 
Comment: a. Discuss the key components of interface design that are necessary for effective web-based instruction. b. Would I be comfortable taking these classes from these two web sites? --- In my estimation, the most important design rule for interface design is also the most important rule for any BUSINESS: Clearly discern your target population. All the rest that follows, will be defined by this Rule #1. The interface design for a college course will be very different than something designed for K through 12. In fact, something designed for elementary students will be very different from the design for high school students. Again, an interface for a seemingly similar age group could be very different, if we are considering a course for GED students, as compared to university students or late high school years. Courseware and training environments for young trainees of similar age, within a company, will yet have more differentiations. The elements that will remain fairly constant across the scope of any designed environment will be things like 1) Integrity and clearness of content; 2) Ease-of-use in navigational elements; 3) Attractive layout and design elements; 4) Appropriate use of multimedia, if applicable (example: the NEED for a sound or music file, as well as a means to turn it OFF, by the user); 5) Support pages to the courseware, such as contact list, resources, instructions, etc.; 6) an informative and useful "ending" or conclusion to the online environment, such as feedback, test/exam results, assessment, etc.; and, 7) the design should reveal, in its construction, why the content is BEST represented in an online form, as opposed to more traditional forms (is this just an electronic "page turner" or "drill and kill" and thus best left in a paper-based form?) --- In visiting Global Connections Online, I felt that the design easily lent itself to inviting in a broad range of interests. I thought their use of graphics on the entry page was very good. For a site that has a focus on Design Engineers, and also an entire area geared toward education and K-12 teachers ... the use of the picture of children gave the site an appeal "across the board." If they eliminated that graphic, the subject matter of the engineering side of things might over-balance the reasons for an educator clicking into the site. I think they used it in order to "reassure" the education visitors, and prompt them to look through the three main yellow buttons. Otherwise, many non-engineering types would simply "sail away," thinking the site was "too IT and technical." I thought it was an excellent design technique in mental persuasion! The training course is extremely well laid out and easy to follow. It is filled with good information that follows sequentially. I can see that this would be a very good course for any teacher to take, if nothing more than to note how Global Connections has laid out their course! Someone with a good HTML editor, or a bit of coding knowledge, could learn much from the course's architecture. Within their short sections, however, even more details can be gleaned. I though this was an excellent place to start for teachers looking to design a course or a tutorial. The Presenters University was more of a series of short overviews of techniques, than actual courses, or even tutorials. I thought they had a lot of information, but much of it seemed to be redundant. Also, some of the links were not in the variety of courses or tutorials, or even related links of information ... but thinly veiled affiliations and sales links. I didn't like the design of the site, especially for a business touting themselves as specialists in presentation. Many of the most basic rules of a navigated environment were broken ... such as the background design, colors, and placement of navigation items (such as buttons), seemed to pop up as different on many pages. Perhaps they were trying to create different atmospheres in different sections .. but it came across rather chaotic. I'm going to make a statement here, that probably won't "make me any friends." I think that excellent editors are valuable TOOLS. I think that excellent creative software and web-based creative sites are valuable TOOLS. But, they are only TOOLS. Used well and with knowledge of what the editor/software can do, a high level of creativity in design, can be accomplished. My point is: in any other academic setting, do we tell the learner that they don't have to learn the FOUNDATION of the science? Chemistry = element charts. Biology = parts and pieces. Algebra = a+b=whatever. It would be a disaster if that is how we were taught, or how we were to teach our children. Here's my assessment of **WEB** design: learn the Web. As with all academic endeavors, we tell the student to learn the underdrawers, the equations, the star charts, the conjugation of verbs, the statistics, the grammar, the "i before e," and the flash cards. Does anything else make sense? I think a real disservice is done to people, when they are told that they can create a wonderful online presence without knowing a shred of HTML. There is much to be said for knowing the basics of HTML and why things work in the online environment. Since there are hundreds of sites that will allow someone to learn this from the ground up, I think the first lesson in designing for the Internet is to ... learn the tools of the Internet. Without this basic knowledge, a person has no way to control the site he or she is creating. When glitches occur, and they will! -- the person who understands what they have built, stands a chance for correcting it. One who is reliant only on an editor, most likely will either abandon the site, or ... bravely turn to the place they SHOULD have started, which is the building-block: HTML and web page design. (P.S. -- this is coming from someone who was totally anti-computer and anti-"nerd", and believed I "couldn't do those things." An artist for all those years. Until the day that a Macintosh proved to me that it was a valuable ART tool. I made it a goal to learn why this ARTIST'S MEDIUM ... yes, a PC ... worked in the marvelous way it did. And, at the advent of the Internet, it became my goal to learn the WHY and HOW of HTML. This was like magic, to type something and get ... art.) Many excellent sites have been introduced here in our discussion. Blackboard.com is one of them. Personally, I believe that Blackboard is a much more inviting and usable environment than our own LearningSpace. If you really dive into some of the courses, however, you will see why this is so. Many of the courses have been developed by people who are, at some level, comfortable with web page construction, and HTML. They have brought those skills into a Blackboard shell. These are the highly excellent courses you'll find at Blackboard. The shell becomes an expansion for an already existing mastery of online presentation techniques. There is one site that I feel is very excellent for learning web techniques from the ground floor, and yet offers just as much to seasoned designers. ProjectCool, at http://www.projectcool.com/ has a series of tutorials that can't be beat. Over my five+ years of web design, I often refer to their pages. Not only do they have tutorials, they also have things like "Sightings." This is an area where you can view true excellence in real web sites ... and see how others are doing the things you dream about doing! They offer "A List Apart," which is a newsletter and discussion forum that is very active .. and where you can submit real life problems in web design, and get answers and support from those involved in the arena! Another excellent site that has basic-to-advanced tips, tricks, and tutorials, is internet.com, at http://www.internet.com. These people are excellent, from coding to creative design. And finally, the other main GURUS I turn to are at C|Net. Again, the design and development tutorials are useful and easy to follow, from the basic ones, and going on up the line. They are at: http://www.cnet.com.
WebSpinner@refuge-earth.org ( that's me — Leanne! )
|
|||||||||
