With more and more educational institutions moving online to continue providing quality education to their students, eLearning has soared in popularity. After all, it offers plenty of benefits, including constant availability, enhanced collaboration, and cost reduction.
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Contact Us Today!But, like all types of online platforms, eLearning applications should also be well-designed for them to be effective. If it has a low user experience, users will likely not revisit it. When it comes to learning online, research shows that UI/UX design significantly affects the rate of how students learn. An eLearning application with subpar UX design will only lead to frustrated and distracted students.
So, if you’re currently developing an eLearning platform, here are quick tips on creating an effective UX design:
#1 Create a learner-centered UX design.
People respond to experiences and then learn from them. When learning in a classroom, students learn better when teachers guide them through activities. To create a learner-centered UX design, they must have the four principles as identified by Jonassen in 1995.
First is context, meaning a learning task must have a real-world application so learners can connect with it personally. The second is constriction, which means that learners must connect their new learnings to their own experiences or prior knowledge. The third is collaboration, which allows them to hear other opinions when solving problems. Finally, we have conversation, helping them connect with other learners to make sense of and talk about their eLearning courses.
#2 Make navigation simple.
The next most important factor in creating an effective eLearning platform by making navigation as simple as possible. This is made possible by using familiar, simple, and straightforward controls. Not only is it fundamental in UX design, but it’s also a sure way of allowing learners to focus on their courses instead of trying to navigate through the next activities. In addition, simple navigation design also improves retention and knowledge assimilation.
#3 Goal gamification.
Keep the students motivated by “gamifying” goals. For instance, you can include a progress bar to visualize a student’s progress. It will show them how far they are in the course and show their progress level by level. This will offer a great impact on a student’s motivation to finish a topic or a course. Other than progress bars, there are also motivation stickers. Both progress bar and motivation stickers are elements that students can share on social media to share their achievements. It’s also effortless marketing for your eLearning platform.
#4 Responsive design.
For any online application, a responsive design is a must. That means that your eLearning platform must be mobile-friendly and is flexible for learners even though it was mainly designed for desktops and laptops. So, it’s always a good idea to invest in responsive design for your eLearning platform, anticipating users who are more likely to use mobile phones. Moreover, learners tend to use mobile over desktop, especially if a course or a topic is short due to a microlearning approach.
There are still many things to consider when designing an eLearning platform. But to design a practical application, it’s always best to turn to professionals experienced in creating UX designs that work—for instance, Next Idea Tech. So schedule a consultation with our UX design experts today at nextideatech.com!
