ux for e-learning: designing the learner experience
TRANSCRIPT
About Me/acumenity▪ acumenity
▪ We build communities for your products
▪ Majid Tahir ▪ I’m a Seasoned Entrepreneur ▪ Partner and Founder of acumenity ▪ Provide technical direction and leadership ▪ Have experience working at large management
consulting firms as well as boutique design agencies
You Have a Job to Do▪ Imagine you are tasked with developing/
designing an awesome experience ▪ And it’s due in 2 months ▪ And there’s no content ready ▪ And the users are not understood ▪ And…yeah, this is bad
How Do You Do Your Job?▪ Let’s go online and see what’s out there!
▪ Good luck sorting that out ▪ What looks cool when you’re desperate
may not be cool once delivered ▪ Let’s read design books/articles!
▪ Do you really have the time? ▪ Hit-or-miss probability
▪ I have design experience super-powers ▪ Nope
How Do You Do Your Job?Is this good?
How Do You Do Your Job?Or, is this good?
How Do You Do Your Job?
Do I read this book? Or that book? Or articles!?
Some Great Resources…▪ Responsive Web Design (Ethan Marcotte) ▪ The Web Designer’s Idea Book (Patrick McNeil) ▪ Don’t Make Me Think (Steve Krug) ▪ Designing for Emotion (Aaron Walter) ▪ Mobile First (Luke Wroblewski) ▪ Android Design Patterns (Greg Nudleman) ▪ Mobile Design Pattern Gallery (Theresa Neil) ▪ Motivational Design for Learning and Performance
(John M. Keller) ▪ User Centered Design (Travis Lowdermilk) ▪ Interactive Design (Andy Pratt & Jason Nunes) ▪ And so forth…
How to succeed at your job▪ You want to stand out
▪ Make it awesome ▪ You want to defend your work
▪ Be able to explain every element and the harmony between them
▪ You want to quickly learn from your work ▪ Knowing why you chose elements and
design prepares you to incorporate feedback and criticism
▪ You want confidence in yourself ▪ You should be able to repeat your success
because you know why
How to learn to stop worrying and love your jobStart the work by ensuring success
1. Understand what makes an impactful user experience
2. Use the acumenity Clarity Index to create an awesome experience
What is User Experience?
The judicious application of certain user-centered design practices (http://uxdesign.com/ux-defined#sthash.y5mlAv63.dpuf)
UCD PrinciplesExcerpted from usabilitynet.org
1. Design for the users and their tasks 2. Be consistent 3. Use simple and natural dialogue 4. Reduce unnecessary mental effort by
the user 5. Provide adequate feedback
(success/fail at goal) 6. Provide adequate navigation
mechanisms 7. Let the user drive 8. Present information clearly 9. Be helpful 10. Reduce errors
3 Benefits of a Great User Experience
How Do You Achieve a Great User Experience?
What Do You Achieve through Great User Experiences?Gain the positives and avoid the negatives
What Are the Elements of acumenity’s Clarity Index?
What Are the Elements of acumenity’s Clarity Index?
The Clarity Index
The Clarity Index
Increase TactTact is the sensitivity and empathy towards the learner.
Tact: Attractive Design Brings Instant CredibilityA Stanford University study states that 46% of participants assessed the credibility of a site based on the appeal of the visual design, including layout, typography, and color schemes. http://credibility.stanford.edu
Where would you buy your wedding dress?
Site A Site B
Where would you buy your electronics?
Site A Site B
Where would you buy your groceries?
Site A Site B
Tact: Aesthetic-Usability EffectThe Aesthetic-Usability Effect is the phenomenon that describes users perception that more aesthetically pleasing designs to be easier to use than less aesthetically pleasing designs. Users are more sympathetic to faults or failures if a design is aesthetically pleasing, leading them to believe that the better looking option is the better option entirely.
Distract: Remove Distractions
Distract: Use Simple, Meaningful VisualsConsider using simple drawings or icons that lack unnecessary detail.
Distract: Use Simple, Meaningful Visuals
InteractUser interaction or active involvement
Passive Learning
Interction
Make Learning Active
Interaction ActiveLearning
Interaction• Creates an active learning process that aids understanding
and retention. • Ensure that your knowledge checks or quizzes test that they
have understood the learning objective rather than recall what they just heard.
• Product simulations create workflow memories. Can be useful, but not if your product changes often
• Exercises engage the user to independently solve problems outside the training.
• “Variety is the spice of life.”
Interaction
How to Quantify the Relationship▪ Tact & Interact
▪ Simplest way is to develop a checklist ▪ Elements meeting more of the checklist items
score higher ▪ Elements not meeting all of the checklist items
should be redone or justified ▪ For example: User Centered Design principles
▪ Ensure standards are met ▪ Principles can be used as the checklist
Testing the Index
High Tact: Navigation menu placed on the left
Distract: Consider using simplified visuals
:Low Interact Difficult interaction, especially on mobile
Low Tact: Visuals do not look like buttons
Low Tact: Important Menu items are faded
Distract: Too much text; difficult to read
How Mobile Impacts the Learning Experience▪ Extra diligence must be applied in identifying
learning distractions.▪ Mobile requires a different set of tact than
desktop▪ Different design and content conventions are
used on mobile than desktop
