Deborah,
Great points - thanks for sharing!
Jon
Donna,
Great point, systems need to have good usability, as well as helpful content.
Thanks,
Jon
Agreed. The look and feel of an online course can act to channel students into acquiring the knowledge and skills by removing confusion and noise from the equation and by allowing students to concentrate their energies exclusively on their learning. The look and feel of any online course should be comforting, simplistic, and easy to navigate. Colors should be warm, muted, and of simple and practical design.
Students perform well within a platform that is attractive, easily navigated, and consistent in design from one area to the next. Students do not want to waste energy navigating a maze and puzzling how to get back to the assignment center after assignment completion. For example, much of this online MaxKnowledge campus is easy to navigate, but once you've posted a response such as this one, there is no button for returning to the forum 1 page. You must go to the top and navigate out that way. Odd.
I like the fact that a program can generate as much practice along with examples as a student needs. I believe that this is part of what makes online learning successful.
I agree to this statement. The best example are the courses offered by Maxknowledge itself. For the previous courses that I have completed ,have been very helpful to get through the difficulties that I face as an instructor. At the same time it also gives me a chance to interact with different individuals in the same field and share their knowledge and experience with others.
You have stated: "the look and feel of an online course is as important as the knowledge and skills it is designed to impart." I would have to disagree with the statement as written. Would you eat in a restaurant that looks messy, where you can't find a table or a menu, or where a waiter is non existent? Probably not. Yet even in the best of restaurants, the look and feel of the establishment plays second fiddle to the quality and taste of the food. It is true that first impressions are important, and do not get me wrong, we all like the appearance of something that looks good. However, the first look of an online course is nothing, if the meat and potatoes aren't edible. I will take an unimpressive appearing course when the knowledge and skills it offers bowl me over.
Rob Kershner
Mark:
I absolutely agree with your assessment. I am an Academic Advisor for a community college and continuously run into non-traditional learners who cringe at the notion that computers are an integral part of most traditional classrooms. Higher education has developed to a point where computer skills are essential to overall academic success.
Respectfully,
Patrick
Jon:
I would agree that the look and feel of an online course is every bit as important as the knowledge/skills it is designed to impart. The online course room needs to be sufficiently simple that new learners can intuitively maneuver throughout the website. I believe resource tabs with “online user’s guides†are instrumental in making the online classroom more accessible and less intimidating to the user. The school which I am pursuing my PHD through has a mandatory interactive tutorial which must be viewed before the learner has full access to the course room. Although I am reasonably confident I could have figured out this website, it was a useful and informative tutorial that more than adequately covered all of the functional areas of the online course room.
Good point. Look and feel can mean different things to different people.
I agree. If you are going to spend time paying for a course and obtaining information to further your education and career path why not make it interesting, pleasing to the eyes (as well as other senses), and interactive. I have tried the listen and lecture path and it works for me as well, however I have had students, children, and know others that interactive learning works best for. I am outnumbered.
I agree that the look and feel of an online course is as important as the knowledge or skills it is designed to impart. Anybody can find information on the internet about any subject they want. I think our job as instructors of online classes is not to simply provide the info (or knowledge), but rather to create an environment where such knowledge and skills are able to be learned, absorbed, and retained. I believe the look and feel of an online course makes such active learning possible, if done well. And I hope that by the end of this course I will know better how to create a positive online learning environment!
I definitely agree. With rapid technological advances comes the student expectation that they will have the very best available at their fingertips when taking an online course. It is also important for the look to impart a "user friendly" look as well as feel. It should be logical and not overly complicated.
The look and feel of the online class room is just as important as the look and feel of an on-ground classroom. Students need structure and want their online classroom to function like an on-ground classroom. If these two classrooms are similar, then the student does not have to spend a lot of time figuring out how to navigate thru the course. I believe students will have a better learning experience when they can navigate easier through the online classroom with very minimal questions.
I agree, the look and feel, are as important as the knowledge and skill it is designed to impart. The structural integrity means the student will experience the class in a manner that honors a variety of learning styles and will result in higher retention levels.
Online course should have
structured integrity
be active learner centric
easy to navigate
has a lot of interaction
Hmm...it depends to some degree on the field of study.
It might be useful to see a video of a rocket launch as well as the equation of the trajectory of its arc in flight in order to better understand the process, but the bottom line is a rocket scientist needs to know that equation, so fancy media implementation may not add anything substantial to the core information.
In the field of media production/design I would weight it as more important. It lends a crucial element of credibility to the instructor to use current/cutting edge media technologies (video conferencing, file sharing, etc.) to impart information about using current/cutting edge media technologies, wouldn't it?
I absolutely agree that the look and feel of an online course has a significant impact on student engagement. Too many buttons or options is confusing. All black text crammed close together is intimidating. Many online learners are new to computers as well as to classes, so their perceptions about the "ease of use" of an online course is very important in getting them involved in both the discussions and the coursework.
I agree with the statement above because both structural integrity and navagational simplicity are exemplarary of a qualitative online learning environment. Framework of learning is establish by the afore mention factors.
The end goals of both knowledge and skill obtainment are not achieveable. Content cannot be access or experience, so no intellectual interaction occurs.
Rachel,
Good points - I agree that presentation (while not the first priority) is very important!
Jon
