On e-learning and usability
Wireframes and user-centered design are still relatively new to e-learning apps.
In the last few years, technology has improved so much that new domains like education started using it and changed drastically. E-learning is still a newly born science that comes down to learning via information technology (IT). In the last few years, technology has allowed for more efficient and flexible delivery of course material. In parallel, the demand for online delivery of higher education courses continued to rise. Online courses provide more time and location flexibility than traditional education and it allows universities to expand their course offerings by expanding their virtual infrastructure.
Unfortunately in both corporate training and higher education institutions, user-centered design techniques like wireframes and task analysis are pretty uncommon in the creation process of e-learning apps.
E-learning usability is still new but surprisingly underrated. Yet the idea around improving e-learning apps usability or “learnability” is pretty straightforward. A system simple and easy to use will take the learners thinking off the system and onto the course material itself.
Usability testing usually offers an effective way to ensure an app actually works. This means that most people can make sense of it and use it without an extensive formation. Unfortunately carrying these tests is often expensive. That’s why many companies rely on previous analysis showing reliable principles. But here’s the catch: proven sets of principles of what “works” for online learning, based on research findings or industry best practices, don’t yet exist.
Design and usability standards like website wireframe that have proven their worthiness for e-commerce applications need to be changed substantially before being applied to e-learning-tools. Indeed, the 2 domains have completely different goals. Wireframing a site so that someone can book a flight with ease has not much, if anything, to do with wireframing an engaging online biology class. For Don Norman, a professor of computer science at Northwestern University, “Even though usability and learnability are slightly different, usability practices followed by the User Interface (UI) community can be easily applied to learnability.”
If e-learning practitioners were using usability testing, usability experts could then assess how testers handle learning tools or cope with lots of data without a teacher telling them what to do. Through the use of wireframes and functional prototypes, they will be able to test their app before its development, assessing how new students navigated virtual classrooms. “Many people think they can’t really afford usability,” argues Michael Korcuska, design director of DigitalThink, e-learning software development firm. “Unfortunately, the market doesn’t care about quality so much as price and speed improvements,” says Korcuska. “And until the market demands it, and is willing to pay, it won’t get it.”
But other usability experts like Mathieu Collet, interaction designer for SQLY Agency suggest there is a competitive advantage to designing the user-experience of e-learning websites”.
With the coming of the web2.0, recent developments in streaming video and interactive interfaces can make e-learning softwares potentially more dynamic, but also more complex. Therefore, e-learning apps should carefully take the user experience into account before starting any project.
User-centered designers have a real challenge ahead, both in proving to universities that usability is worth the money, time, and effort, and in developing e-learning usability standards that can be shared. But the stakes in game are worthwhile because a well-designed user experience makes the interface almost disappear, enabling users to concentrate on their work, exploration, or pleasure.
I’m a little shocked at some of the claims in this article and must beg to differ with some of the statements. I was an instructional designer before I became an information architect (as were several of my colleagues) and I applied usability and UX principles to my designs (going back as far as 1999-2000) for large, major corporations and entities. As a matter-of-fact, it was my engagement in and passion for providing strong user experiences that served as the foundation for my entry into the world of user experience full-time.
I respect much of what you present, but when you say that “E-learning usability is still new…” that’s simply not accurate. I even achieved a certification in E-Learning Development several years ago. When you say “If e-learning practitioners were using usability testing, usability experts could then assess how testers handle learning tools or cope with lots of data without a teacher telling them what to do”, I’m reminded of how I conducted usability tests to validate designs of e-learning courses I developed for a large software development company in about 2003-2004. The idea was not considered foreign or groundbreaking in my working environment.
If you’re saying that usability in e-learning spaces is not widespread, I’d agree, but the blanket statements presented, again, simply are not accurate.
Yes, the truth is is not widespread, I just wanted to be a little controversial. Great response by the way, thanks.