onlinelearningcoursedesign

Images are a great way to convey information, but it is important to use images that help to communicate your message. Images used for decoration or disconnected to content add nothing and can even detract from your message. Research supports the idea that people learn better from text and graphics than from text alone. One theory suggests that people may store information in long-term memory better with textual information paired with relevant graphics. Our brains process visual information presented by graphics faster than text. According to the Visual Teaching Alliance: Approximately 65% of the population learns visually 90% of the information entering the brain is visual Visual Aids increase learning by 40% Our eyes can register 36,000 visual messages per hour Image Types Which image format should you use? The answer is it depends on the type of information you wish to convey. Here is a short primer on image formats. Jpeg (Joint Photographers Experts Group) i...

We’ve all had that teacher, lecturer, instructor, or seminar presenter who lost us within the first couple of minutes of their presentation. Perhaps you worked hard at paying attention, but the complexity, monotone delivery, PowerPoints filled with text, or flat out boring material made you lapse into a coma.  Text has a propensity for becoming that boring presenter. We tend to scan and shy away from large blocks of text. Why, because we work to process information in the most efficient way with as little effort as possible and when faced with a page full of words our brains want to just run and hide. Our brains continually attempt to reduce cognitive load and we can ease their burdens by presenting text in a way that allows for efficient processing. Keep in mind that reading on a screen is very different than reading printed material. I can’t emphasize this point enough. I admit my guilt in simply dumping textual material formatted in MSWord into my online courses, as I’...

Image from:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Students_working_on_computers_at_the_University_of_Monterrey.jpg Online learning has come a long way from the old days of inserting curriculum and text into an LMS and calling it a course. Now, online instructors need to keep current with LMS technology and continually work to improve their courses. This translates to learning about authoring tools, audio and video production, and, in some cases, coding. What often gets lost (in my opinion) is the incorporation of simple principles of usability. What I have found in my 16 years of teaching online is that students experience a good deal of stress, and that stress is magnified when they have to deal with a course that encompasses poor usability. So, what is usabilty and how can we incorporate it into our courses? Here is a definition from:  http://www.usability.gov/basics/index.html "Usability refers to how well users can learn and use a product to achieve their ...

My daughter is about half-way through one of her online college courses and I finally had a chance to take a look. Unfortunately, this course was not the best example of a course that incorporates usability. The course was in Blackboard (which is a good LMS) but suffered from poor design. For example, when I asked which assignments were due next week, she began a complex explanation of how some of the information was hidden in course pages, while other information was buried in the 15 page syllabus, and still other information had to be obtained by emailing the instructor.  All of this clicking and searching could have been avoided by incorporating some simple principles of usability. Unfortunately, I have seen many many courses that could use a bit of help in this area. This article is a primer on usability for online course design.  What is Usability? Usability, as its name implies, has to do with how easy it is to use an interface. It is a scienc...