I agree. The look and feel must be user-friendly. It must be easy to navigate so the users don't become discouraged. Charts, graphs, pictures, etc. help to explain the course content even better.
Jerry,
I do like that you discussed balance in the classroom. Not all students are visual learners.
Shelly Crider
Ola,
Good point. A class look and feel is a make or break issue with students.
Shelly Crider
I agree because a well designed Online Course can enable student to learn by engaging the sutudent to focus on the content being delivered; conversely, a poorly designed Online Course will distract students from focusing on the content being delivered.
I disagree. I think with time lapses between discussion boards, like this one, it has a totally different feel than an onsite course and so the information just needs to imparted and then assessed. Continous ongoing discussion is less important than disseminating the material. So, I disagree - the knowledge and skills is far more important than the feel; unlike an onsite course where the feel and rapport of the classroom is as important if not moreso than the information imparted.
The look and feel of a course is important, but not as important as the knowledge and skills it is designed to impart. The most important component of the course is the instructor and the techniques used to communicate with students.
Students react favorably to a live web seminar favorably. Interaction with the instructor can overall a course with a poor look.
The text is also important and most students will spend more time in this than the bell and whistles of the course.
A good simulation can make up for the lack of a good appearance of the course. Good participation in the discussion is also essential.
A fine look and feel should be part of the course, however, it is only one element of the overall course quality.
I agree that the look and feel of an online course is important. If an online course is not visually appealing, convenient, and easy to navigate, potential students will not feel comfortable in the course, and it could certainly discourage them from participating in future online classes.
Making the online courses visually attractive, through such means as powerpoint presentations, can help to attract and hold the interest of students. A great deal of instructor presence in the class is also very important in providing the proper feel in the course.
I agreed, for example intreacting with students regularly will motivate students in online setting. Onlien course must use technology to motivate students in the class, such as using wiki or blog or any live chat systems.
Since on line education is a centered learning environment the look and feel (design) of an online course is very important as a knowledge and skills is is designed to purport.
I agree with you because the appearance of the Virtual Classroom has an impact on visual learners. Since online students are usually mixed, it is important to have a balanced appearance in the classroom with some color and graphics.
I use an assortment of colors in my Announcements and I use different highlights on the DB.
Jerry,
Excellent tips for the Announcement and Discussion Board area. Thank you!
Shelly Crider
Anthony,
Good point about the info needing to be "found and learned". Some students think online is easy and spoon fed, but it is not!
Shelly Crider
Debra,
You are correct. Not all visuals are created equal! Not all students have fast speed Internet to view these either. We must create the best class and if something does not work the first time, we can always change. That is the nice thing about online.....not in stone!
Shelly Crider
Debra,
I love this post! You speak of different learning styles and it is oh so true!
Shelly Crider
I agree! The look and feel of the online course will either get the student interested to go through the course or just completely shut down from the process.
From the courses I have worked with so far, providing the students with multiple link/locations to go through seem to be the most confusing for them. What I usually try to do is create a document (ppt or other) that includes most common questions and where to go within the course to find the answers.
That helps the student specially if they are not familiar with the virtual classes.
I agree with you because the appearance of the Virtual Classroom has an impact on visual learners. Since online students are usually mixed, it is important to have a balanced appearance in the classroom with some color and graphics.
I use an assortment of colors in my Announcements and I use different highlights on the DB.
Look and feel are important since the information needs to be found and learned. The main issue seems to be that a course may look fine on one piece of technology but be completely inoperable on another. So, it's easy to say that look and feel are important, but the question is "for whom" and "on which technology."
Hi Shelly --
But are all images/visuals "created equal"? I can be just as turned off by a visual that is poorly designed or just not aesthetically pleasing to me as I can be turned on by one that really strikes me as attractive.
Are you aware of material we could be looking at, or research studies, that address key ideas about how to design visual imagery for a course that appears to be most attractive to the majority of adult learners?
Debra
I agree with this statement. For learning to be effective we need to be thinking not only about knowledge and skills types of content but also about the environment itself in which learning is to occur. It seems to me that more "traditional" styles of learning have tended to consist of lecture halls and textbooks, perhaps, more recently, with something like PPT presentations added into the mix. Also, the instructor has tended historically to take center stage.
As our world has become more "techie" oriented and more driven by media students have become more interested in images and also often sound to help them cement into their memories the ideas they are learning about. As a visual learner this makes a lot of sense to me. My memory often calls forth pictures and colors to help me remember things. Consequently, the aesthetic of what a learning environment looks like produces a "feel" for me that is definitely related to my ability to retain information and to see it "work" in terms of application.
I like my knowledge to have the feel of "life" about it, so an environment enlivened by thoughtful design content, color, images and even sound makes me interested and engaged enough to stick around long enough to acquire the knowledge and skills that derive from the content itself.
Dawn,
Not just the students, but the instructor must feel comfortable in the classroom as to be very active.
Shelly Crider
