It is very important because a well designed course is going to get the users more engaged.
Also, students want to be able to have ways to communicate with others, so designing it have multiple ways to communicate is also important.
Deb Moerland
I completely agree. If a student becomes more so focused on how to navigate the classroom, this can pose as a distraction. The concept of Navigational Simplicity is crucial. Such distractions can not take presidence in an online classroom or any other classroom. The primary focus should be the student, and the material.
Michael,
It is good to feel a sense of "community" while taking online courses, in fact, this is a way of networking into a possible new job!
Shelly Crider
BRIGITTE ,
Excactly....we all like instant gratification. Students, new or seasoned, like to be able to jump right in!
Shelly Crider
This statement is true in a number of ways. First of all, an online course that looks busy or provides too many unused resources will not have navigational simplicity; students may become bogged down by the number of options and lose track of what they should be focusing on. The look and feel of the course should help to show the class's organizational structure.
At the same time, designing an online course so that it is visually appealing can help students remain interested and engage with the material. Older courses on Blackboard, for instance, didn't have much visual appeal, while course sites can now be designed using Ning that feel much more like a space for community. This can also impact the way students interact in the class, since the design will not seem as divorced from other internet social spaces.
Yes, absolutely, in my experience, the look and feel of an online classroom is extremely vital to the engagement of the students. I think that the look and feel is part of creating a clear and concise layout in a logical format will certainly promote learning and intellectual excellence among the student body. Who wants to take a class and not be able to quickly and conveniently be able to access the classroom to perform the assignment given? I found out very early on in my teaching career that simplicity in an extremely concise way of classroom instruction and materials can actually be more dynamic and give the students a more satisfactory experience while performing the assignments and researching historical content. I also believe it is important to build upon student’s prior knowledge and acknowledge this throughout the class discussions consequently shaping the relationships into a positive and encouraging interaction between both students and instructor.
