1

BUsability of Elearning:

effective performance or not

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ACHIEVE GOALS

• For successful eLearning solutions

• Design of eLearning materials must enable users and learners to achieve workplace –related goals.

OR

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FRUSTRATION

• Poor design means effective learning WON’T happen and result in:

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DON’T LEAVE TO CHANCE

• Find out about users and their workplace tasks and needs

• Build into eLearning solutions

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INFORMATION GATHERING

•What information to capture?

•Who will you ask?

•What will you ask?

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QUESTIONS

• Critical workplace tasks

• Task flow

• How productivity could be improved

• Useful performance support content

• OBSERVE

• RECORD – sequence, techniques

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PROFILE

• Questionnaires

• Surveys

• Interviews

• Observation

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CONTENT GATHERING

• Outline of eLearn modules required and their curricula

• Content to be included

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SCENARIOS

• Stories that assist in understanding tasks and related issues from a user perspective

• Compelling stories that impact on the user experience

• Are relevant to users’ workplace tasks

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EASE OF USE & NAVIGATION

• eLearning materials need to be:• Easy to use, navigate and understand

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STORYBOARD

• Combine scenario, content and task information

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SCHEDULING

• Schedule to ensure adequate timelines for :

• Development,

• Testing, prototyping,

• Review and

• Enhancements

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DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

• Project management− Resources

− Timelines

− Version control & naming conventions

• Usability− User & task analysis

• Design− Information structure

− Design conventions

− Content

− Prototyping & testing

• Implementation

• Maintenance

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PROTOTYPING

• Schedule time for testing

• Low-fidelity and high fidelity prototypes.

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SUMMARY

• Adopt a user-centred design process

• Meet user needs

• Use inputs to focus on job tasks

• Easy to access, understand and navigate

• Usability of eLearning materials

• successful if users can navigate and use to achieve specific workplace performance requirements.

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THANK YOU

REFERENCES

Sandler, John ICELW 2009 Proceedings

CONTACT

johnsandler@fastmail.fm

@greyrab (Twitter)

nohow.wordpress.com (blog)