double take

The images someone sees are processed through the visual channel, the domain of images including photographs, illustrations, charts and graphs. Text and speech are processed through the verbal channel, which is the domain of language. Although text on a computer screen is a visual element, our working memory quickly verbalizes the words and sends them through the verbal channel.
Cliff Atkinson, Beyond Bullet Points, on dual-coding theory

The use of multimedia can be extremely advantageous for e-learning courses. The goal of combining text, art, sound, animation and video is to promote a powerful learning experience by using the learner’s two cognition channels to organize incoming information into knowledge that can be acted upon, stored, and retrieved for subsequent use. When properly applied, multimedia elements yield measurable benefits by gaining and holding the learner’s attention and interest; improving also information retention. Multimedia is profoundly engaging.

Multimedia ingredients to add to your e-learning project:

• Images, graphs and diagrams;
• Meaningful animations to clarify the content;
• Educational videos;
• Buttons for interaction;
• Meaningful animated text;
• Music and Sound effects.

Another important point for e-learning projects is the adoption of interactivity features, which allows and empowers the learner to control how and when content is delivered, determining the flow of information.

References: Allan Paivio, Mental Representations: a Dual-coding Approach
Cliff Atkinson, Beyond Bullet Points
Tay Vaughan, Multimedia: Making it Work

Instructional design requires selecting, organizing, and specifying the learning experiences necessary to teach somebody something.
William Horton, “E-learning by Design”

While reading a book on e-learning, a sentence grabbed my attention: “Experts know too much”. The author implied that although content experts know a lot about their field, they often do not know how to present and teach the content. Some clients tend to think that a content expert can do the job of an instructional designer. Wrong. The problem is that they are not good at designing instructions on topics and behaviors, lacking skills to:

• Define good learning objectives;
• Set criteria for success;
• Analyze learners needs and abilities;
• Select learning activities and types to present the information;
• Select ways to give learners control;
• Create opportunities for collaboration;
• Develop hands-on activities;
• Create case studies and role-playing scenarios;
• Create games and simulations;
• Put together glossaries and job aids;
• Propose interesting research activities;
• Propose challenging and achievable assignments.

To illustrate, let us consider the case of a wonderful cook. When sharing his recipes, he has no secrets to hide. However, as a result of his familiarity with the cooking process, he forgets to teach essential steps that from his perspective were too obvious to mention. “How could I guess that you do not know how to prepare a béchamel sauce, ma chérie?!”

It is important to have a professional who is able to “translate” the most intricate concepts into ideas that are accessible and easy to understand by different audiences. The recipe’s secret is an instructional designer who knows how to break the content in small chunks and create memorable learning experiences. For me, this represents the intersection between education and journalism.

Over the years, the focus on iterative design cycles with attention to measurable results has been discussed by many Web developers. The book “Web Redesign 2.0″, written by the user-experience and interaction designer Kelly Goto and the founder of the agency Waxcreative Design, explains why iterative design cycles are key to achieving success. “By breaking large projects up in to smaller, more regularly paced and manageable releases, iterations can more closely be tied to specific business goals. It is important to note that not all iterative improvements will be visible to the end-user. Cost-effectiveness drives theses improvements”, they explain.

Additionally, iterative process allows for quick prototyping. These studies evolve ideas into great applications, taking into consideration budget and time constraints. Please, check the diagrams below:

• Defining e-learning project
• Designing and Developing
• Building, Debugging and Launching

Not surprisingly, many e-learning professionals are adopting the iterative cycle in place of the old ADDIE model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation). According to Michael Allen, the use of functional prototypes and an iterative cycle enable subject-matter experts and others on the design team to fully grasp the nature of the envisioned interactions and spot errors in the specification in order to prevent them from becoming part of the final e-learning application. “Quick iterations allow exploration of multiple ideas. Successive approximation and alternative designs need to be developed with just enough functionality for everyone [including students] to understand and evaluate the proposed approaches.” He says that this prototyping approach is just the opposite of the ADDIE, which works for perfection at each point and intends to perform each process only once.

*Diagrams based on Michael Allen,
Kelly Goto and Emily Cotler studies

During the early years of e-learning, the combined use of distance education with face-to-face instruction was prevalent. At that period, computer-based training was incapable of stimulating the learner to improve his own abilities, by experimenting freely and effectively learning. We did not know how to explore the new media as a tool to promote meaningful interactive activities or collaboration. Times have changed. Now we have the resources to build great educational projects, but often we still do not take advantage of the pallet of tools at our disposal. The consequence is a renewed obsession for promoting blended solutions, which now are many times unnecessary. Some e-learning developers warn that blended training should not be used to cover-up for poor e-learning design. We risk losing the advantages of distance education:

• Flexibility and scalability
• Individualization
• Low-cost

The question is: when do we need to offer a blended solution? One will say: “Every time! Then we can invite an expert-friend-of-mine to give a 2 hours long PowerPoint presentation with endless bullet points, sound effects, meaningless animation and call it real time interaction”. Give me a coffee-break!

