Overview
To celebrate World Usability Day on November 10, 2011, we’ll discuss how user-centered design (UCD) and usability can be a strategic advantage in eLearning.
The discussion will cover:
- Business case and justification for user-centered design and usability
- Ten user-centered design techniques for increased usability
- Examples of web sites, web applications, and mobile applications
Presentation and Resources
User-Centered eLearning Defined
- Creating pleasant, productive eLearning tools for people
- “Easy-to-use” doesn’t just happen… by design, using a collaborative process to solve problems
The Business Case
Increase Revenue
- Attract more customers
- Differentiate from competitors
- Retain customers
- Easy and fun to use (satisfaction)
- Reduce support costs
Improve eLearning Impact
- Increase learning or learnability (effectiveness)
- Increase user productivity (efficiency)
- Decrease user errors
- eLearning for safety
Reduce Development Costs
- Quicker to market
- Litigation deterrence
- Increase accessibility, design for inclusion
Top 10 User-Centered Design Techniques For eLearning
- Research & understand. e.g. field research, personas
- Good conceptual model. “match system and real world”
- Wireframe first.
- Learner in control.
- Appropriate assessment tools.
- Design aesthetics matter.
- Apt learning content design.
- Prevent errors.
- Simple search.
- Usability test.
Related Links
- Linksys Case Study - Designing Software for Consumers to Easily Set Up a Secure Home Network
- Design For Inclusion – Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
- Accessibility Testing
- User Personas - Creating Animation Targeted to User Personas
References
Alsumait, A.A. & Al-Osaimi, A., 2010, Usability Heuristics Evaluation for Child E-learning Applications, Journal of Software, 5(6), p. 654.
Cooper, Alan (1999). The Inmates Are Running The Asylum, Why High-Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity 1st edition hardcover.
Garrett, Jesse James. 2002. The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web. 3rd Ed: Peachpit Press.
Johnson, Jeff. 2008. GUI Bloopers 2.0. Common User Interface Design Don’ts and Dos. 2nd Ed: Morgan Kaufmann.
Kantner, Laurie, and Stephanie Rosenbaum. 1997. Usability Studies of WWW Sites: Heuristic Evaluation vs. Laboratory Testing. Paper read at SIGDOC 97, conference proceedings, at Snowbird, UT.
Krug, Steve. 2006. Don’t Make Me Think. 2nd Ed: New Riders Press.
Levi, Michael D., and Fedrick G. Conrad. 1996. A Heuristic Evaluation of a World Wide Web Prototype. Interactions (July-August):50-61.
Howles, Les. Learning Styles: What the Research Says and How to Apply it to Designing E-Learning. Paper.
Minović, Miroslav , Štavljanin, Velimir, Milovanović, Miloš, and Starčević, Dušan. 2008. Usability Issues of e-Learning Systems: Case-Study for Moodle Learning Management System, in On the Move to Meaningful Internet Systems: OTM 2008 Workshops. Springer Berlin.
Nielsen, Jakob. 1993. Usability Engineering. San Diego, CA: Academic Press Professional.
Nielsen, Jakob. 1994. Enhancing the Explanatory Power of Usability Heuristics. Paper read at CHI 94, conference proceedings : Celebrating Interdependence, April 24-28, at Boston, MA.
Norman, Donald. 1990. The Design Of Everyday Things. Paperback: Basic Books.
Shneiderman, Ben. 1998. Designing the User Interface, Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction. 3 ed: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.
Wickens, Christopher D., Sallie E. Gordon, and Yili Liu. 1998. An Introduction to Human Factors Engineering. New York, NY: Longman