Users come before Learners:

building in the user perspective e-

learning course design

Madhuri Dubey
Vijaya Kumar Palivela
“Learning involves a fundamental shift of
mind… It does not mean acquiring more
information, but expanding the ability to
produce the results we want in life.”

Peter Senge The Fifth Discipline

Instructional Design
 Create learning environments that provide
appropriate learning experiences through
various media
 Co-ordinate with project team members
(subject matter experts, visual designers,
instructional writers, technical experts)
Design that delivers

 Understand the users before getting

down to the design process
 Embedding the user perspective in the
Instructional Design process
Bridging the user-learner gap

Analys • Ease of use

e • Context of
learning
• Media choice
Design
Evaluat ID • Goals and
e process objectives
• Instructional
strategy
Implement Develo • Course
p delivery
Bridging the user-learner
gap..Contd

I E D

D
Course development process
 Analysis
 Needs analysis, task analysis, context analysis, content

analysis
 Design
 Content structuring, instructional strategy, prototyping

 Develop
 Flowcharts, Storyboards & Prototypes

 Use of authoring tools, production of learning objects

 Implement
 Deployment on Test environment

 Usability Review, Usability tests and course acceptance

test
 Deployment on live environment

 Evaluate
 Post-implementation evaluation
Embedding the user perspective

User perspective Environmental

perspective
Computer Course content
Domain specific Course duration
skills
Exercises,
Learning styles assignments
Attitude and Assessments
motivation
Support and
feedback
mindset results

Instructional
Strategy
Guidelines for building in the user
perspective
 Simplicity
 Consistency
 Efficiency of use
 Feedback
 Prevention of errors
 Reduce memory load
 Dependencies
 Assistance
 Matching the mode of delivery with the learner profile
User studies help in meeting the
challenge of the right blend

 Online self-paced learning

 Virtual classrooms
 Community features
User perspective – value
addition
 Ease of use
 Empowers the learner
 Enhances efficiency
 Engaging and enjoyable experience
 Enhances knowledge retention and
application
Thank you