The Full Story
Instructionally Sound and Visually Appealing Courseware
An interview with Jan Buhmann, Consultant, Online Learning and Technology Implementation, PeaceHealth, jbuhmann@peacehealth.org
TRENDS: What are the top three visual design mistakes found in e-Learning?
BUHMANN: First of all, there are no rules that cannot be broken. The influence of usability experts has made many designers uptight, nervous about doing the "right thing." The result may be instructionally sound courses at the prices of interfaces which look the same. Innovation is frequently the result of somebody breaking the rules and "making a mistake." That said, there are still some persistent annoyances that I observe in page design. First, quite a few designs lack balance between text, white space, and graphic elements. Second, screen real estate is frequently wasted or too crowded. Last, animation and video are vastly overrated as elements that make a course interesting. The long loading time and low "nutritional value" of multi-media presentations in e-Learning only frustrate many users, when simplicity and the elegant use of graphic elements would have done better to present a pleasing interface.
TRENDS: What are some tips on the appropriate use of audio and video?
BUHMANN: Audio should add to written or graphic content, not duplicate it. Unless you want to increase accessibility to students with visual impairments, which is a legitimate goal, narration should not be used to merely read the text on the screen. The narrator can instead explain the steps in a sequence of images, or the narration can expand on short, bulleted points. Although many presenters know how to reduce text when creating PowerPoint presentations, they show little restraint when designing Web pages. Too many pages on the Web are cluttered with text. If a designer has the luxury of including audio, it can be useful to cut down text. With video there are ongoing issues concerning bandwidth, and so the medium remains a poor solution for the average Web user. An alternative is for designers to experiment with still images or slide-show-type animations, which can still adequately present content better viewed in motion. Stay away from talking-head videos; they are no more charming in a streaming video frame than on a TV screen.
TRENDS: Where on the Web or in print can one find resources that Instructional Designers can use to learn how to intersect visual design with instructional design?
BUHMANN: A glance at respected resources for all Web designers, such as Lynch & Horton's Yale Web Style Guide (http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual/) will provide a good overview. The online versions of the magazines "Web Review" (http://www.webreview.com) and "Web Techniques" (http://www.webtechniques.com) have columns on visual design that keep designers current. Of course, just like when people first learned HTML, looking at source code of appealing sites can help to pick up the tricks of top designers.
Learn more from Jan Buhmann during his one-day workshop "Instructionally Sound and Visually Appealing: Creating Attractive Courseware," Tuesday, April 17 at the WBT Producer Conference & Expo 2001. Register online at http://www.influent.com/wbt2001.
