Sometimes it starts at the end.

5- Have the learner perform multiple tasks

Having people attempt real (authentic) tasks is much more interesting than having them repeat or mimic one step at a time.

Instead of teaching +-*/ repeatedly give then an authentic multi-steps task

6- Provide intrinsic feedback

Let learners see for themselves weather or not their answer (performance) works as well as it needs to.

Seeing the positive consequences of good performance in better feedback than being told, “yes, that was good”

7- Delay judgment If learners have to wait for confirmation, they will

typically reevaluate their answers for themselves. Sometime it’s appropriate to give immidiate

feedback, but often it isn’t. A good mentor allows learners to make mistakes

and then helps them understand why the mistakes occurred and also their consequences

Good & Bad examples of Interactivity

Bad Example 1 Bad Example 2 Good Example