The old style of computer-based training was content-centric, taking into consideration only the information-based definition of content (below), and giving less attention to all the resources that could be used in order to transform the learning process into a meaningful, enjoyable and interesting experience.

With all the changes from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 and all the buzz about collaboration, participation and social networking, the Educational sphere could not remain deaf. When even new businesses and marketing channels were able to create educational materials more engaging and effective than traditional educational models, educators needed to pay attention.

However, the whole theory of engaging learners, putting them at the center of the learning process is not recent, many educationalists have been discussing student-centered pedagogical models over the past 50 years. At times it seems as if marketers and designers have been paying more attention to educational theories than educators.

E-learning had to adapt. Learner-centric programs create opportunities to intrigue learners stimulating them to unfold the content, promoting a dynamic interaction between task, instructor and learner, praising collaboration instead of competition, transforming learning in an iterative process.

Adults want to know the value of what they are learning, how the new knowledge relates to their life, and how it will help them to develop important abilities. They want to be challenged with surprising information and effort-saving insights. They do not have time to waste studying things that they already know or having to do things without understanding why.

Good learning experiences pay attention to the learner’s background and cause him to think and seek for new solutions. It is not a matter of presenting the content from simple to complex concepts, it is to hear our learner and let him unfold the content as he needs, creating ways to help him abstract, synthesize and integrate the new information, giving opportunities to practice for later performance, promoting self-awareness of competencies and needs.

“The main thing you need to know about instructions is that no one is going to read them – at least not until after repeated attempts at ‘muddling through’ have failed”

Steve Krug, Don’t Make me Think

Michael Allen corroborates Krug saying that “with an intuitive interface, fewer instructions are needed and learners can engage in interactivity more readily”. Every interface should be self-explanatory. Instructions should be cut to the bare minimum and used only if really necessary. It does not matter which e-learning platform we choose to use (Eedo, Moodle etc.), it is our job to minimize learner’s memory burden, errors, learner’s effort to navigate and just promote the design features and content. The interface is good when it contributes to an effective learning experience.

We keep hearing about the importance of usability. Why is it so important? The answer is: to make your learner comfortable, confident and productive! We are challenged to develop a clear, easy to use and understandable interface. We must speak the learner’s language and be consistent.

Learners should not waste their time wondering…

• Where should I go?
• How should I start?
• Where is this chapter or content?
• Where to begin? What is important?
• Under each section did they put references and resources?

The course interface should be easy to scan, navigate, with clear defined areas, links, diminishing as much noise as you can. Do not make the learner frustrated with unimportant aspects, wondering and guessing where to go, muddling through, this part of the process should be effortless and pass unnoticed. Create a clear visual hierarchy, follow the Web conventions and standards. Leave to learners time to learn the content, not waste their attention and minutes teaching how to use your application.

References: Steve Krug, Don’t Make me Think;
Michael Allen, Guide to e-learning.

We need to feel that we are doing something important. All learning experiences should be meaningful and memorable. Although content and technology are of concern, it is essential to stimulate interest, point out benefits and confirm progress.

A problem with obligatory participation in forums is that threaded discussions are not used to create something together, a final unified project. In an online course with a fixed schedule, the discussions are too rigid and seem to have an expiration date. As if last week’s discussion is not connected with the following discussions. There is no sense of continuity, unless learners go back to past forums and read them again.

Identified challenges

When the student is being evaluated by his participation in the weekly online forums, sometimes he feels forced to participated in “limp and lifeless” discussion. The factor of being required to say something has some challenges in the online environment, where the student may:

• Feel afraid of saying something stupid
• Feel that someone else has already mentioned his idea and there is nothing more to add
• Quickly agree with something someone said without adding additional thought
• Quickly give a weak tweak of support
• Glean, recycle and post

More than that, from classmates reading the answers, it may seem dry or meaningless when:

• The questions are inadequate, uninspiring or irrelevant;
• The questions that are too narrow for divergent thought;
• The familiarity/similarity of answers lulls the reader into mental lethargy;
• The questions and answers show lack of preparation and motivation.

Questions, threads and Beyond!

My suggestion would be to incorporate the discussion into a social notebook, where everybody can add a page, a graph, a drawing, a stick-note, a comment in pink ink! The notebook would have a different structure, more anarchic, flexible and with space for real collaboration. As if all students engaged in that class were authors of a final online social notebook that could be used for future references.